Secure decisions–faster action

Network enabled capabilities

From the standpoint of operational complexity, current conflicts and future crisis scenarios are markedly different from earlier wars. Often deployed in unfamiliar, faraway places, troops today find themselves faced with a whole host of new operational challenges: the threat of asymmetric attacks by insurgents or international terrorist groups now has to be factored into every operations plan.
 

New operational requirements call for new operational capabilities. Coalition missions and close cooperation with non-government organizations, coupled with the frequent need to exercise command from a multinational headquarters half a world away from the actual area of operations–all of these things make optimized military management a vital imperative. Moreover, the use of new technologies has vastly accelerated the pace of military operations; yet the need for political control over military decision-making remains, and must be factored into the equation. Information has thus become a decisive factor in modern warfare, and information superiority a key element in obtaining a successful outcome. Information superiority must translate into superior command and control, culminating in real-time superiority on the battlefield.
 

Network Enabled Capabilities

Networked structures based on information technology play a key part in force transformation and the modernization of military equipment. The objective is to create a System of Systems in which the necessary components are interlinked in a unified network, consisting of personnel, platforms, sensors, effectors and command and support systems located at various echelons. Networking brings a new dimension to the operational loop of reconnaissance, command and joint fires, enabling military operations that are faster, more effective and more efficient than ever before. Secure, network-supported information technology is the key.

Network-enabled capabilities, or NEC, form the technical basis for enhancing the effectiveness of joint operations and interoperability during multinational missions. NEC enables the joint exploitation of information by coalition forces, accelerating decision-making at all levels of command while simultaneously improving the precision and pace of military operations.
 

Rheinmetall Defence: wide-ranging NEC competence

As Europe's leading supplier of defence and security technology, Rheinmetall Defence is actively supporting and shaping the process of force transformation. Not only does Rheinmetall Defence supply network-capable platforms, optronic systems and effectors; in our capacity as system integrator we offer complete network solutions for specific tasks, featuring open interfaces that enable their inclusion in meta-systems.

A core Rheinmetall competence is the integration of existing systems into state-of-the-art network architecture. In this context, Rheinmetall Defence's NECLab offers a system for trying out new solutions in a highly complex experimental environment. An integrated virtual real-time simulation generates the necessary background environment, enabling the behaviour of network-based solutions to be tested–an essential aid to concept development prior to a procurement decision. This enables the progressive realization of network-supported capabilities that encompass legacy and new systems alike.
 

Networking the competencies of the Rheinmetall Defence Group

Furnishing our armed forces with network-enabled capabilities requires more than close and early cooperation between contractor and customer, though these are important too. Far more, it means developing a new, networked way of thinking and working that brings together the many specialized skills of a major system supplier's individual divisions as well as those of other contractors.

Rheinmetall Defence has moved on from purely platform-oriented thinking to a capabilities-oriented mode of thought that embraces all of the company's areas of expertise: vehicles, air defence, weapons, ammunition, sensors and information technology. This networked approach culminates in an overarching combination of systems, fostering the development of new capabilities in the armed forces.