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In the future, air operations will become more and more part of a global information network, which will allow the "collaborative" combat, with the processing and real-time exploitation of a large mass of information. data (big data).
As a result, aircrafts and drones of future air combat systems will be interconnected and networked with "robust" command systems, ie; protected against possible cyber attacks.
"For the future air combat system that the Air Force is conceptualizing, the key word is "system". Because it will not be a piloted aircraft, nor a drone, but a system of systems integrating, in a real Cloud, sensors and effectors of different natures and different generations. Its backbone will be a core C4ISTAR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Information / Intelligence, Surveillance, Targeting Acquisition and Recognition), "explained in 2015, General Denis Mercier, the current Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) of NATO, in the columns of the European Review of Military Studies [.pdf].
And the former Chief of Staff of the Air Force (CEMAA) adds: "unifying system, it will also obey a distributive logic: dissemination of information merged into a synthetic image (Recognized Air Picture ) to the entire network, but also real-time distribution of the operational control capability of the means from the most relevant system. "
Thus, General Mercier put the word "Cloud" on these networks of interconnected information. However, at a time when military operations are most often in coalition, the question of who will have the key to this "cloud", in other words its control, arises.
"This is a political, operational and industrial subject," said Éric Trappier, the CEO of Dassault Aviation, during a hearing before the National Defense Committee in the National Assembly.
In fact, this question is already being asked. "When you take a Reaper surveillance drone, the information is detected, then goes into a virtual wave tube and then to the Air Force operator. [...] But do not make any illusion. The tube goes first through an analysis center in the United States, "said Trappier. "The F-35 is that too. It is a sensor that flies, everything is brought back to an information center in the United States before being redistributed. And you have no ability to check that your pipe has not gone through an American mill that [...] is changing the information, "he added.
Thus, recalled the CEO of Dassault Aviation, the Helios reconnaissance satellite program was reinforced after the observation that the European countries engaged in the Iraq war in 1990, depended too much on the United States in this domain.
"Images from US satellites were wrong, about the Iraq affair. So, there was a lot of anger at the time, and we launched the satellite of observation satellites to be sure of having the right information, "said Mr. Trappier.
So, he continued, it is "this integrity of the networks that will have to be prepared". And that suggests another question: "How do we do cloud while being interoperable with our American friends? He asked. Especially since the arrival of the F-35 calls into question the standards established within NATO in terms of interoperability. What angered Mr. Trappier.
"The American model of the F-35 breaks these codes and tells you: 'there is no longer interoperability, there is integration with the F-35'. That is, you are Americans or you are not. It is outrageous that NATO accepts this. Normally, this is interoperability and we are moving to standardization and integration into the US armies, "claimed the boss of Dassault Aviation.
On this point, he continued, "the industry can not do much. It can find interoperability solutions. But the choice is political. "
Also, Mr. Trappier wants France to exert its influence through its contributions to the EU and NATO in order to be "able to define the standards that will allow us to work together while having different materials."
http://www.opex360.com/2018/03/07/aura-cle-reseaux-dinformations-de-laviation-de-combat-futur/
