NATO Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Excersise

Описание: Courtesy Video NATO Channel
Unified Vision 2014 (UV14) is the biggest Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) trial NATO has ever staged. A multitude of ground sensors, zeppelins, jammer aircraft and land ISR assets are deployed during this trial.

Click to subscribe! http://bit.ly/subAIRBOYD

Unified Vision Promotes NATO Intel Advances
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsartic...
By Donna Miles American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 18, 2012 -- The NATO intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance community kicked off a first-of-its-kind technical trial today in Norway to help in preserving gains made during the past decade of conflict and to build on them for the future.

U.S. Air Force and Army representatives have joined their counterparts from 12 countries and seven NATO organizations for the 10-day Unified Vision 2012, Dennis Lynn, the Air Force lead and senior U.S. national representative at the trial, told American Forces Press Service.

Operating at Oerland Air Station, Norway, and at other locations in the United States and Europe, the 700 participants will be put through the paces during 27 dynamic, fast-moving vignettes, all based on real-world missions, he said.

As they marshal their full range of human and electronic --intelligence capabilities, they will determine how well they identify, track and analyze threat information, explained Richard Wittstruck, chairman of NATO's joint ISR capability group and the senior Army official at the trial.

Forming a cohesive intelligence picture is a big part of the trial, but equally important will be how easily participants can share it. "The core of Unified Vision 12 is our ability to share sensor data among the allies," Lynn said.

Historically, he added, that's been a challenge because of the many different systems involved, the technical challenges of processing and cataloging such a vast amount of data, and the inherent tendency of operators to "stovepipe" information to protect it.

"So it's a very difficult thing to do, but we are slowly evolving and slowly improving our ability to do that," Lynn said. "We still do it imperfectly, but it is better than it was 10 years ago."
A big goal of the trial is to identify gaps in information-gathering and dissemination and to help in charting the way ahead for future technological advancements or new tactics, techniques and procedures, Wittstruck said.

Toward that goal, the Norwegian military, which is hosting Unified Vision, has gone all-out to make it as realistic and valuable as possible, he said. The Norwegians will turn on real surface-to-air missile systems so participants can attempt to geo-locate them.
A Norwegian navy frigate will participate, collaborating with ground and air assets to identify and engage targets. "That's something we haven't practiced a lot," Wittstruck said. "You talk air-to-ground and ground-to-ground, but in my history of doing this for over 25 years, it is rare to see an opportunity where you have a maritime asset cooperating with air and ground, looking at the same targets and trying to build that threat envelope."

Norway also has authorized participants to turn on active GPS jammers for part of the exercise -- something impossible to do in most parts of the world, where it would interfere with commercial and industrial operations. The players will have to identify where these jammers are and whether they need to be neutralized, while conducting their own intelligence efforts using backup systems not reliant on GPS signals.

To compensate for the one drawback of the Norwegian venue -- 21 hours of daily sunlight that preclude night operations -- an element based at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., will prosecute targets from what's being billed during the trial as "Forward Operating Base Alpha."

Just as in real--world operations, the participants will encounter some curve balls, Wittstruck said. In some scenarios, the human intelligence they receive may be flawed. They could encounter "enemy" aircraft or weapons systems on the ground that turn out to be decoys with the exact same target signatures -- or real systems that have been concealed by camouflage nets.

As the participants navigate these challenges, they'll help to ensure that standard agreements in place to promote data-sharing across NATO cover new systems coming online and actually work in an operational setting, Wittstruck said. They'll work through obstacles to sharing data that crosses classification domains -- from secret to unclassified or unclassified to secret -- to help maximize what can be shared.

"The big question will be, Can we touch each other in terms of data exchange so we have a composite, if not fused, picture of the situation on the same target, in the same vignette because you have given me your aspect and I have given you my aspect?" Wittstruck said. "That should heighten everyone's situational awareness."