Alliance Ground Surveillance
Alliance Ground Surveillance ( AGS ) is a NATO program to develop a capability for battlefield reconnaissance and surveillance using unmanned aerial vehicles of the type RQ-4D . The resulting NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance Force ( NAGSF ) is based on the Italian military airfield Sigonella .
background
The program emerged as a result of the requirement formulated by NATO in 1989 to improve NATO's ability to provide expanded battlefield surveillance ( Allied Ground Surveillance , also AGS). During the NATO summit in Prague in November 2002, the need for such a system was reaffirmed as part of the Prague Capabilities Commitment (PCC) .
In April 2002 the TIPS Industries Consortium (the predecessor of AGS Industries GmbH) presented their draft AGS solution to NATO. Shortly thereafter, this design received stiff competition from Raytheon's Co-operative Transatlantic AGS System (CTAS). The CTAS draft was primarily based on the Sentinel R1 with an ASTOR ( Airborne Stand-Off Radar ) system. After long negotiations, the NATO member states decided on April 16, 2004 for the TIPS offer.
On October 26, 2005, during the Conference of National Armament Directors (CNAD), NATO's TIPS consortium presented a study on the development, financing and risk assessment of the program, which was completed in collaboration with the TCAR team. On May 15, 2006, EADS , Northrop Grumman , Indra Sistemas , Thales Group , Galileo Avionica and General Dynamics founded the joint venture company AGS Industries GmbH.
The offer for the design and development phase, presented to NATO in October 2006, provided for a mixed fleet of Airbus A321s and several Global Hawks. The adapted A321 should be equipped with the Transatlantic Collaborative AGS Radar (TCAR) and other sensors that would have been installed in an elongated container elevated above the fuselage. This aircraft would have been roughly comparable to the American E-8 Joint STARS . In mid-2007, the plan to use a manned system was discarded in favor of a solution that only included unmanned aircraft for reasons of cost.
The first step towards realizing the project began on February 20, 2009 with the signing of a Program Memorandum of Understanding (PMOU). After the drawing was completed, the NATO AGS Management Agency (NAGSMA) was set up in September 2009 to coordinate the further procedure .
The NATO AGS Force as a task force was set up in September 2015. The NATO-controlled multinational operation and its financing are comparable to the procedures at the NATO Airborne Early Warning & Control Force Command .
The first RQ-4D aircraft landed at Sigonella Air Base on November 21, 2019. All five future aircraft undergo test flights to achieve operational readiness. An initial qualification of the NAGSF should be achieved in the first half of 2020.
The first ground station was delivered by European industry in March 2020.
Waiver
For cost reasons, the following NATO countries have so far withdrawn from procurement:
- Denmark
- Canada
Components
RQ-4D
The five RQ-4D reconnaissance drones are essentially based on the RQ-4B block 40.
Ground station
The ground segment of the AGS should consist of several relocatable ground stations that should be connected via data links and should have the ability to process and evaluate data while at the same time being interoperable with other C2ISR systems. In addition, the system will have elements for mission support at the main base in Sigonella and ground stations for flight control.
Web links
- Information page of NATO on the AGS program
- Review article ( Memento of February 5, 2007 on the Internet Archive ) from Defense Industry Daily
Individual evidence
- ^ Message on the EADS homepage; viewed on August 21, 2009 ( memento of January 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Flight International, “New risk mitigation studies planned for NATO AGS program” of November 26, 2007 on flightglobal.com; Accessed August 21, 2009
- ^ First NATO AGS remotely piloted aircraft ferries to Main Operating Base in Italy . North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
- ↑ "NATO receives first AGS mobile exploitation station" of March 23, 2020 on janes.com; Accessed March 25, 2009
- ↑ flightglobal.com from Aug 18, 2011