Leonardo is set to begin the second OCEAN2020 demonstration exercise, which focuses on how naval forces can detect and identify high-speed surface threats and unknown submerged activity to boost pan-European defense. The demonstration, coordinated by Saab, is expected to take place at the end of August.
OCEAN2020 is the largest European-funded defense research project for maritime surveillance and sees Leonardo coordinating a team of 43 partners from 15 countries comprising industry, research organisations and Ministries of Defense.
The demonstration involves open, interoperable architecture that integrates data from multiple different platforms and feeds it into a European operations centre, a prototype of which will be built in Brussels. The overall system will improve naval forces’ situational awareness and their ability to plan and manage operations in real time.
The exercise will involve 13 unmanned systems, 4 naval units – a Swedish Support Ship, Lithuanian Patrol Vessel, Polish Mine Hunter and a German Research Vessel – a satellite and 2 command centres.
Leonardo’s participation will involve innovative new technologies including its remotely piloted SW-4 SOLO helicopter equipped with Leonardo’s Osprey 30 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) surveillance radar. The same radar will also be on-board Safran’s Patroller drone during the exercise.
Osprey is a multi-domain radar that can support a wide variety of missions, providing a high performance E-scan surveillance capability for fixed wing, rotary wing and unmanned platforms.
The Lithuanian Navy’s P11 Žemaitis patrol ship will be equipped with Leonardo’s Combat Management System (CMS), enabling interoperability with the SW-4 SOLO by integrating and coordinating the information coming from the drone with the ship’s on-board sensors and systems in real time. This advanced technology provides operators with a full situational awareness picture and the ability to react quickly to developments.
Leonardo will also provide earth observation services via the SEonSE (Smart Eyes on the SEas) platform from joint venture e-GEOS (Asi 20% – Telespazio 80%), drawing on the capabilities of the Cosmo-SkyMed satellite.
