Another Polish success in the field of military IT in the international environment

This year's edition of the exercise was played in 8 locations (in the US and Europe) with 22 coalition countries participated in it. The intensive organizational-procedural and technical preparations for this undertaking lasted a year and required a lot of creative, technical and organizational-financial effort. To participate in this important military event, TELDAT – again as the only Polish representative of national defense industry – designated the C3IS JASMINE Command System, especially its HMS C3IS JASMINE – Automated Headquarters Management System Corps, Division, Brigade and Regiment, which has been successfully operated by the Polish Armed Forces. This solution is an essential program component of the JASMINE Network Centric Data Communication Platform, whose composition, unique complexity, extent and essence of operation are illustrated below and discussed further in this publication. 

In this edition of the BOLD QUEST exercise, C3IS JASMINE – its principal system / software HMS C3IS JASMINE:

• was the first to be ready and successfully participate in the tests in the group Ground Situational Awareness (GSA), playing an active role in two main areas:
  • Friendly Force Tracking (FFT) – in the area of ​​monitoring the location of troops with the use of FFI-MTF (Friendly Force Information-Message Text Format standards – STANAG 5527) and NFFI (NATO Friendly Force Information),
  • Command and Control (C2) – for the exchange of operating data with allied systems in the MIP B3.1 standard, within the MIP (Multilateral Interoperability Programme) recommended by the MOR (Military Operational Requirements) list. In this subject, the C3IS JASMINE has been very highly evaluated by the Organizers and Participants of the exercise, as one of the most advanced and able to exchange the largest number of objects recommended on the MIP MOR list;
• successfully completed all planned tests in accordance with the requirements of the CIAV (Coalition Interoperability Assurance & Validation), a multinational NATO commission, which were carried out in strictly defined and supervised scenarios;
• also successfully completed all of the above tests during which it cooperated with allied systems, including: American ACIS (Army Command Information System), GCCS-J (Global Command & Control System), FTAMS (Force Tracking Advanced Management System), Finnish ArmyLion and Italian TC2 (Tactical Command and Control);
• mediated in the exchange and conversion of data in scenarios of activities of ground troops, mainly in the scope of: obtaining data on the location of units, queuing and optimization of the amount of exchanged information between FFT and C2 areas, visualization of the current situation and operational readiness and tracking of items listed above;
• has also successfully passed complex and rigorous procedures in the field of IT security and has been accredited to connect to the BQ Mission Network of this undertaking with high classification, and was one of the first to be operational in all of the assumed areas of the exercise. As part of this accreditation, our engineers also used the services provided in this classified network, e.g.: Web Portal, VoIP telephony, CHAT, e-mail, DNS and NTP;
• confirmed: ability to jointly build operational awareness (Situational Awareness), as well as its high quality and maturity as well as compliance and correctness of the implemented latest versions of communication standards and data exchange (including: ADatP-36 and MIP B3.1);
• has been highly rated and recommended by the Participants of this exercise for extensive international use in subsequent BQ editions, as a mature solution, among others in the field of command automation and significant raising of situational and operational awareness of the troops.

In addition, during the BQ TELDAT engineers also participated in technical meetings, including: development of military IT technologies, interoperability standards and DACAS (Digitally Aided Close Air Support). Along with the practical participation discussed above, this has once again allowed improving and expanding their unique knowledge, similar experiences and abilities (including expert ones), necessary especially in creating and developing the highest class of reliable solutions in the field of support (including automation) command, operations of troops and communications.

The JASMINE products used in the course of the above project have again proved that their features, capabilities and functionalities are fully in line with the objectives of achieving network centric and interoperability capabilities, defined, among others, by the Polish Armed Forces. It all would not be possible – which is worth emphasizing – without the unification, full coherence of the systems and components of mentioned above C3IS JASMINE and technological solutions used in it, which was once again credibly demonstrated and tested in a practical way in the mentioned exercise. The above venture once again confirmed 100% that:

• thanks to, for example, complexity and a large spectrum of C3IS JASMINE capabilities, JASMINE is the only Polish Automated System of Command and support systems for military operations for all levels of command (including single soldier) and in some areas also unique in the world;
• the above mentioned system and its components are made at the highest world level by high-class Polish specialists in the field of military IT and have interoperable and functional standards that fully incorporate them into current needs and the most important C4ISR projects, implemented and planned to perform, among others for the Ministry of Defense.

An important expression of recognition and confirmation of the above are also extremely numerous and significant distinctions dedicated to the CIS C3IS JASMINE, the creators of this solution and its components:

• HMS C3IS JASMINE – an Automated Headquarters Management System for Corps, Division, Brigade and Regiment;
• BMS C3IS JASMINE – an Automated Battlefield Management System for Battalion, Company, Platoon and Team;
• DSS C3IS JASMINE – an Automated Dismounted Soldier System;
• JFSS C3IS JASMINE – an Automated Joint Fires Support System, including JTAC;
• CMS C3IS JASMINE – an Automated Crisis Management System.

These ennoblements were granted, for example, by the President of the Republic of Poland, the Ministry of National Defense, the Minister of Science and Higher Education and the Programming Council of MSPO in Kielce, among others for innovation, comprehensiveness and easement of the C3IS JASMINE and its mentioned components to increase the safety of soldiers (even a single one of such a distinction has not yet been obtained by any other or similar solution in this field). The last of them is this year's DEFENDER award, granted for this system of systems during MSPO 2018. It has a high value, because it is the highest and the only one dedicated to products in the field of command, communication, computer science, reconnaissance and military geography, which was given by numerous committees chaired by the Secretary of State in the Ministry of National Defense, responsible for acquiring weapons and modernizing the Polish Army. This body consisted of prominent representatives such as: the President and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland, the Defense Ministry (including PUiM) and the Polish Armed Forces, the National Security Bureau, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MNiSW, ŻW, ABW, SG, Police and PSP.

TELDAT for 22 years exceptionally, systematically and with great success, by far the longest, the most and the widest in the history of the Polish defense industry, undertakes huge (also on a scale of costs) challenges and efforts, including reliable verification of their competences and products in the field of command automation, support of military operations and communications, also during numerous, long-term and the most important international military enterprises. Our Bydgoszcz-based company also implemented and / or implements these activities in major foreign research centers and other exercises and programs, mainly organized by: NATO, the government and the leading US industry as well as the US Army, France and Germany Armed Forces. The most important of these JASMINE verifications were:

• researches and tests carried out in NATO, European and American research laboratories, including: Multilateral Interoperability Program (MIP), NC3A (currently NCI Agency), Center for Information Technology and Electronics of the German Armed Forces in Greding, French Center C.E.L.A.R. (Center Electronique de l'ARmement) and laboratories of the American Raytheon concern, supervised by the US government;
• annual editions of the various international exercises (including: NATO CWID, NATO CWIX, Combined Endeavor).

The described TELDAT efforts from the very beginning of its existence have also been systematically and numerously preceded and regularly supplemented: a huge amount of research and tests carried out in national conditions (including accredited research laboratories and a huge number of exercises and workshops) and fruitful exploitation of large amounts solutions of this company in: Polish Armed Forces (including past and current military theaters of operations) and Polish Military Academies.

During some of the international projects mentioned above JASMINE solutions were the only Polish and serve as a reference for the other Armed Forces systems. Only in recent months they have been successfully used intensively and once again verified, among others as part of the last exercises: ANAKONDA-18, ALLIED SPIRIT VIII, COMBINED RESOLVE X and SABER STRIKE 2018. They will also be widely exploited and re-tested in a number of other important international military projects, including the next editions of exercises: BOLD QUEST and NATO CWIX. Results – just as before – will be scrupulously and efficiently used to improve the discussed military technology products.

The above has largely enabled and continues to enable: systematic, dynamic and effective development of highly specialized capabilities of its numerous engineers and solutions, creation of new products and, consequently, rise Poland's position in this field among the allied states, which never appeared before. This resulted in a creation of a new quality in the field of military IT – the above-mentioned Network Centric Data Communication Platform JASMINE – an innovative and unique automated system of command, support and military communications, which is a large collection of largely unified and fully consistent specialized systems, subsystems, devices and software, the core component of which is the C3IS JASMINE discussed above, a pictorial illustration of the origins, values, significance, complexity and main components of this ICT platform and their comparison with other for these types of national solutions are presented in the graphics included in this material. It also illustrates the importance and location of the C3IS JASMINE and its modules – systems / software in the above-mentioned an innovative and unique collection of military IT products. 

Łukasz Apiecionek, PhD, Head of the Innovative IT Technologies Department at TELDAT, Assistant Professor and head of the Network Systems Laboratory at the IT Department of the Institute of Technique of the Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz