Catrin completes field trials for Italian Army, looks to UK

Alenia Marconi Systems' CATRIN Battlefield Communication and Intelligence System has completed field tests with the Italian Army and has been given formal approval for handover, now planned for July 2000.

CATRIN was developed by a consortium of which AMS is a lead member, for the Italian Army. It was conceived to provide integrated support to the commanders and their staff in areas of situation awareness and battle digitisation, key factors for success in all kinds of operations (peace support and war). Some CATRIN elements are in use by the Italian Army in Kosovo, supported by AMS logistics and technical assistance.

CATRIN can be divided into three different functional subsystems - SORAO, which operates the ground surveillance, SOATCC, which operates air surveillance, and SOTRIN, which ensures the communication flow.

Alenia Marconi Systems are responsible for the SORAO and SOATCC subsystems for CATRIN:

• SORAO provides battlefield surveillance, target acquisition, management of friendly and enemy situation, management of meteorological and NBC situation and support to artillery fireplans.

• SOATCC is responsible for air surveillance, Command and Control of Army Air Defence units, Command and Control of Army Aviation units, Air Alert and Alarm dissemination.

CATRIN is one of the candidate system architectures currently being studied by the UK Integrated Ground-Based Air Defence (IGBAD Project Team), of which AMS is a member, with SOATCC as a reference for the overall IGBAD structure.

The IGBAD project is currently in the process of defining the requirements for the future UK IGBAD system. AMS is a member of the team currently working on the Balance of Investment and Human System Interface study contracts which are scheduled to be completed by December 2000.

AMS is also a core member, along with Matra BAe Dynamics, Shorts Missile Systems and DERA, in a new National Assessment Study contract which will review the outputs of the current IGBAD study and Future Ground-Based Air Defence requirements up to Initial Gate approval.

A group of representatives from the UK MOD, the Defence Procurement Agency and HQ DRA visited Alenia Marconi Systems Spa in Italy and Italian army base locations in November 1999 to gain a greater understanding of the existing capabilities of CATRIN and its potential in the IGBAD domain. A further detailed visit is planned for late 2000 to consider military user aspects of the system.

CATRIN's SOATCC sub-system is the main interest, since it integrates GBAD weapon systems at Battery Command Post level, providing Local Air Picture, Recognised Air Picture and Low Level Air Picture Interface with Allied Forces. The system is already fielded and has extensive relevance to the expected User requirements for IGBAD which is looking at low level Commercial Off The Shelf options.

REF XQQEE XQQLD XQQAR