Raytheon Systems has been contracted by the U.K. Ministry of Defence to provide two Battlefield Target Identification Device (BTID) Transponders.
These are to be fielded during the Coalition Combat Identification Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrator (ACTD) trials scheduled this autumn. In addition RSL will also be providing vehicle integration and associated technical support during the trials.
The ACTD trials are being undertaken to demonstrate the military utility of cooperative combat identification system technologies. BTID employs millimetre wave technology and is one of the key combat ID technologies to be evaluated at the trials.
BTID provides a force multiplier and is a 'duty of care' device that increases combat effectiveness by minimising false targeting errors, thereby reducing fratricide or friendly fire combat losses.
Additionally it provides a self-contained secure networking capability to support small unit blue force tracking applications providing soldiers with improved battlefield situational awareness.
Richard Daniel, RSL's Executive Director Programme Leadership, said, "This contract marks an important step in proving to the MoD customer the capabilities of the BTID system and its ability to reduce the chances of fratricide on the battlefield. It is also an important opportunity for RSL to demonstrate its growing capabilities in this area of technology."
Raytheon BTID equipment will be fielded on UK, US and Italian combat vehicles at the trials. Other participating nations providing combat ID equipment, combat vehicles and/or personnel are France, Canada, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Australia.
BTID conforms to NATO STANAG 4579 ensuring interoperability among similarly equipped NATO and coalition forces during joint and combined operations.
BTID is a cooperative system where transponder equipped friendly vehicles are queried by interrogator equipped combat vehicles as part of their target acquisition process to provide positive identification of friendly forces.
