Key Points
- LEAPP-type solution is expected to be acquired to provide air defence for the Falklands by mid-2016
- LMUK likely to position SAMS for Falklands and Australian requirements
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is expected to imminently issue a Dynamic Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (DPQQ) for the procurement of a new battle management command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence (BMC4I) capability for the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), akin to the British Army's recently operational Land Environment Air Picture Provision (LEAPP) system.
While the MoD is understood to be still determining its BMC4I requisites for the Falklands - which will include a multirole surveillance radar capability - a contract is expected to be awarded by mid-2016, with full funding already assigned.
The new Falklands requirement is expected to be an iteration of the LEAPP solution for the British Army's battlespace management and situational awareness provision for the Land Component Commander. LEAPP is delivered by a Lockheed Martin UK (LMUK)-led consortium, through its Skykeeper Air Airspace Management & Surveillance (SAMS) system, under a GBP100 million contract awarded in April 2008.
The first capability of its kind for the British Army, LEAPP (also known by LMUK as Skykeeper) is a scalable, networked, open-architecture system, interfacing ground sensors with real-time data from advanced air surveillance assets, required to provide a near-real-time, correlated air picture for the land environment. It can serve as either a standalone asset or as part of a networked integrated air defence system, from very short-range air defence (VSHORAD) and SHORAD to the medium-range air defence (MRAD) domains.
"It is scalable from small-scale contingency operations all the way up to a full-scale divisional capability," Graeme Myers, head of mission support at LMUK told IHS Jane's . "So you can have this capability with a single radar, a single trailer, and a couple of operators, or you could scale this up and inter-network all of the control nodes and air picture trailers and all the radars. You scale it to fit the scale of the operation you are running."
The army's LEAPP solution comprises five Saab Giraffe AMB (Agile Multi-Beam) 3-D surveillance radars, four LEAPP control nodes mounted on MAN HX60 4x4 trucks, three Air Picture trailers, and a Data Link 11 access node. Falcon Block C (a separate British Army Royal Signals Regiment programme for the evolution of the Falcon communications system) provides the communication bearer.
Rockwell Collins provides the FlexNet-Four software-defined radio (SDR) broadband, ground-networked communications capability. LEAPP is deployed at formations headquarters and provides its air picture to all users via NATO Link 16 and Link 11 and will take information from any Link 16-equipped platform/asset.
"LEAPP has an extensive communications data hub, including combat net radio, trunk networking, Link 16 tactical datalinks, encrypted satellite communication, and ground-to-air voice communications. Advanced audio distribution will allow operators access to any available voice channels and provides an internal intercom capability," Myers said.
He added that LEAPP will also be able to talk with Morpheus, the next iteration of the army's Land Environment Tactical Communications & Information System (LE TacCIS) capability, which will address critical system obsolescence and introduce capability improvements for improved command and control capability.
The entire LEAPP capability has now been handed over to the British Army, with all deliveries completed by October 2014. "Throughout 2014 there were a series of trials - a combination of acceptance trials plus important user trials, including Exercise 'Joint Warrior' in Scotland [in March 2014] and 'Wessex Storm' [November 2014] on Salisbury Plain. That led to the British Army declaring full operational capability on 1 December 2014," Myers said.
LMUK is now executing a GBP12.7 million LEAPP five-year maintenance and support contract awarded by the UK MoD in November 2014 to maintain currency and offer software capability insertion. Lockheed Martin considers it likely that there will be additional post-development support tasking on top of that.
Myers said LMUK will position SAMS for the prospective Falklands BMC4I requirement when it is competed. In the interim, the company is considering a number of international opportunities for similar requirements, including Australia, and has additional "active interest in our system from the Balkans and the Middle East".
"There is direct relevance into Australia where they are looking at a very comparable system to LEAPP and adding on the weaponisation, so again that brings it into line with the Falklands requirement," he said. "We've been working with the Australian government for the last 18 months or so, and they have actively followed the UK LEAPP programme. They are now beginning to formulate what they want as their own system and it is very much based on where the UK is headed [with LEAPP]. The UK is still seen as leading the pack in terms of this type of capability."
ANALYSIS
The United Kingdom is also understood to be looking to enhance the kinetic elements of its ground-based air defences in the Falklands, replacing the ageing Rapier Field Standard C surface-to-air missile system currently deployed there.
The rest of the British Army is to be resupplied with the new Future Local Area Air Defence System (Land) - FLAADS(L) - capability currently being developed by MBDA, and although it is officially unconfirmed, it is considered very likely that the MoD will mandate that system for deployment to the Falklands as well.
FLAADS(L) is already well-advanced and leverages off work done on the UK Royal Navy's Sea Ceptor system with which it shares the Common Anti-Air Modular Missile (CAMM).
In fact, in December 2014, the MoD awarded MBDA a GBP228 million development and manufacture contract for FLAADS(L) some six months ahead of the scheduled completion of an 18-month Assessment Phase contract awarded in January 2013.
