SUMMARY
In military land vehicles there is a permanent and increasing need for networked information technology that will enable better situational awareness and faster, more efficient and precise effects to be achieved by the crew during missions. There are a number of national projects underway that aim to standardise certain information technology features in order to manage complexity and provide a coordinated approach to future procurement and whole life equipment support. Recognising these, and following previous EDA land vehicle studies, it was decided that a study of the technical and financial aspects of a common European Land Vehicle approach to Mission System open architecture would be worthwhile; focussing on the mission systems of typical vehicles to be used by participating member countries. The LAVOSAR project was conceived for this purpose and let to Rheinmetall as prime contractor leading a multi-national team.
Goals
- Analyse Standards and Best Practices, current and potential future Technologies and other activities in the domain having applicability to an open electronic mission system
- Create a Normative Framework containing agreed definitions of context and terminology as a basis for more detailed study
- Study and develop a functional and technical Mission System architecture, making recommendations to form the basis of a common approach used by multiple member states in Europe
- Study and develop a Business Case supporting an Open Architecture approach
ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION
The Lavosar project finished in January 2014, its main recommendations were as follows the full executive summary is attached.
A Comprehensive Open Reference Architecture for Military Land Vehicle Mission Systems as a European Standard is regarded as key for the European Member States to a cost efficient approach throughout the whole vehicle life cycle and improved operational effectiveness.
From such a Reference Architecture, Target Architectures for the vehicles to be procured would be derived using compatible MOTS Mission Sub-Systems or Components provided by a competitive market. These sub-system or components could be easily integrated into a military vehicle according to the specific needs as they use the necessary interfaces and implement the necessary functionalities.
A vehicle which is build according to this standard can sustain the respective state of technology by simply adding, replacing or upgrading sub-systems. In the same way, a specific or a changing mission need can be satisfied by adapting the set of sub-systems accordingly. Logistics are simplified and exchange of spare subsystems across various types of vehicles and even European nations is possible.