The Experimentation station
The Applied Research Technical Demonstrator (ARTD) is rapidly becoming
one of the biggest and brightest jewels in the Dstl crown.
From its base in Dstl Portsdown West it is a facility that not only
enhances UK experimentation, but also relationships with our US counterparts
and other international partners.
The ARTD was launched back in 2002, a high profile affair featuring
UK press and several high-ranking MOD officials. Attention from the
press may have moderated since that time, but the ARTD has been steadily
at work, enhancing capability, nurturing experimentation and exploiting
knowledge through demonstrations targeted at MOD decision-makers. So
much so that Dstl can now offer the MOD a facility of international
eminence, with strong links to both government and industry.
The Project Manager at ARTD says "our role at ARTD is to facilitate
experimentation. It has now been accepted that if we are to achieve
a truly Network Enabled Capability for our armed forces, then a focussed
campaign of experimentation will play a decisive role."
Not only the project manager at ARTD, but also Federated Facilities
Manager at NITEworks, a MOD/Industry partnership created to explore
Network Enabled Capability from an industrial perspective. There is
the potential for powerful synergy between the industrial focus of NITEworks,
and the government focus of the ARTD. Industry will have to deliver
the 'Capability' portion of NEC, but it is the Government's role to
control links with coalition partners. This we will do," he says,
"through the ARTD, a government owned experimental capability with
network links to coalition partners and industry. These links empower
the NITEworks federation to investigate multinational issues in a way
that industry on it's own could not achieve."
"There is currently a tremendous emphasis being put by the MOD
on experimentation and the ARTD has evolved to meet that requirement
in order to help deliver technology to the front line as quickly as
possible."
The ARTD is seen as the UK hub for experimentation, and has done little
to convince the MOD otherwise.
International significance
"ARTD is part of the Confederated Battlefield Laboratory Network
(CBFLNet). We are one of six nations in CBFLNet, all networked together
so that we can interact in real time."
According to the project manager, UK links with the US are especially
important as the 'special relationship' between the two nations becomes
more apparent. Experiments are often run in secret (UK/US eyes only)
conditions, with areas of the ARTD off limits to foreign contractors
and staff. "It is strategically important to have direct contact
with the US as much of our technology needs to be interoperable with
theirs and our battle scenarios are designed to be compatible with real
operations," he states.
And it's not just the US that has links to the ARTD. The other four
partners in CBFLNet (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and NATO) have an
equally important role to play in coalition scenario building and joint
technology testing and are frequently connected to the UK/US network
to conduct interoperability testing. The largest such experiment is
JWID.
Since being posted on the internet pages work has continued and progressed
so areas of this article may be inaccurate.
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