Collaboration Agreement for Global Combat Air Programme Advanced Electronics Signed at DSEI Japan
TOKYO: At the DSEI Japan exhibition in Tokyo, the national industry champions for advanced defence electronics representing Japan, the UK and Italy have announced the signing of a collaboration agreement, the next formal step towards a permanent industrial construct.
The companies: Mitsubishi Electric representing Japan, Leonardo UK representing the UK and both Leonardo and Elettronica representing Italy, have agreed to forge a closer business relationship and assess appropriate commercial and international operating models, readying the partners for the next stage of the GCAP programme.
This will happen in parallel with ongoing research and development work by all partners.
As the defence electronics champions for each of the three GCAP nations, each partner brings a wealth of relevant expertise to the ISANKE & ICS domain. In Japan, Mitsubishi Electric has already been involved in development work for advanced electronics under the country’s next generation F-X programme.
In Italy, Leonardo and Elettronica have been involved in maturing cutting-edge future combat multi-domain technologies including sensors, communications and data/information fusion as part of the Italian Defence Technology Initiative.
Leonardo UK is a founding member of the UK’s Tempest project, formed in 2018 to develop 6th generation combat air technologies.
Together, the three-nation team will collaborate to form the ISANKE & ICS domain, responsible for the advanced electronics on-board the GCAP platform. This will provide the aircrew with information advantage and advanced self-protection capabilities.
ISANKE will unlock the potential of sixth generation tactical sensing. It transitions from the traditional combat air model of individual airborne sensors to instead providing a fully integrated sensing, fusion and self-protection capability that draws on a spider’s web of sensing and effecting nodes across each platform.
ICS will allow ISANKE to operate as a network across formations of crewed and uncrewed aircraft, as part of each nations’ wider, multi-domain system-of-systems. ISANKE & ICS will also ensure that the three GCAP nations can interoperate with allies in joint operations.
Integrated across the five domains: air, land, sea, space and cyber, the GCAP core platform will rapidly manage a large amount of data, providing aircrew with the information superiority they will need to succeed in complex and contested battlespaces, as well as contributing valuable intelligence to other operators.
This makes the 6th generation ISANKE & ICS domain substantially more capable compared to previous generation operational capabilities.