Indra Launches Mission System for Next Generation Aircraft

Indra has just unveiled an advanced tactical mission system, specially designed to support next-generation aircraft that will operate in highly digitized scenarios against technologically advanced adversaries.

The solution allows commanders to plan and conduct complex operations with accuracy, coordinating the involvement of multiple aircraft, each with its different characteristics and capabilities. It’s a next-generation system that reduces mission complexity in the digital domain and it’s ready to operate in a “combat cloud” environment, facilitating effective decision-making in a streamlined manner.

All the data related to the routes, detected threats and identified targets are entered into the digital mapping, defining the entire tactical combat situation. The system is connected to the Air Force’s command and control and information center to automate a large part of this work. The military staffs then go on to plan the mission, determining the aircraft to be involved, the entry and exit paths, the potential escape routes, etc. It includes variables related to the fuel, weight, crew, flight altitude and speed of each aircraft in the calculations, among many other parameters. It can thus estimate, in real time, whether a mission is feasible and detect any problems that may arise in advance.

It also facilitates the configuration of the communications, establishing the frequencies, channels and data link to be used, centralizing the requirements for all the aircraft and preventing any errors in this highly critical area.

On board the aircraft, the pilot views the entire plan to be executed in Indra’s TDM mission system, a compliment to the Talium system. Indra’s solutions exchange data in real time via the data link. The commanders can thus monitor the development of the operation and enter any updates into the routes, send orders and make changes to the tactical situation.

The result is much more efficient operations executed in a precise, coordinated and secure manner. All of these skills are essential for survival in highly digitized environments, where information determines superiority over the adversary.

The Talium system also facilitates mission briefing and debriefing. The solution’s logistics subsystem downloads data from the platforms to exploit and share them with the sustainment 4.0 systems in order to make the corrective and predictive maintenance tasks easier.

Talium can manage all kinds of operations via a single system common to all the types of platforms, fleet and mission stages, reducing the complexity and increasing aircraft availability.

Its open architecture can be integrated into command and control suites, friend-foe identification equipment and flight simulators. The solution can be used for decision-making and interoperability with allied forces, complying with the NATO Link-16, Link-22, VMF and NFFI standards, as well as Adat-P3 messaging.

Indra gone a step further in the design of the Talium mission system and introduced the use of virtual reality to support the decision-making process. All the information processed by the Talium system can be viewed in a fully immersive 3D environment by using virtual reality glasses. An advanced tactical board or sandbox is used as a testing, planning and mission analysis environment.

The controls can replicate the operation before it is performed and view it as if it were being executed. They can choose different perspectives to study it, introduce different variables into their analysis and so on.

One of the benefits of this solution is that the virtual scenario can be shared in real time with military commanders located at different bases or deployed thousands of kilometers away. It allows them to meet virtually and interact to plan the operation. This facilitates the coordination of various battalions based in diverse geographical locations that operate with different air platforms but act in a coordinated manner in a conflict zone.