50.26 (-0.20) 
NATO: Moving in the Right Direction When It Comes to Common Ground
Last Updated: 10/10/2011*
By: Brian Schechter, Engineering Fellow, Intelligence and Information Systems
A few months ago, NATO embarked on a path to determine the feasibility of having a common standard for multi-domain, unmanned platform control systems.
The NATO Industrial Advisory Group, which is comprised of industry representatives from around the world, including Raytheon, will spend the next 18-months studying architecture and standards for multi-domain systems. The team will conduct cost and technical analyses and determine whether or not it makes sense for them to support this direction.
We believe that an open, common ground control system is the right solution for governments and industrial partners to move toward. Such systems limit acquisition risks, reduce life cycle costs and improve operational effectiveness.
Common systems share or reuse software or hardware components, using open, modular and separable architectures and interfaces and give users control over the level of commonality that is required.
Each platform in use today around the world has a different ground control station, interface, logistics and training requirement usually provided by the platform provider. Continuing to use closed, proprietary systems negatively impacts operational effectiveness of UAS systems. In addition, continued use of proprietary systems will result in higher development costs, more specialized training, more unique maintenance, large support footprints and more costly support.
These are the areas the advisory group is taking a deeper dive into and it’s well worth the time. Results of the feasibility study are due to NATO next summer.
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