6 Dec 2023

Babcock showcases HF comms expertise at Army’s flagship experimentation event

We were pleased to take part in the Army Warfighting Experiment’s (AWE) Distinguished Visitors’ Day last week where we showcased our solution for delivering wideband High Frequency (HF) Beyond Line of Sight communications.

Babcock is a world leader in HF comms and provides a variety of services to the UK, Australia and New Zealand, all of which are part of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.

HF comms are difficult to geolocate and offer significant range without intermediate infrastructure and as a result, they are becoming more popular for dispersed and agile forces in the battlespace.

AWE, which is the flagship experimentation programme for the British Army, provided our Tactical Communications and Information Systems team with the opportunity to demonstrate our collaboration with cutting-edge radio solutions provider KNL.

We showcased a wideband HF-enabled Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) system which allows data transfers of up to 300kbps.

This enables situational awareness, target information and images to be sent over extended ranges – allowing an up-to-date tactical picture of the battlespace to be shared, speeding up the ‘sense, decide, effect’ for armed forces across domains.

Dr Tim Wilkinson, Head of Technical Strategy in Babcock’s Mission Systems business, said: “It was great to take part in AWE 2023 and demonstrate how Babcock is a world leader in systems integration.

“We work with the brightest SMEs to deliver innovative solutions for customers who have increasingly complex requirements.

“Being able to operate in a dispersed and agile formation is a key requirement for Land Forces and by collaborating with KNL we’ve developed a solution that contributes towards fulfilling their key requirements.”