A special application for tablets will provide fighters and commanders with a comprehensive view of the situation in the combat area
Russian army servicemen will receive a special tablet application with interactive maps and other functionality that significantly expands the capabilities of combat units. It will allow fighters not only to see the location of their forces or enemy forces, but also to plot the coordinates of targets, as well as ask for artillery or aviation support in real time. The application also allows the military to communicate directly with each other in special chats. It was called the "Awareness-raising Complex" (KPO-A). Experts note that the novelty will allow soldiers and officers to react as quickly as possible to changes in the situation, which plays an important role in the realities of modern clashes.
A combat tool
The special KPO-A application was designed to be useful to both civilian and military users. It can be installed on a tablet or laptop with Android operating systems, and in the future, the Russian Aurora operating system. This makes the application as accessible as possible to users. But most importantly, this approach allows you to almost instantly introduce a new system into the troops — the domestic industry will not need to establish the production of special gadgets that meet army requirements.
The development company NPO Dvina has already prepared an alpha version of KPO-A and received a certificate of registration of the software product. It was included in the register of the Ministry of Finance as a Russian application. The software version will be presented at the Army 2024 forum.
The American ATAK system (Android Tactical Assault Kit) was chosen by NPO Dvina as a guideline for the development of a new product.
The American ATAK system (Android Tactical Assault Kit)
Image Source: Photo: flickr.com
— ATTACKS are a certain level, a record level that needs to be taken, — Vladimir Orlov, General Director of the NGO Dvina, told Izvestia.
KPO-A is based on a set of thematic interactive modules. For example, one of them helps to track aviation traffic, and the other — maritime traffic, while they acquaint consumers with weather, navigation conditions and other information in real time.
— The most important thing is that the application can be easily transformed from a program for fishermen and tourists into a combat tool, — explained Vladimir Orlov. — Everything happens instantly. Military personnel receive additional access, they are connected to the servers of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. After that, not only civilian vessels, but also warships appear on the maps of KPO-A maritime traffic. In the aviation service, users begin to "see" not only civilian aircraft or "Boeing", but also combat aircraft, that is, the entire air situation. Moreover, information is received there, including from military radars, airplanes, helicopters, UAVs or observers from the ground.
Photo: RIA Novosti/Konstantin Mikhalchevsky
Image source: iz.ru
In addition, military personnel activated in the KPO-A combat unit are given the opportunity to map the enemy personnel and equipment they have discovered — there is a special panel with appropriate icons for this.
Moreover, they can be accompanied by text, video and photo information. For example, a fighter can write under the tank icon: "T-80, APU, lost a caterpillar."
— All information will be immediately displayed in the KPO - And for other users — both in the lower and higher headquarters, — said Vladimir Orlov. — This will allow you to combine dozens and hundreds of departments into a single information circuit.
Request for air support
The developers emphasize that they have created an extensive horizontal grid. There will be chats in it that will allow you to discuss a particular working moment, attach files.
— In this circuit, the units will be able to interact directly with each other, — said Vladimir Orlov. — The platoon commander, who will storm the stronghold, will be able to transmit information immediately to the airbase and request support, bypassing the headquarters. This will minimize the time lag between detection and hitting the target.
Also, any fighter with such a KPO-A will be automatically recorded by the application, that is, they will all become visible to their commanders, which will help to manage combat operations more effectively.
Another important function is that a fighter will need to press just one button to report his injury. The program itself will mark its location and give an alarm signal to the appropriate medical units.
3D model of the terrain of the "Awareness-raising Complex" (KPO-A)
Image source: Photo: NGO Dvina
The application allows the user to use satellites and maps of the General Staff, detailed diagrams and terrain plans, including 3D models. Layers can be easily changed using the control panel.
All maps are made by NGO Dvina, and they cover all regions of the world.
— We have got our own environment in which we can upload satellite images from various suppliers for updating, — said Vladimir Orlov. — It may be Roscosmos or other satellite operators of remote sensing of the earth. Our map is more up-to-date than that of Yandex or Google, since there are territories whose information is little in demand by users, and they have not been updated for years by these companies.
In addition, if necessary, maps, layers and elements of the situation in KPO-A can be downloaded from the servers of unit headquarters, from the servers of the National Defense Control Center of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and other government departments.
Digital fences
In peacetime, KPO-A allows data exchange using Wi-Fi or mobile Internet networks.
— In a combat situation, as a rule, there is no mobile connection, — said Vladimir Orlov. — Satellite telecommunications come to the rescue here. Our army has special terminals that receive a signal from space, and based on them, you can deploy a local tactical network for units on the front line.
According to him, the domestic individual radio stations "Azart" have been seriously improved during their work — they can create peer-to-peer data transmission networks. They, in turn, can be connected to a tablet with a KPO-A, which will ensure the exchange of information even among ordinary fighters.
Azart Radio Station
Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti/Evgeny Biyatov
A digital device is much easier to protect and control than paper media, the developers are sure.
— A paper card with secret data fell into the hands of the enemy, and there's nothing you can do about it, — explains Vladimir Orlov. — The situation is different with a digital device. First, the input to the tablet can be encoded. Secondly, when it is connected to the network, its coordinates are visible and based on them it can be concluded that the device has fallen into the enemy's hands. In addition, we can create a set of digital fences. Relatively speaking, if the device crosses a certain coordinate grid, all the data that is on it will be automatically destroyed. It turns out that we have the opportunity to remotely influence KPO-A.
In addition, in a combat situation at the tactical level, the situation is changing very quickly.
— All the information possessed by the squad commander, on average, becomes outdated after six hours, — said Orlov.
This kind of software product is extremely necessary — it is an urgent need of today, Dmitry Kornev, a military expert and editor of the MilitaryRussia website, told Izvestia.
— The ability to quickly get information and immediately strike, of course, affects the course of the clashes, — he noted. — Fast transmission of information will allow you to destroy the enemy first. The system must provide these unique features. But the problem of such systems lies in the field of information security. When hacking, the enemy will not only receive valuable intelligence information, but can organize fire on their own units and much more.
Photo: RIA Novosti
Image source: iz.ru
The expert noted that such a system should be tested not only for work efficiency, but also for hacking, and to build levels of accessibility for users. There are competencies and companies in Russia that are engaged in this, he noted.
Currently, a number of companies are developing information and communication systems in the interests of the Ministry of Defense and special services. The systems "Fox", "Breeze" and others are known.
But all of them solve rather narrow and specific tasks — the same "Breeze", for example, helps intelligence to provide target designation and fire correction for artillery units.
Bogdan Stepovoy
Andrey Fedorov
