Nov. 13, 2012

SESAR addresses the modernisation of European air traffic management system for civil and military operators alike. It thus actively looks to facilitate the continued fulfilment of National Defence and Security missions, including the unrestricted access to the airspace and airports for military aircrafts. SESAR’s objectives to sustain military aerial operations can only be a reality if interoperability between civil and military aircraft systems and ground systems are ensured and implemented in due time.

Among the different initiatives to sustain the military in SESAR, a “Military Avionics Study” was conducted. It aims to provide stable guidance to support Military Authorities’ planning and procurement decisions.

Performed by ISDEFE and Airbus Military, the Study provides an inventory of existing and future military state of the art technologies -particularly for airborne equipage- and their respective performance capabilities. It highlights means to ensure interoperability between military and civil technologies, in order to reduce costs for implementing SESAR.

The results of the study allow us to achieve:

  • A consolidated information on European military aircraft fleets, their capabilities and enablers
  • an exhaustive description of the plans to evolve operational and technical military aircraft avionics capability
  • the delta required to fully integrate the military mission aircraft according to the requirements of SESAR’s Concept of Operations
  • the identification of relevant military aircraft capabilities/performances that can be adapted and re-utilized as well as their mapping against SESAR requirements
  • a consolidated Military Avionics Roadmap including IOC and FOC dates for the identified requirements and the timescales for the transition arrangements necessary for the accommodation of fleets with lower capability
  • a benefit/cost ratio assessment from which deployment options could be derived

This study also avoids multiple interoperability gaps in terms of military aircraft systems’ compliance to SESAR functions. It complements the identified gaps of the operational, technical and transversal work already performed in the on-going SESAR projects. Hence, it supports the overall SESAR Work Programme mainly in:

  • setting a coherent overarching view of the integrated operational and technical approach
  • providing guidance on possible verification and validation activities to be performed on military platforms, an exhaustive description of applicable needs and requirements and a more complete assessment of targeted military fleets
  • understanding possible transitional arrangements for legacy aircraft
  • and identifying new needs, for instance for UAS

SESAR ambition is to make a step change in operations and technologies, in order to allow for a significant improvement in the quality of service of aviation infrastructure in Europe. Defence Forces, as users of the Single European Sky, but also as providers of air traffic control services, are part of the modernisation programme.

The “Military Avionics Study”, which aimed at looking at the Capability gap between the aircraft current expected levels of performance and the performance levels which will be required by SESAR, therefore allows Nations to have a better understanding of the demands on their fleet to adapt to the new Air Traffic Management Standards.