A consortium of Helsing and Rohde & Schwarz have been selected to deliver the AI backbone for FCAS, providing a high-performance artificial intelligence development platform.
The German Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) has selected the HIS consortium consisting of Helsing and Schönhofer Sales and Engineering GmbH (SSE), a Rohde & Schwarz company, as well as IBM Deutschland GmbH, to provide the artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for the Future Combat Air System (FCAS). On August 7, 2023, BAAINBw signed the contract for provision of the software platform (AI backbone) with immediate effect.
AI plays a key role in conflicts with peer competitor adversaries. The AI backbone is the first step toward giving the air force cross-functional capabilities with AI; the FCAS program is making progress, but this sort of infrastructure is crucial for every platform.
Stephanie Lingemann, Program Director at Helsing
The use of AI will be critical to the air superiority of FCAS. AI applications are decisive for mission precision, speed, and effectiveness. AI transforms evaluating sensor data, planning missions, and deploying effectors. To allow this key capability to be developed, and deployed quickly, Germany has decided to create a cross-functional platform as a development environment for all partners and pillars of FCAS.
SSE draws on many years of excellent cooperation with the German armed forces on innovation topics, and we look forward to driving the development of AI technologies in Germany. As a trailblazer for national research and technology projects for NGWS and FCAS, the HIS consortium offers the right platform for agile AI development.
Dr. Martin Schönhofer, CEO of SSE
The AI backbone from the HIS consortium will allow high-performance AI to be developed for military applications, including complex industry collaboration, and deployment to the German armed forces. Each of the consortium partners has a specific strength to contribute.
In order to develop and operate AI applications, a powerful and scalable IT infrastructure is required that is also secure. The Secure Cloud (VS-Cloud) from IBM and its partners Secunet and RedHat offers the scalability, flexibility, reliability and security to quickly and easily develop, operate and secure AI applications.
Sandra Pfetzing-Huber, Associate Partner, Defense & Intelligence, IBM Consulting
Helsing is a leader in defense AI products, as well as development and deployment of edge AI for military platforms. As a longstanding partner to the German armed forces, As a long-standing partner of the Bundeswehr, SSE uses its deep expertise in real-time situational awareness, analytics, AI and management of complex data and data formats. IBM complements the team with its many years of expertise in the military sector and provides cloud technologies for the use of artificial intelligence in security-related areas.
Source: Rohde & Schwarz news release
