The NATO-owned and -operated AGS Core capability will enable the Alliance to perform persistent surveillance over wide areas from high-altitude, long-endurance, unmanned air platforms operating at considerable stand-off distances and in any weather or light condition. Using advanced radar sensors, the AGS Core will continuously detect and track moving objects throughout the observed areas, as well as provide radar imagery of areas and stationary objects.
Just as NATO’s Airborne Early Warning and Control (NAEW&C) – also known as AWACS – radar aircraft monitor Alliance airspace, the AGS Core will be able to look at what is happening on the earth’s surface, providing situational awareness before, during and, if necessary, after NATO operations.
Components
The AGS Core will be an integrated system consisting of an air segment and a ground segment.
The air segment will be based on the Block 40 version of the US RQ-4B Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The UAV will be equipped with the state-of-the-art multi-platform radar technology insertion program (MP-RTIP) ground surveillance radar sensor, and also with an extensive suite of line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight long-range, wideband data links.
The ground segment will provide an interface between the AGS Core system and a wide range of Command, Control, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C2ISR) systems to interconnect with and provide data to multiple deployed and non-deployed operational users, including reach-back facilities, remote from the surveillance area.
The primary ground segment component will consist of a number of ground stations in different configurations, such as mobile and transportable configurations, which will provide data link connectivity, data processing and exploitation capabilities, and interfaces for interoperability with C2ISR systems. The AGS Core ground segment will also include dedicated mission support facilities at the AGS Main Operating Bases (MOB), and ground stations for flight control of the UAVs. The Main Operating Base will be located at Sigonella Air Base, Italy.
The composition of the AGS Core system will provide NATO with considerable flexibility in employing its surveillance capabilities in a manner that can be tailored to the needs of any emerging situation.
The Core system will be supplemented by interoperable national airborne stand-off ground surveillance systems from NATO countries, thus forming a system of systems.
Mechanisms
The NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance Management Organisation (NAGSMO) is responsible for the acquisition of the AGS Core capability on behalf of the 15 participating nations. The AGS Implementation Office (AGS IO) at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) is responsible for ensuring the successful operational integration and employment of the NATO AGS Core Capability.
Evolution
The AGS program began in 1995, when the NATO Defence Ministers agreed that “the Alliance should pursue work on a minimum essential NATO-owned and -operated core capability, supplemented by interoperable national assets”.
Initially, the AGS system aimed to develop a pooled NATO asset, consisting of both manned and unmanned platforms, as well as ground control stations in various configurations. The manned platform was to be based on the Airbus A321 commercial airliner, and the unmanned platform on the Global Hawk high altitude long endurance UAV. Both the manned and unmanned platforms were to carry the Transatlantic Cooperative AGS Radar (TCAR).
In November 2007, however, due to declining European defense budgets, NATO chose to move forward with a UAV-only solution based on an off-the-shelf Global Hawk RQ-4B and the multi-platform radar technology insertion program (MP-RTIP).
On 20 February 2009, the NATO nations participating in the AGS programme started the process to sign the Programme Memorandum of Understanding (PMOU). This was a significant step forward on the road towards realizing an urgently required, operationally essential capability for NATO. The NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance Management Agency (NAGSMA) was established in September 2009, after all Participating Nations had agreed on the PMOU on 25 September 2009. This PMOU serves as the basis for the procurement of this new NATO capability.
Facts and Figures
General Characteristics of the Global Hawk RQ-4B :
- Primary function: High-altitude, long-endurance intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
- Power Plant: Rolls Royce-North American AE 3007H turbofan
- Thrust: 7600 pounds
- Wingspan: 130.9 feet / 39.8 metres
- Length: RQ-4B, 47.6 feet / 14.5 metres
- Height: RQ-4B, 15.3 feet / 4.7 metres
- Weight: RQ-4B, 14 950 pounds / 6781 kilograms
- Maximum takeoff weight: 32 250 pounds / 14 628 kilograms
- Fuel Capacity: 17 300 pounds / 7847 kilograms
- Payload: 3000 pounds / 1360 kilograms
- Speed: 310 knots / 357 mph / 575 kph
- Range: 8700 nautical miles / 11 0112 miles / 16 113 kilometers
- Ceiling: 60 000 feet / 18 288 meters