Unified Vision 2020 to guide further development of NATO Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance capabilities
NATO Allies joining this year’s Unified Vision (UV) event began today the second week of the operational evaluation of Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance capabilities across the Alliance.
F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft from Poland with their DB-110 pod are able to collect tactical reconnaissance and have highly capable processing, exploitation and dissemination nodes with imagery collection, processing and analysis capabilities.
This year’s event UV 20 is using geographically dispersed capabilities and virtual assessment teams to demonstrate that NATO is taking steps to improve its strategic anticipation and situational awareness.
The UV series is NATO’s main event to practice and evaluate technical and operational concepts for conducting Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance in NATO operations. Using networks that NATO and Allies operate to connect collective and national Joint Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance capabilities, the results of the UV 20 operational evaluation will guide further development of NATO capabilities in this domain.
Linking data from various resources such as maritime surveillance assets, airborne synthetic aperture radars, full motion video from aircraft and commercial satellite imagery, up to twenty intelligence cells from participating countries across Europe and North America are able to receive the UV 20 data live, or in near real time.
Participants are using intelligence processing, exploitation and dissemination systems in a collaborative and dynamic manner, in order to create analytical insights and to put into practice lessons learned during the last decade of operating together.
“Joint Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance is a critical capability, now more important than ever, as we face multiple threats. UV 20 is a unique contribution to the development of our capabilities, providing the opportunity to connect with other Allies, to analyse data and to share information to a maximum effect. It demonstrates the value of burden-sharing among Allies and the value of coordinating the use of intelligence analysis and distribution capabilities from across the Alliance”, said Camille Grand, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment.
UV 20 gathers 250 participants from twelve NATO nations operating more than ten different types of JISR systems, including space, air, land and maritime assets: Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom, and the United States. During UV 20, real world data collection is focused solely on military forces within the trial area.
UV 20 is being held from 15 to 26 June. Unified Vision events take place on a bi-annual basis to evaluate challenges in how Allies collect and share ISR data. The first Unified Vision event was in 2012.