The Federal Agency for Information Management and Information Technology of the German Armed Forces (IT-AmtBw) has contracted with Rheinmetall Defence to create a simulation and test environment for the Bundeswehr, known as the SuTBw. Rheinmetall, acting as general contractor, and its partner IABG, won the multi-million euro order in the face of stiff competition.
Rheinmetall Defence is to supply the necessary IT infrastructure, hardware and software for linking simulated and real-world combat systems at 27 locations in Germany and one in the United States. If necessary, these sites can be connected via a data link in order to carry out experiments.
What makes the SuTBw so valuable is the way it links various simulation systems and simulators, each with their own highly specialized, individual capabilities, into high-performance simulation system networks, enabling the Bundeswehr to conduct complex exercises involving ground, air and naval assets, thus creating an overarching system of systems. Furthermore, it is also possible to incorporate foreign combat and C4I systems into the SuTBw’s advanced IT infrastructure.
Rheinmetall’s simulation and test environment will serve as the technical basis for conducting experiments, training and exercises in numerous areas of application, including the Bundeswehr’s “Customer Product Management” procurement procedure, or CPM, used for identifying and meeting military requirements.
Moreover, the system technology is set to play an important role in the analysis and planning process, in training operations and exercises, as well as in specific military operations.
Rheinmetall technology will permit the armed forces to conduct highly realistic investigations encompassing all three branches of the military. The new system can also be used for training senior personnel and staff elements from all three services, and carrying out command-level exercises using simulated scenarios.
Similarly, SuTBw makes it possible to simulate and practice current and projected multinational operations. In sum, the system ensures intensive, affordable, environmentally benign training. Most importantly, it means that the Bundeswehr will already be able to prepare and practise for future military scenarios today in a highly realistic way.
Conducting experiments is another important function of SuTBw. The functionality and economic viability of new products from the CPM procurement process can be analyzed and tested in the SuTBw.
Beyond these four areas of application, Rheinmetall’s simulation and test environment will support the Bundeswehr’s “Concept Development and Experimentation” (CD&E) activities. It can also make a valuable contribution in networking and interlinking national and international simulation systems as well as existing information technology systems. Finally, with its wide array of applications, the SuTBw constitutes an important building block in the creation of a genuine network-enabled warfare capability.
The development and design of new functions likewise forms an essential component of this contract. This shows that Rheinmetall Defence, a world leader in the field of military and civil simulation technology, is particularly well equipped to take on future tasks in the field of modelling and simulation.
