As the first NATO AGS (Alliance Ground Surveillance) aircraft rolls out today in a ceremony at Northrop Grumman Corporation’s aircraft integration centre in Palmdale, CA, Finmeccanica – Selex ES is proud to highlight its major role in the programme. The rollout is an important milestone in the programme which will support joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for all 28 NATO allies.

Selex ES provides the Mission Operation Support (MOS) and two Transportable General Ground Stations (TGGS) for the NATO AGS ground segment. Six Mobile General Ground Stations (MGGS) developed by Airbus are also part of the segment. Selex ES will also deliver the Wide Band Data Link (WBDL) which provides line-of-sight communication between the ground segment and the system’s unmanned aerial vehicles.

The complete NATO AGS system comprises air, ground, mission operation and support elements. It performs all-weather, persistent, wide-area terrestrial and maritime surveillance in near real-time. The system will help protect ground troops and civilian populations, improve border control and maritime safety, help with the fight against terrorism and enhance crisis management and humanitarian assistance operations in response to natural disasters.

The NATO AGS system’s air segment includes five unmanned Global Hawk Block 40 aerial systems and their control station (AVMC2). The ground segment comprises a number of ground stations in various configurations which will provide data-link connectivity, data-processing and exploitation capabilities and interfaces for interoperability with C2ISR systems. The support segment provides dedicated mission support facilities at the AGS main operating base (MOB) in Sigonella, Italy.

NATO AGS will be deployed for operation from 2017. The main operating site at Sigonella Air Base will serve a dual purpose as a NATO Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (JISR) deployment base and a data exploitation and training centre.