Defence Events

Major Samson reveals Dutch combat vehicle C4i priorities

Posted 5 January 2017

SMi Group have released an exclusive interview with Major Wouter Samson from the Royal Netherlands Army Doctine C4i, ahead of his keynote address this March at Future Armoured Vehicles Situational Awareness.

SMi Group have released an exclusive new interview with Major Wouter Samson from the Royal Netherlands Army Doctine C4i, ahead of his keynote address this March at Future Armoured Vehicles Situational Awareness.

The only dedicated event on combat vehicle C4ISTAR and systems integration will welcome the expertise of Major Wouter in a presentation that will explore generic vehicle architecture to enhance network enabled capabilities and improve situational awareness within the vehicle. The talk will provide a comparison of C4I hardware lifespan versus platform lifespan; a detailed overview of the “Plug and Play” sensor suite; guidance on improving HMI to decrease crew workload; and insight into sharing the right information at the right time so commanders can make the right decision.

Currently working for the Manoeuvre centre of knowledge for C4I, Major Samson specialises in NEC and vehicle architecture. He is involved in several programs to update the RNLA C2 and C4I to prepare the army for NEC. These programs are V1606 vehicle architecture, Army program manager. Supporting C2 roadmap, Supporting C4i roadmap and Supporting Netforce Command.

When asked about key areas of improvement he highlighted platform integration as a key area of importance for armoured vehicle troops:
“I personally think integration of information should be a key effort. Being a user myself in the past and having been part of studies to this subject, I have seen information integration can be essential for vehicle crews. With this I mean information integration into the platform, so the user can view all the information on one or two displays instead of multiple. The sensor information integration into C2 systems and sensor information integration into other sensors’ information user interface. These all contribute to the awareness of the crew but also commanders that can better understand the situation and therefore make better funded decisions.”

On the role of modular open architectures for efficient system integration he commented:
Modular systems allow for easy updates and upgrades. It will allow organisations to keep their equipment up to date…a defence organisation should be able to adapt to threat it is posed with and do this quickly. With an open structure it will make it possible to easily integrate new subsystems that could be essential to future operations. The upgrading of vehicles and platforms will be made easier because components can easily be made to communicate with each other.