Leonardo, Systematic to equip Polish armoured vehicles with C2 systems

A US Army M1A2 SEPv3 tank at Fort Hood, Texas. The Polish army is set to receive 250 vehicles. (US Army)

The Polish army's Abrams main battle tanks (MBTs) will be equipped with battle management hardware and software from Leonardo DRS and Systematic, Janes has learnt. The systems will also be fitted onto recovery and bridging vehicles.

The army is set to receive 250 M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams MBTs, 26 M88A2 Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lift and Evacuation System (HERCULES) combat recovery vehicles, and 17 M1110 Joint Assault Bridges (JABs) under a USD6 billion Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract.

A notification to the US Congress from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency states, “The BMS [battle management system] for the Poland SEPv3 tank will consist of a Data Distribution Unit-Expandable (DDUx), a transceiver, and commercial software called SitaWare … It is used for the Abrams tank, the M88A2 HERCULES recovery vehicle, and the Joint Assault Bridge.”

Leonardo DRS, which is the prime contractor for the BMS, produces the DDUx. This is a rugged server that uses a quad-core processor, enabling the running of multiple concurrent and virtual applications. It can be standalone or used with a range of displays. It is central to the US Army's latest-generation Mounted Family of Computer Systems (MFoCS II).

Systematic will supply its Frontline command-and-control (C2) software. Frontline is the mounted element of Systematic's SitaWare C2 software suite, which also includes SitaWare Headquarters (HQ) for static command posts and Edge for the dismounted user.