Advanced Combat Man System

Singapore’s ACMS represents the most advanced Soldier Modernisation Programme (SMP) in Asia, and is moving closer to fielding after a series of successful company trials

In terms of C4I, information flow improved significantly with the introduction of ACMS, with new intelligence information flowing to users almost twice as quickly, down from 13 to seven minutes. (c) AJB

The Advanced Combat Man System (ACMS) project dates back to 1998 when a Technology Exploration and Demonstration initiative was launched. At that point in time, a single set of equipment was used to explore capability and integration issues. This was succeeded in 2002 by a three-year Technology Consolidation and Development effort. This used a seven-strong equipment set solution to better understand ACMS within a section context with a secondary view to spin off technologies and equipment for early adoption by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). After a successful conclusion, this work was taken forward in 2006 to company level trials, with funding allocated for ACMS’ Integrated Concept Development and Demonstration stage which provided for the acquisition of 60 ACMS sets and two CCIS equipped AFV platforms. The programme is led by the Singapore Army and is supported by the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) and industrially by ST Electronics.

“We are currently at Spiral 3, the Integrated Concept Development stage – basically making sure you have an integrated solution, make sure what you provide to the soldier is able to work with the integrated force,” explained Sunil Sadanandan, Programme Manager Land Systems Division, now Programme Manager Urban Fighting Systems, DSTA. “[We are] giving the soldier the technology to be a smarter more effective [combatant] and also to give him ergonomically suitable equipment to enable him to use it. The ACMS programme is a platform for C2 systems integration to achieve this multiplier effect for the networked soldier and networked forces.”

Lieutenant Colonel Kong Kam Yean, Head Plans Branch HQ 9 Division Infantry said, “We are doing a concept demonstration, a seeing a company’s worth of systems and we have also developed two platforms for CCIS… as a network command platform.”

Trials have continued. After their conclusion Lt. Col. Kong said, “We will be ready to go to a full scale system.” A decision on how to move ahead is due in 2008. ACMS is currently working on the assumption of three modular variants; the Basic Fighting System focussed on fighting capabilities and the Full Fighting System, equipping the Commander and building on the Basic Fighting System, but adding significant C2 capabilities. These will be complemented by a third, the Hand Held System which works with the Full Fighting System. This is carried by a commander’s aide, providing notebook hosted capabilities, which in trials used a Panasonic Toughbook, for use in stationary mission planning tasks, where greater screen size is necessary and a more complex input device can be used. Across ACMS, there are certain key capabilities common to all configurations for the trials including; GPS/DRM navigation, Blue Force Tracking, red force marking, ‘Medic’ Alert, ‘Contact’ Alert, text messaging, reception of video from remote sensors and round corner firing.

SYSTEM OVERVIEW

“Our system overview will be quite familiar to people doing soldier modernisation,” Lt. Col. Kong explained. In terms of C4I he commented, “Blue Force Tracking will be the basic capability.” Discussing the CCIS post, based in a Bionix AFV, “We know in an urban environment that it is very important for a commander to have his own command post.” Onboard, C2 capabilities are more advanced that on the dismounted Full Fighting System, “At the platform level we wanted a more sophisticated system. We wanted a 3D version so we can create battlefield awareness in an urban background where you can see the height in the whole system.”

In terms of ISR the goal said Lt. Col Kong, is to enable the user to, “see one block away”, via a virtual presence. The ACMS trials have used a Worn Array Sniper Detection Systems and a Round Corner Firing attachment. The latter is integrated on the SAR 21 assault rifle allowing aiming through the weapon’s optical sight via a camera, with the display having multiple positions for viewing. The camera is designed to flip sideways with just one hand action, back to a normal weapon sight configuration. Tracked and wheeled, low cost small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) and Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) have also been trialled with ACMS. The integration of tactical sensors has been factored into the architecture from the start to cope with bandwidth and power consumption considerations, although the major concern in this area has been how to manage costs.

Describing the system’s call for fire capability Lt. Col. Kong said, “We think it is very important to say ‘I see you shoot’,” allowing the section to call upon systems that aren’t held at the section level to engage specific targets they do not have the capability to engage effectively.

The SAR 21 assault rifle is the basis for ACMS trooper lethality. A Round Corner Firing
attachment has been integrated on the weapon allowing aiming through the weapon's
optical sight via a camera, with the display having multiple positions for viewing. The
camera is designed to flip sideways with just one hand action, back to a normal weapon
sight configuration. © DoD

TRIALS DATA

One of the major findings from the trials is the saving in time ACMS has provided, relative to the Current Equipment set field by the SAF. In trials to measure reaction time to enemy contact while en route, time dropped from 20 minutes to less than six.

Looking at the impact ACMS has had on reducing casualties in red on blue actions has also been trialled. Only minimal differences in casualty levels was found when ACMS was issued to all troops in the section as opposed to limiting issue of the full capability just to section leaders and above. In some combinations, issuing the full C4I set to all troops actually marginally increased the probability of casualties. As a consequence, the current Proposed Equipping Scale for ACMS consists of the section commander and above being equipped with the Full Fighting System, with team leaders and below being given beacon systems with basic functionality.

In other casualty related work a vignette was trialled where medics used positional data produced by the ACMS ensemble from three casualties to locate them. This took less than three minutes. This was a four fold saving in time over the same scenario, but with medics locating casualties using the current capability set, which does not provide networked positional data.

In terms of C4I, information flow improved significantly with the introduction of ACMS, with new intelligence information flowing to users almost twice as quickly, down from 13 to seven minutes. Effective distribution of the information was also found to have improved. Amongst users equipped with the current capability, 40 percent received the wrong information, 32 percent got no information at all and just 28 percent got the right information. When ACMS was used, 83 percent of users got the correct information. The trials however, concluded that there was no significant difference between ACMS implementations down to all troopers or just section commanders.

LESSONS LEARNED

At a strategic level, issues such as architecture and integration have provided challenges for ACMS. “There are so many programmes running parallel that it is very difficult to pin down architecture,” said Sadanandan. The need to balance power with capability has also caught up with ACMS, “On the one hand there is demand for more and more computational power from all the added features that we have put into the system. [The resulting} power [requirement] increases the weight the soldier has to carry.” Sadanandan who said that as part of the goal to embrace improved dynamic power management, the team were looking at more intelligent ways of using power, turning it on and off when necessary.

ACMS is based around a Windows XP platform. Sadanandan however said that in the trials COTS hardware items in ACMS had encountered problems dealing with very harsh environments and there had been issues with overheating and systems overload.

The trials also found that ACMS users found that the Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD) hindered movement and aiming. A number of options were being looked at, including see through HMD, alternative display location and a recent technology – membrane displays. In the trials 96 percent of users found that the HMD hindered dismounted movement at night and 78.3 percent found this to be the case during daylight and a clear majority found it adversely affected aiming throughout the day. ■

Lt. Col. Kong Kam Yean and Sunil Sadanandan were speaking at Soldier Tech.