Indra has become one of the few companies in the world ready to bring the latest NATO standards on protecting military vessels international market, which require the incorporation of reinforced encryption modes in friend or foe identification systems (IFF).
The company has teamed up with Navantia to implement them in a first ship destined for the export market and is moving forward with their installation in the entire Spanish Navy fleet of vessels.
The IFF is an element that, together with Indra’s electronic defence systems, radars and communications systems, form the basis on which the combat systems of the military vessels are supported, and therefore play a key role in the success of the mission.
Specifically, the role of the IFF is to interrogate platforms in the area of operations, which send back an encrypted response to check whether it is an ally or a potential enemy.
This is achieved using an encryption system that is constantly evolving to adapt to new threats, which are becoming increasingly complex, and to prevent the adversary from manipulating the signal.
In this regard, the latest update introduced by NATO in the IFFs has been what is known as STANAG standard edition 3 for mode 5, which is itself the most advanced interrogation mode available.
Incorporating these improvements is mandatory for allied countries and for many other navies accustomed to operating jointly with NATO countries. This is in fact a requirement without which it is not possible to participate in international missions. Indra is one of the few companies outside the U.S. that has this technology and is already implementing it on vessels of several countries.
The company is moving towards its certification by the AIMS office of the U.S. Department of Defence, the body responsible for checking that these systems meet the required specifications.
Indra’s IFF system incorporates other important design improvements, which have been designed to allow its customers to adapt to future evolutions of the standards by simply reconfiguring the software, which will significantly reduce costs and increase the operability of their fleets. This system is also much more robust, which facilitates maintenance and increases fleet availability.
For more than 30 years, Indra has been developing and implementing cutting-edge systems for the world’s most advanced vessels and submarines for the Spanish Navy and the navies of countries such as Germany, Norway, Italy, India, South Korea and Mexico, among others. It has worked with some of the world’s leading shipyards, such as Navantia, Italy’s Fincantieri, Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (tkMS), Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and Holland’s Damen. Its IFF systems are not only deployed on naval platforms, but also on air and land platforms of armed forces around the world.
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