STANAG 4586 (ED. 3), STANDARDIZATION AGREEMENT: STANDARD INTERFACES OF UAV CONTROL SYSTEM (UCS) FOR NATO UAV INTEROPERABILITY (09-NOV-2012)

STANAG 4586 (ED. 3), STANDARDIZATION AGREEMENT: STANDARD INTERFACES OF UAV CONTROL SYSTEM (UCS) FOR NATO UAV INTEROPERABILITY (09-NOV-2012)., he aim of this agreement is to promote interoperability of present and future UAV systems in a NATO Combined/Joint Service Environment. Interoperability is required because it will significantly enhance the war fighting capability of the forces. Interoperability will increase flexibility and efficiency to meet mission objectives through sharing of assets and common utilization of information generated from UAV systems. The objective is to enable interoperability between the ground segments (e.g., UCSs), the air segments (e.g., UAVs), and the Command, Control, Communication, Computer and Intelligence (C4I) segments of UAV systems operating in a NATO Combined/Joint environment. Compliance with this agreement alone enables, but does not achieve full interoperability between various UAV systems. Specifically, this agreement does not address platform and/or sensor operators’ proficiency levels, nor does it define the CONOPs necessary to enact full interoperability. Interoperability Levels 3-5 assume a CONOPS supporting the operation of a UAV and/or its payload(s) by other than the organic unit responsible for the UAV. The implementation of the specified standard UCS interfaces will also facilitate the integration of different types of UAV systems into a NATO Combined/Joint Service battlefield environment. The herein specified standardisation will support interoperability of legacy as well as future UAV systems.