HERCULES EW to launch at Land Forces

Melbourne-based AOS and South Australian company Asension (formerly DEWC Systems) have jointly developed the HERCULES EW concept to provide the Army with a sovereign EW network to increase the ground forces’ survivability. “Historically, the EW equipment that offers protection and enables offensive operations has been bulky and expensive. It has been housed in fixed locations, such as a deployed HQ, or more recently, under LAND555, as equipment installed in a number of Bushmasters. But now we have HERCULES EW, which is a game changer,” said Andrew Lucas, Managing Director of AOS. “HERCULES EW is a sophisticated, AI-driven system that will allow the Army to penetrate difficult areas with the communication network resilience they need, without risking the lives of our soldiers. With the HERCULES EW – a combination of Asension’s Wombat, AOS’s iWatchdog, the AOS autonomous Kelpie vehicle and DST Group’s HARLEQUIN – we have a cost-effective solution that delivers what the Army needs right now.” Lucas said. The four-component combination ensures mobile network resilience including reach and survivability. It comprises: The AOS iWatchdog a distributed multi-vehicle tasking system capable of coordinating a number of autonomous vehicles and systems to meet mission goals. The AOS-designed autonomous, off-road Kelpie vehicle. DST Group’s HARLEQUIN, which is a radio planning and optimisation tool that is able to dynamically address network survivability in complex environments. The Wombat– a sovereign, software-definable, intelligent transceiver that supports user-configurable RF applications. Asension CEO Ian Spencer, said that the Wombat provides a sophisticated EW capability packaged into a compact and ruggedised box for deployment into the field. “It is a remotely configurable EW transceiver that works in a coordinated manner providing a distributed, efficient, electronic attack capability and a defensive ESM function.” The Wombat’s ultra-wideband radar can detect concealed threats; it has cognitive tools for pre-emptive Electronic Attack, spectrum monitoring for channel assurance and allocation, and static and dynamic radar cross-section measurement. “HERCULES EW is the perfect application for the Asension Wombat, and we are excited to collaborate with another innovative Australian company to deliver this unique sovereign capability solution,” Spencer said. For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Kym Bergmann at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Director of Sales Graham Joss at [email protected]