It is a fact. The digital battlefield shows mobile combat and support vehicles - Main Battle Tanks (MBTs), air defence vehicles, radar systems, artillery pieces and both reconnaissance (recce) and observation vehicles - manoeuvring in complex terrain and engaging increasingly agile hostile forces in the most constrained operational environments (jammed, spoofed or denied GPS). This can pose risks for an underdeveloped force; but, there are solutions like tactical land navigation and pointing systems that can be brought in to tackle the problems. Safran's answer is a complete family of high-performance land navigation units that offer accurate position and attitudes even in case of GPS outage.
Benjamin Faget, Safran's Vice President Navigation, informed MT on the SIGMA family of navigation, pointing, and positioning systems that are in service around the world. Hemispheric Resonator Gyros (HRGs) contained in the SIGMA 20 provide accurate data faster than any other Inertial Navigation System (INS). Safran describes it as a device that is "combat-ready" within one minute. SIGMA 30 has been designed as an artillery pointing and positioning system fitted to towed, tracked, and truck-mounted artillery systems, as well as mortars, multiple rocket launchers, and light guns.
A striking example is Nexter's CAESAR (Camion Equipe d'un Systeme d'Artillerie) lightweight, 155mm, truck-mounted artillery system in service with the French Army, as well as the land forces of Saudi Arabia (100 systems), Indonesia (37 systems), Lebanon (24 systems), and Thailand (six systems). The Swedish land component also selected SIGMA 30 for its BAE Systems Bofors ARCHER Artillery System mounted on a Volvo truck. Faget also confirmed deliveries to Germany, equipping PzH2000 self-propelled, 155mm howitzers and those NATO countries that operate the Multiple Launched Rocket Launcher (MLRS). STN
