In London, defence research evolving to keep pace with battlefield

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The battlefield of the future may see London-made armoured vehicles on the ground communicating with electric, not-staffed or autonomous vehicles and drones.

The research and development driving the next generation of defence technology for armoured vehicles is ongoing at GDLS-Canada in on Oxford Street in London as the future of military conflict evolves.

“We have to get the best capability out there for our soldiers. Everyone else is applying the latest technology in a military environment, and we have to do the same to protect our soldiers,” said Steve Pietrangelo, director of engineering at GDLS-Canada.

It also means the plant is moving from being largely a maker of vehicles to having a greater role in developing technology that will be critical to future armoured vehicles, said Doug Wilson-Hodge, director of strategy and Canada business development at GDLS.

“This has taken the LAV (light-armoured vehicle) to the next level. It’s unbelievable that we’re out in front of where cars are now. The things that we’re looking at are pretty amazing,” said Wilson-Hodge. “We’re moving away from being the provider of LAVs to being the provider of land-platform solutions. It’s not just LAVs. We’re bigger than LAVs.”

There are four main areas of research ongoing at GDLS-Canada:

• Connectivity, how technology enables components such as vehicles, drones and others to speak to one another.
• Using machines to take repetitive tasks away from soldiers, such as carrying equipment to and from sites.
• Using green technology, such as battery and hydrogen fuel cells.
• Cyber-security, ensuring defence technology and vehicles are safe from hackers.

Driverless or robotic vehicles that are fully electric — think about a 27-tonne armoured Tesla – are not yet ready to roll, but they are what research is working toward, said Pietrangelo.

What is fully electric and available is the multi-utility tactical transport (MUTT), a smaller vehicle that can carry everything from equipment to technology to assist LAVs, drones and soldiers in the field.

“Next-generation electronic architecture is the backbone, the foundation. When we put that in place, we will enable what we’re talking about,” said Pietrangelo.

The ongoing work at GDLS-Canada includes attaching drones to LAVs, both tethered and untethered, to assist them in the battlefield.

Another part of its research includes researching how hydrogen fuel cell technology might power vehicles of the future. If vehicles are electric, an outlet won’t be nearby for powering them. GDLS is looking at developing technology that can recharge electric LAVs in the field.

“The green technology we’re looking at includes battery and hydrogen fuel cells. We’re looking at batteries first, but we see potential in (hydrogen) as well,” Pietrangelo said. “Imagine a hydrogen fuel cell in a container and we can drop it in and charge batteries off a fuel cell.”

General Dynamics envisions a “node,” which is an armoured vehicle with a crew on a battlefield that will gather and communicate data for other un-crewed vehicles on the ground or in the air, such as drones.

“It’s not just one vehicle with a crew driving around. It’s an information hub driving around that has the ability to be connected to a drone, or an unstaffed ground vehicle, performing functions and gathering information into this hub,” said Wilson-Hodge.

While there is research and development ongoing in London, GDLS is one of the largest defence contractors in the world and taps into global research to fuel this evolution of battlefield technology, he said.

“Engineering is not done in pockets, it’s not just done in Canada . . . our engineering is integrated in a global engineering team,” said Wilson-Hodge. “We draw on global technology and use that here like the U.S. draws on Canadian technology and uses it there.”

It’s that type of work that recently won the London plant the London Chamber of Commerce business achievement award for innovation, at a gala event at RBC Place London.

But the evolution of the armoured vehicle into a high-tech platform also means its security has to be a lot more than better armour. The tech that drives these robotic systems needs iron-clad cyber-security to guard against hacking, said Pietrangelo.

“As you add connectivity and have a smarter vehicle you have to protect it against different threat,” said Pietrangelo. “We need to protect systems. The threats now are different.”

ndebono@postmedia.com