Presentation of Identification Friend or Foe

The first Friend /Foe Identification System developed entirely by the Spanish industry put its interoperability to the test yesterday on the training area on Base 'El Goloso'.

To this end, several light vehicles were equipped with the system and travelled over the terrain at various distances to test the range of the system’s two antennas (interrogator and responder), which can reach up to 6 kilometres.  Among them was a North American Battlefield Target Identification Device, in order to confirm compatibility. 

From a fixed position questions were sent to solicit an answer and permit identification of whether an allied vehicle was being dealt with or not. When the question reached one of these vehicles, the Battlefield Target Identification Device sent an answer that identified it as such; if there was no answer, the system classified it as “foe”.

The main advantage of this system is that it reduces the risk of friendly fire and increases target acquisition.  Its development, undertaken by the firm Indra, is within the framework of the Advanced Military Identification for Ground Operational System programme, which is included within the Leopard programme, due to the fact that the main application will be in tanks and armoured vehicles, although its design permits adaptation to almost any platform.

With this system, Spain is placed among the only countries in the world that have a Battlefield Target Identification Device of their own, together with the United States, as well as France and Great Britain –which jointly developed one -, although the idea is that all NATO countries have the same system. 

The definitive test of interoperability will be undertaken in September, during exercise 'Bold Quest', in the United States, in which Spain will participate along with twelve other countries.