France prepares Ukraine-inspired ‘kill web’ for battlefield awareness

PARIS — France is working on a “kill web” to connect sensors and weapon systems on the battlefield for faster decision making and firing, similar to Ukraine’s Delta system, according to the head of the French Army’s technical section STAT.

The kill web will initially be built around France’s Atlas artillery-weapon system provided by Thales, with the intention to expand “to enable dynamic targeting,” according to Gen. Olivier Coquet, who heads the section, in a briefing with reporters here at the Eurosatory defense show on Sunday. He said the kill web will be part of the broader Arcadia AI-powered battlefield command and control structure.

“Just like the Ukrainians are doing we want to set up a kill web as quickly as possible,” Coquet said. “In other words, shorten the sensor-to-effector loops so we can fire faster and make decisions faster. That’s already underway.”

With Delta, Ukraine has developed a battlefield awareness system built on a network of drones, satellites, artillery and command, allowing its forces to engage targets via multiple pathways rather than follow a traditional linear kill chain. It’s a concept France has already been exploring with its Scorpion program of digitally connected armored vehicles.

Coquet described Arcadia as a combination of multiple programs, including the kill web. The purpose of Arcadia is interoperability between allied command systems, said Gen. Philippe de Montenon, the commander of the French land forces and operations, in the same briefing.

“This is a major challenge we need to resolve in the very short term, ensuring that what we call our combat clouds can communicate with one another,” de Montenon said.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——据法国陆军技术部门STAT负责人称，法国正在研发一种“杀伤网”，将战场上的传感器和武器系统连接起来，以加快决策和射击速度，类似于乌克兰的Delta系统。

据负责该部门的奥利维尔·科凯将军周日在欧防展上向记者介绍，杀伤网络最初将以法国泰雷兹公司提供的阿特拉斯火炮武器系统为核心构建，并计划扩展以“实现动态目标定位”。他还表示，该杀伤网络将成为更广泛的“阿卡迪亚”人工智能战场指挥控制系统的一部分。

科奎特说：“就像乌克兰人正在做的那样，我们也想尽快建立起杀伤网。换句话说，缩短传感器到执行器的反应时间，这样我们就能更快地开火，更快地做出决策。这项工作已经在进行中。”

乌克兰利用“德尔塔”计划开发了一套基于无人机、卫星、火炮和指挥网络的战场态势感知系统，使其部队能够通过多条路径打击目标，而非遵循传统的线性杀伤链。法国此前已在其“蝎子”计划中探索过类似的概念，该计划旨在研发数字化互联的装甲车辆。

科凯特将“阿卡迪亚”系统描述为多个项目的结合体，其中包括“杀伤网络”。法国陆军司令兼作战司令菲利普·德·蒙特农将军在同一简报会上表示，“阿卡迪亚”系统的目标是实现盟军指挥系统之间的互操作性。

德蒙特农表示：“这是我们需要在短期内解决的一个重大挑战，即确保我们所谓的作战云能够相互通信。”

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。