NIMCIS upgrade to enhance RNLMC and UK Armed Forces interoperability
The New Integrated Marines Communications and Information System (NIMCIS) 4.0 programme provided by General Dynamics UK, is set to enhance interoperability between the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps (RNLMC) and UK Armed Forces.
Courtesy General Dynamics UK
The Royal Netherlands Marine Corps and General Dynamics UK will continue their collaboration on the NIMCIS 4.0 programme, with improvements focused on user experience, training and hardware upgrades. The programme equips the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps with the Bowman 5.6 system, which is currently being rolled out to the UK Armed Forces by General Dynamics UK.
NIMCIS 4.0 provides upgraded technology that aligns with that used by the UK armed forces, to deliver a low risk solution for tactical communication and faster information transfer. The NIMCIS tactical communications equipment receives a series of enhancements and upgrades, including the roll-out of new data terminals and an updated version of the Battle Management System.
Major of Marines Menno van der Schaaf, representing the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps users, said: “It is key for us to continuously improve and develop in order to stay in line with the latest technologies and that is what NIMCIS 4.0 will enable. We’ll be able to act faster and fully integrate with our colleagues in the United Kingdom, whilst evolving our current system and providing an easy-to-use system.”
The improvements take user experience and ease of use to a next level, with the soldier at the centre of these developments able to act faster and collaborate more efficiently, to ensure that they are able to be effective and fulfil their complex and difficult tasks in a secure, interoperable manner. The General Dynamics UK system will be at the heart of interoperability between the UK and Netherlands armed forces.
“Secure interoperability and acting swiftly is a key success factor for the missions of our men and women at the tactical edge“ confirmed Lt Col of Marines Robert Langeveld responsible for operations in the German-Dutch TEN programme and initiator of the NIMCIS upgrade.
Craig Jansen, Vice President of UK TacCIS at General Dynamics, commented: “With this continued collaboration the Netherlands Marines have access to the best tactical communications. Building on our partnership, first established in 2005, we are delighted to continue to work together, delivering world-class secure tactical communications to the Netherlands Armed Forces.”
General Dynamics UK has provided the NIMCIS system to Royal Netherland Marine Corps for the past 14 years. The system provides a secure voice and data communications infrastructure capable of supporting a range of network-enabled command, control, communications, computing and intelligence systems.
General Dynamics UK has two primary lines of business: Land Systems and Mission Systems. General Dynamics UK works in partnership with the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MoD) providing the nation’s primary land capabilities including, amongst others, Bowman, the British Armed Forces tactical communications programme and AJAX, the replacement for the British Army’s reconnaissance vehicle fleet.
The company also delivers avionics equipment used in rotary and fixed wing platforms, highly integrated mission and video management systems, flexible stores management systems, data link processing and video and data recorders for UK and international customers.