It’s been a few years since the last in-person Euronaval due to the pandemic. How has the naval landscape evolved?

The naval landscape has changed quite considerably in the past two to three years. There’s been an elevation of geopolitical instability, with the conflict in Ukraine and tensions over Taiwan seeing the evolution of asymmetric threats. A key example of this is the increasing use of drones with surveillance equipment and weaponised payloads in the naval environment, where previously they’ve been predominantly used on land.

Added to this is an increasingly cluttered operational environment. This is driving the need for capabilities that can quickly identify and classify potential threats, turning data into actionable information to enhance the speed of response.

These evolving threats, coupled with the pandemic’s impact, have also affected the supply chain in naval manufacture. There’s an increased need for equipment availability - for capabilities to be ready for immediate deployment - and when deployed they need to be reliable for the duration of the mission.

 

How do Chess’ capabilities help navies across the globe respond to today’s challenges?

As the maritime domain evolves across the globe, navies need reliable surveillance and fire control capabilities that are readily deployable and easily maintained while in operation.

Chess has a long heritage of producing highly reliable and flexible surveillance and fire control solutions for our customers in the naval domain.

Engineered for all-weather capability, our capabilities are based around a modular and flexible design which enables easier and cost-effective sensor replacements and upgrades. This not only helps ensure equipment availability and reliability but also means that the solution can be adapted to meet the needs of a specific mission as well as evolving threats.

We also incorporate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to identify, track and classify potential threats to enable persistent surveillance. Through the use of unique algorithms and machine learning, these systems can help reduce the operator burden by alerting operators to potential risks. This is based on the system’s ability to identify and track objects of interest.

At Chess, we’re constantly evolving our solutions, with the latest generation of the Sea Eagle Digital EOSS and FCEO MKII being clear examples of how we’re always striving to give our customers better quality data to improve their situational awareness. I’ll talk about the capabilities in more detail a little later on.

What are you looking forward to about Euronaval? How important is it for the industry?

Euronaval is a hugely important event for the industry. The pandemic had a major effect on the industry’s ability to come together and discuss defence challenges and how we meet them, so to now be able to have those face-to-face interactions with customers, partners and colleagues is a very welcome opportunity. Our solutions are tailored to meet the specific challenges of our customers so being able to have conversations in person to talk through the problems they’re experiencing is invaluable.

As an international show, Euronaval really brings the global naval domain together. It’s a fantastic opportunity to meet new people right across the supply chain and demonstrate Chess’ capabilities to potential customers and partners.

The event also allows us to explore that latest innovations in sensor technology and consider how we can continue to evolve our capabilities to meet the needs of tomorrow’s navies.

 

What can visitors to the Chess stand (F94) expect to see?

I’ll be on the stand, alongside our team of capability experts, ready to discuss persistent surveillance and the role of artificial intelligence in target tracking and classification.

At Euronaval we’ll be showcasing the Sea Eagle family, including the latest evolution of the Sea Eagle Digital Electro-Optical Surveillance System (EOSS). Our next generation high definition (HD) electro-optical surveillance capability provides long-range surveillance and situational awareness for maritime, coastal and border environments.

The capability features highly accurate sensors, enabling more accurate, flexible and integrated maritime surveillance. The latest technology has been developed with a completely digital architecture to allow secure network access and enable improved integration with other sensors and systems. This increases the level and quality of data available to operators to improve situational awareness.

We’ll also be sharing with our customers more about the Sea Eagle FCEO MKII, our digital and high-resolution fire control electro-optical tracking director. Providing integrated targeting, awareness and gunnery control, it is an essential tool for target identification and engagement in tactical mode, while also serving as a critical aid for security, search and rescue, infra-red search and track (IRST), navigation, aircraft control and even mine avoidance in non-tactical surveillance mode (SM).

On the stand we’ll have scale models of the Digital EOSS and FCEO MKII for customers to be able to get a real feel for the scale and flexibility of the capabilities, and our experts will be on hand to discuss how we can help customers overcome their challenges or meet a specific need.

We’re really looking forward to getting together and catching up with customers and colleagues from across the globe.

 

Visit Chess at Euronaval on stand F94 to learn more about its surveillance and fire control capabilities for the maritime domain.