The German MAWS GbR – consisting of ESG Elektroniksystem- und Logistik-GmbH, HENSOLDT Sensors GmbH and Diehl Defence – received the order for the second national supplementary study for the German-French project on 25 April. The Maritime Airborne Warfare System (MAWS) takes the approach of one “system-of-systems” for networked maritime reconnaissance, submarine hunting and maritime target engagement. These are carried out using manned and unmanned platforms in conjunction with ground stations. This essentially requires data links for networking as well as a cloud solution that works using artificial intelligence (AI) and is used to analyze the sensor data obtained. The study includes the development of concrete solution proposals for German naval aviation (analysis phase part II, CPM process of the German MoD) in addition to the interim solution P-8A Poseidon.

The proposed solutions focus on the development of MAWS with manned and unmanned aircraft as carrier platforms, as well as on the ground stations. Another focus of the study is the networking and data processing of the various assets and ground stations. For this purpose, a “Maritime Warfare Cloud” should be designed to guarantee information autonomy and data sovereignty. A core element is gaining information sovereignty from partial information using software specifically created for data acquisition and analysis using AI. Since the cloud processes sensor data and makes it available across the entire system network, it will be an essential part of the MAWS. By recognizing large amounts of data, it will be much more than a simple data storage device. With this future-oriented technology, the MAWS cooperation project will enable the German Navy to meet the expected security policy challenges.

Stefan Nitschke