NATO ACCS first element delivered to NCI

The NATO Communications and Information (NCI) agency has taken delivery of the first element of NATO's new Air Command and Control System (ACCS). The hand over follows successful tests with military operators, and the system has now been delivered to its home base in Poggio Renatico, Italy, marking an important step in the programme to implement NATO's new command structure.

The Quick Reaction Package is a central component of the Deployable ARS (DARS) part of ACCS. It can be rapidly deployed anywhere in the world to command complex air operations. The full DARS provides NATO with a Deployable Air Control Centre, Recognized Air Picture Production Centre And Sensor Fusion Post and will move to Poggio Renatico by the end of June 2013.

Enzo Montalti, AirC2 Programme Director at the NCI Agency, said: 'This continues the dynamic positive momentum of the programme. We are particularly pleased, that – prior to this delivery – the ACCS LOC1 software has also passed the second initial operational test and evaluation at the quick reaction package.'

In April the NCI Agency AirC2 Programme Office successfully performed the second Initial Operational Test and Evaluation of the ACCS LOC1 Software using the DARS Quick Reaction Package 

The ACCS programme will replace a large number of heterogeneous national and NATO Air Defence Systems and will provide a fully integrated system across continental NATO Europe and Iceland. ACCS supports offensive, defensive and support air operations on NATO territories and is fit for out of area operations. In addition to air operations, ACCS will also support the NATO Theatre Missile Defence and will be a cornerstone of the future NATO Ballistic Missile Defence capability. 

The deployment has started already at a limited numbers of sites located in Belgium, France, Germany and Italy. For Italy, Poggio Renatico is also the site where the static ACCS system has been installed. Completion of this initial rollout is planned for end 2013/early 2014. It is expected that NATO’s operational community will begin to use the system in 2014.