Today, in the presence of Major General Harald Vodosek and Major General Hermann Kaponig, Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner handed over the new “Tactical Communication Network” (TCN) communication system and new Iveco Noriker command support vehicles to the command support school at the Starhemberg barracks in Vienna’s 10th district.
“The TCN is a quantum leap in communication. After its procurement, we no longer need to shy away from comparisons with other armies,” said Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner right at the start of the press conference in Vienna. Initial considerations for the project had already been made in 2014. “Thanks to the staying power of the decision-makers, we are now able to implement the system – as part of the development plan ‘Bundesheer 2032+’ also have the necessary funds at our disposal.”
“The TCN is a quantum leap in communication. Following its procurement, we no longer need to shy away from comparisons with other armies.”
Verteidigungsministerin Klaudia Tanner
The TCN is an installable Communication system that creates the conditions for modern data and voice communication based on military robustness. It forms a digital command network via which information and orders can be passed on without delay and an up-to-date situation picture can be shared. A total of 388 TCN sets were procured. These are installed in swap bodies, shelters and containers and used in operating, transport and storage boxes.
Defence Minister Klaudia Tanner: “Communication and digitalization are two key factors that we need to focus on. It is therefore all the more important to invest in an excellent system with military robustness. I am delighted that with the handover of the new TCN we have created further prerequisites for digitalization and thus for a modern armed forces.”
The main contractor for the 105 million euro contract is the ICT service provider and digitalization expert Cancom Austria (formerly Kapsch), while the software comes from the Finnish provider Bittium (formerly Elektrobit), as Major General Harald Vodosek explained. The Chief of Armaments of the Austrian Armed Forces continued: “The system can also be operated completely independently of other civilian and military facilities and thus enables communication across the entire country even in the event of a crisis situation such as a blackout. The TCN is therefore also a backbone system that we have never had before and that no one else in Austria has.”
In addition to the TCN, the successor to the Fernmelde-Pinzgauer, a 180 hp Iveco Multirole Utility Vehicle (MUV) with a maximum permissible total weight of seven tons, was also presented for the first time at the press conference. The vehicles used by the army army, unprotected and equipped without on-board weapons, have already been in service for months with the Tyrolean vehicle body builder Empl in various equipment variants – the family-run company had already At the beginning of January, the family-run company announced the delivery of the first vehicles to the red-white-red armed forces. A total of 240 vehicles (investment sum: 46 million euros) will be handed over to the army by 2025, just over half of which will be equipped with TCN. In addition to the telecommunicators, the vehicle will also be used for NBC defense, as an analysis vehicle and in the rescue element. The first 55 vehicles have already been handed over to the troops.
“With the TCN, we are now replacing a 35-year-old solution that we have continuously upgraded over the years and decades, but which no longer meets the performance requirements of a modern battlefield. In order to successfully master hybrid crisis situations, we need command superiority and the new TCN is a decisive step in this direction,” says Major General Hermann Kaponig, Commander of the ICT & Cyber Security Center, which also includes the Command Support School. Kaponig continues: “The TCN also ensures operations on the move and guarantees the self-sufficiency of the telecommunications system at all command levels.”
Kaponig concluded by referring to the system’s successful baptism of fire. “We have already used the TCN on the Daedalus’ and the baptism of fire was more than successful without any malfunctions.” Kaponig continues: “This is not a matter of course for such a complex system.” Postscript: “The bottom line is that we have achieved a significant increase in command and control capability; the TCN is a real added value for the troops.”
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