Posted by Joris Janssen Lok at 1/14/2008 4:51 AM
Andy Nativi writes:
Algeria’s Gendarmerie military internal security service will be able to operate its new fully integrated homeland security C4I system by mid-2010. The Ministry of Defense in Algiers awarded Italian-based Selex Sistemi Integrati a contract worth 230 million euros ($338 million) Jan. 10.
This contract, part of the so-called Runitel program, calls for building and deploying within 30 months a comprehensive C4I and surveillance system in the troubled southern regions of the country.
The Gendarmerie is a 20,000 strong military internal security force which reports to Algeria’s Ministry of Defense. The Runitel program is aimed at creating a fully integrated command a control structure linking the whole of the Gendarmerie, from the central HQ down to the smallest detachments.
Almost 250 local control centres are to be connected to mobile command units, provincial operational control centres, multiple regional command centres and the main national HQ.
Selex Sistemi Integrati has designed an open architecture, modular system, involving surveillance systems, a state of the C4I and a very robust and redundant communication network.
Selex is the prime contractor, responsible also for logistic support and training and is coordinating two more Finmeccanica companies:
– Selex Communications is to provide the communication network, which includes HF, microwave and satellite communication systems, plus a Tetra mobile communications system, offering voice, data and video services, while
– Elsag Datamat is providing the tailor made applicative software offering secure and modular advanced services, including data fusion and decision aids, to the users.
Finmeccanica is aggressively pursuing the growing homeland security market, which after a slow start is gaining pace everywhere and has tasked Selex Sistemi Integrati to be its large integrated systems champion, coordinating and integrating the whole of the group capabilities.
While Selex Sistemi Integrati has already won several international homeland security contracts (a recent example involved the coastal surveillance of Yemen), the Algerian one is the largest and most comprehensive obtained so far.
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