Agile testing under the midnight sun
Heikki Löytty, Kari Stöd and Matti Honkela from Millog getting ready to test Millog’s remotely supported battle damage repair concept.
DDE members and air-soft enthusiasts enter the woods to test new equipment and demonstrate capacities.
During four hot July days, Digital Defence Ecosystem members Kelluu, Savox and Millog participated in the Battlegroup 2024 air-soft event in Halli, Jämsä. With over 800 enthusiastic air-soft gamers divided into two teams, engaged in battle in a setting very similar to military exercises, the event provides agile testing for professional military and dual-use technology. Here the newest technology meets game. The rules are more flexible than in military exercises and no one counts working hours. And air-soft enthusiast take their gear seriously. The feedback is direct and honest.
A fighter from Team Yellow testing Savox Pack-COM wireless team communications system.
“This is great, I wish we had more of these. But I would have wanted to test it with a radio”, says a sweaty and tired fighter from Team Yellow taking off the headset of Savox Pack-COM wireless team communication system.
Olli-Pekka Palomäki, product manager at Savox nods, a connected radio would have shown the full potential of the new system. The radio will be brought next time, which is a promise. With a connected radio, the Pack-COM system gives a team both internal and completely encrypted communication and the possibility to communicate outside their own bubble. In Savox's earlier systems, the base stations are mostly located in a vehicle. The groundbreaking improvement is that in Pack-COM one of the end user devices functions as a base station and therefore the team can move freely without the need to be within the range of their vehicle. This is very handy when operating in vast Finnish forests.
“We launched the Savox Pack-COM at the global defence and security event Eurosatory in Paris in June and the welcome was very warm. We have had a lot of inquiries for this update, from all over the world really”, says Palomäki.
Pasi Jokinen and Jiri Jormakka demonstrate the surveillance capacities of the Kelluu aerial data services and monitoring system.
In a comfortably air-conditioned shelter Millog’s Logistics Command Post (a comfortably air-conditioned container built by another DDE member, Senop) Jiri Jormakka, COO and one of the founders of Kelluu demonstrates a high-resolution digital twin of a specific area. With their hydrogen-driven and AI-powered autonomous airships, Kelluu provides aerial data services and monitoring. An observer from the Finnish Defence Forces follows the demonstration and gets the opportunity to ask a lot of questions, which Jormakka willingly answer.
“This event is a great opportunity to meet face-to-face with representatives of the Defence Forces in a more real-life environment than a briefing room”, says Pasi Jokinen, partner and consultant to Kelluu and also retired commander of the Finnish Air Force.
Toni Lundström (to the left) from the Army Research Centre came to check out new technology and connect with DDE companies. In the middle Jarmo Puputti, the DDE lead.
There are several representatives from different units of the Finnish Defence Forces visiting the Battlegroup 2024 event as observers.
“I came here especially to get acquainted with DDE member companies and their products and solutions”, says Captain Toni Lundström, leader of the engineer section at the Army Research Centre. “We are now planning the solutions to be used by the Army in 5-10 years. Cooperation and interaction with private technology companies give us valuable information on where the industry is now in technological solutions and development.”
When asked if he has found any interesting solutions the Army would be interested in, Lundström smiles and says:
“Well, I have seen some interesting new stuff. I have not yet found ready solutions to our challenges, but I have learned to know many interesting people. Contact information has been exchanged and it is easy to continue the cooperation from here. “
Company Kyrö of Team Yellow takes off on a mission.
The hot day turns into a warm night and Company Kyrö from Team Yellow takes off on its next mission: to take control of a site for solar power production. The mission comes with complications, the company drives into an ambush and three different vehicles are damaged. It is time for our third DDE member, Millog, also the maintenance provider for the Finnish Defence Forces, to start their task. The Millog team is at the event to test their remotely supported battle damage repair solution. The idea is that combat units can get remote help and support from experts on specific vehicles in situations when it is impossible to send a service unit to the damaged vehicle.
The evening is late, but the hot Finnish midnight sun shows no mercy. We leave another sweaty Yellow fighter to repair his vehicle with calming instructions from the Millog team over the comms. In the woods only 50 meters away the exchange of fire continues.