Defence Events

Exclusive Q&A released by the Norwegian Army Land Warfare Centre

Posted 14 December 2016

An interview with Major Ola PetterOdden, Army Combat Lab Development Officer, ahead of keynote address at Future Armoured Vehicles Situational Awareness 2017.

SMi Group will welcome the expertise of Major Ola PetterOdden from the Norwegian Army Combat Lab, at the only dedicated event on combat vehicle C4ISTAR and systems integration when he presents at Future Armoured Vehicles Situational Awareness next March.

Drawing from user experiences, his keynote address will provide case study examples on situational awareness and information sharing in Norwegian mechanised battalions. An update on new CV90 capabilities and future plans to develop battlefield connectivity will also be given.

With over 15 years of experience on working mainly with user requirements, materiel development and experimentation, Major Odden has been in his current role as a Development Officer in Combat Lab - the Norwegian Army’s Concept Development and Experimentation section, since 2008. He has contributed to Vehicle Design Scenarios in the Overall Architectural Concept in the MILVA NATO GVA working group.

In the run-up to his keynote address, SMi Group caught up with Major Odden to discuss current developments, capability challenges and his upcoming talk.

When asked about the implications of a standardised human machine interface on board a military vehicle, he said: “I believe in will have benefits with regards to acquisition, documentation, training and even operational use. As personnel will have to function across a number of platforms or workstations, a common interface will make the transition easier. And I think it’s better to be very proficient in using a mediocre HMI, rather than being mediocre at operating the “best” HMI in the world.”

On obstacles associated with the integration of C4i systems into existing platforms he commented: “At one point the cost of integrating new C4I(SR) on a legacy platform outweighs the benefits: It may be very labour intensive because you must remove a lot of components to gain access, maybe weight increases and you must upgrade engine, gearbox and suspension, space issues may force you to remove something else (ammunition, a seat etc). I think we sometimes hang on to old platforms way too long, even though vehicle platform cost is really not that high compared to system cost.”