An illustration of the Diamond system from Israel Aerospace Industries, which is intended to "expand the operational capabilities of modern frigates through distributed, modular maritime operations," according to the firm. (Image via IAI)
JERUSALEM — Israel Aerospace Industries has unveiled a new naval defense concept, based around placing networked, containerized systems on existing vessels.
Called Diamond, IAI in a May 20 announcement described the technology as a new “distributed warfare solution that expands the power of modern frigates” that will give the ships “greater firepower, operational flexibility and rapid response.”
In an announcement video, IAI showed off a series of what look like commercial shipping containers, which featured a variety of different systems, including missile interceptors, loitering munitions, or sensors on a small mast. Those containers are placed on the deck space of frigates, effectively adding new capabilities without the high price of fully integrating new systems onto a ship.
The other half of the Diamond design involves networking. Because modern ships have little excess capacity on deck, the company proposes a setup where different systems would be placed on small satellite ships, which can all then be connected to a command-and-control mother ship — giving the entire group defensive capabilities in a disaggregated model.
