RISE-1: Delivering technological capabilities of the 21st century to the Military

The recent breakthroughs in IoT technologies are revolutionizing every sector and the military is no exception. Use of modern technologies and advanced electronics has become a significant source of tactical edge with the implications for operational level as well. Recent combat actions in Ukraine have highlighted a growing need for reliable, cost-effective and most importantly - versatile remote initiation devices.

RISE-1 is the next-generation military remote initiation system provided by Lithuanian company RSI Europe. This system enables a range of new military applications straight from the Ukrainian battlefield. Some of the new tactics where equipment is employed include minefield breaching and demining with the help of drones, force protection in situations beyond line of sight, ambushes as well as diversions with drone delivered explosives and FPV kamikaze missions.

The versatility of the RISE-1 system is invaluable in the context of modern military conflicts. With an impressive battery life of up to 140 days in standby mode and 25 kilometres initiation range in the line-of-sight zone, it offers numerous opportunities for advanced system usage. The built-in signal retransmission capability ensures that the initiator is always within reach even if the system is deployed in difficult terrain and line of sight is not a feasible condition for the mission. The most important feature is the possibility to retransmit the signal (typically through a lightweight drone attachable repeater) as it opens the doors for many advanced applications with significant impact on the modern battlefield.

Use cases for modern remote initiation system are being defined in Ukraine

1. Counter mobility, battlefield shaping and barriers

The advent of satellites, reconnaissance drones and other surveillance capabilities make larger scale advances impossible to hide, which in turn allows a defending side to extensively shape the battlefield in its favor. Remote initiation systems such as RISE-1 are used to enhance the defender’s terrain and infrastructure to (1) support counter mobility operations (setting up explosives to defend and create barriers) and (2) set up effective kill zones after enemy advances past initial barriers. As in the current technological setup the bigger unknowns are about when (not where) the enemy will reach a prepared obstacles/kill zones it is import for the remote initiation system to have a long deployment life, so the battlefield preparations could be rolled out gradually with the increasing risk levels, well in advance of the actual advance of the enemy forces. For such preparations it is important that the prepared defenses require minimum maintenance (battery changes) if the danger level remains high for the extended period.
 
2. Forward mining and logistics disruption

Disrupting the enemy’s front-line logistics and preventing the resupply of the strongpoints is becoming extremely important in positional warfare. To deliver such missions, it takes not only art of war ideas, but also special features in equipment to implement it. Explosives for such missions are more and more often deployed, observed, and detonated with the help of drones and remote initiation devices. With abundance of drones on the battlefield the delivery of explosives behind the enemy lines is becoming a relatively easy task. As the explosives deployment range potentially increases, the need for initiation also moves from traditional line of sight situations to non-line of sight and much longer distances. Initiation via drone attached Retransmitter that ensures initiators reachability over long distances in non-line of sight situations and long-lasting battery proved to be handy for such missions.

3. Demining and breaching

Seized territory first must be checked by engineers, to make sure it’s safe from booby traps and unexploded ordnance. It requires vast numbers of precious specialists to do the job on time. Remote initiation system RISE-1 enables demining faster in comparison with traditional wired blasting machines.
Breaching operations require synchronized and quick execution, due to the dangerous operational environment - close proximity to enemy forces and working under enemy fire. Disposable detonation equipment paired with drones creates a powerful combo - relatively cheap, versatile, and effective breaching equipment.

4. Applications with FPV drones

Currently FPV drones are trending in war in Ukraine as it provides widely available, long-range and extremely cheap precision munition. RISE-1 system enables arming explosives on FPV drones in a distance and manner that meets operational requirements and safety standards required for mass deployment of such systems. Low initiators weight, possibility for delayed detonation and built in repeater, expands tactical usability, especially for longer range FPV operations.

5. Other emerging applications

Some of the use cases of the RISE-1 smart initiation system were described above, but there are many more traditional and newly emerging use cases that are being employed on the modern battlefield. The wide range of use cases are dictated by the need to adapt to changing opponent tactics and the extent to which other means to conduct operations are available. Ambushes, diversions, force protection, gaps between units’ coverage and many other explosives applications are being employed by Ukrainian warfighters as it provides costs efficient and tactically flexible source of firepower that is so needed when fighting with an equal strength opponent.
 
Bringing the lessons from Ukraine through new products

RSI Europe continues working with Ukrainian warfighters in the explosives control and initiation field with the goal of delivering product innovations that support emerging tactics on the battlefield. It is our priority to rapidly develop, test and deploy the equipment that is efficient and optimized for the warfighter's needs in this rapidly evolving environment. We believe that tactics developed in Ukraine will rewrite many military manuals in the rest of the world, as it is a first major war that is being fought in the age of advanced electronics between the equal powers. It is already clear, that with the proliferation of drones, the remote initiation systems in Ukraine evolved from being a niche specialized equipment to being almost ammunition like consumable that enables a wide array of advanced operations for the explosives experts, which are as well becoming some of the most capable force on the battlefield.