Asio deliveries new tactical workstations to IDF combat units

A Taurus workstation with handheld Orion devices plugged in for updating. (Asio)

Israeli defence company Asio Technologies has completed a significant upgrade of its Taurus tactical battle management computer, which is known in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as ‘Noam'.

In a statement released on 23 October, Asio said it will supply hundreds of Taurus systems to the IDF after co-completing the upgrade in collaboration with the Ministry of Defense's Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D) and the IDF's intelligence and ground forces commands.

The system is designed to deliver critical intelligence and terrain analysis directly to front-line units and provide battalion intelligence officers with new levels of operational autonomy, Asio said.

A key new capability added to Taurus enables the real-time creation of 3D terrain models. According to the company, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can scan an operational area and the system “instantly generates an accurate, photo-realistic model”. This capability provides commanders with an immediate visual understanding of the battlefield and allows for mission planning based on current, rather than pre-existing, terrain data.

The Taurus system operates as the platform manager for the IDF's widely deployed Asio-made Orion system, a smartphone-like device known in the IDF as ‘Olar', which provides real-time intelligence to unit commanders.

Tomer Malchi, founder and CEO of Asio, told Janes that Taurus is the centrepiece of the “digital ecosystem” his company has created for the IDF as it enables battalion intelligence officers to update all their unit's Orions independently from central systems.