A former Richmond School pupil is helping shape the future of battlefield surveillance while taking part in a major military exercise in Canada.
Staff Sergeant Dan Graham, 35, of 5th Regiment Royal Artillery at Catterick Garrison, is among British soldiers testing a new Ground Based Surveillance Radar (GBSR) system designed to detect enemy threats on modern battlefields increasingly dominated by drones and electronic warfare.
The exercise, known as Exercise Rhino Bizz, has brought together soldiers from 16 Air Assault Brigade and the Canadian Armed Forces to test the Army’s “recce-strike” concept, which combines surveillance, reconnaissance and strike capabilities through an AI-enabled network to identify and engage targets more quickly.
Staff Sgt Graham, who joined the Army 17 years ago after leaving Richmond School, is responsible for ensuring commanders receive accurate information about the battlefield.
“My operational role is to work in the brigade headquarters and make sure that we are gathering and presenting the right information to help commanders understand what’s happening on the battlefield,” he said.
“We’ve had GBSR for less than a year and Canada is giving us almost laboratory conditions to learn about the system. The landscape is quite flat and there are no trees or buildings, so we’re getting a pure return on the radar. It’s giving us a baseline for the system, and then we can develop our understanding by using it in more challenging conditions.”
He described how the new technology links multiple sensors together to build a clearer picture of enemy activity.
“Once one sensor picks up something, we can direct all the other sensors onto that track and really build up a clear picture of what it is and what it’s doing – and then decide what to do about it,” he said.
“Using AI to merge and interpret all the data speeds that process from minutes to seconds, and that gives us a head start on the enemy.”
During his Army career, Staff Sgt Graham has served on operations in Afghanistan and on a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Cyprus, as well as training exercises in Norway and Kenya.
Reflecting on his career, he said: “I was always going to be a soldier – my dad was in the Army and all his stories seeped into my brain, and then I watched too many war films.
“I’ve enjoyed it all the way and, as I’m getting towards the end of my career, I wish I could do it all again.”
