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PLCS for data sharing between French MoD and Industry

Presentation made by Sébastien OLIVIER (Direction Générale de l’Armement - French MoD) at 13th NATO LCM Conference, 25 January 2017, Brussels.


PLCS for data sharing between French MoD and Industry - PLCS again and again…


In January 2010, France ratified STANAG 4661, in which ISO 10303-239 standard (PLCS) is encapsulated.

Then, an experimentation of PLCS was realized in 2011 by DGA, the French procurement agency, in order to:

  • study gains in French MoD’s LIS (Logistic Information Systems) applications,
  • consolidate technical and financial recommendations for future implementations of PLCS with development of PLCS interfaces, named DEXs (Data EXchange specifications).

In 2012, French MoD organization for Land systems Support (SIMMT) decided to firstly apply the conclusions of the experimentation on CAESAR program, built by NEXTER manufacturer for French Army, for exchanging and sharing data between NEXTER LIS and SIM@T (LIS for Land systems Support).

This first implementation is based on PENCIL, which is a PLCS database allowing to consolidate exchanged information.

In 2015, SIMMT launched the MAPS project with two main objectives:

  • extension of PENCIL to all the functionalities of SIM@T,
  • generalization of PLCS data exchange with all the land vehicles manufacturers.

The realization of MAPS project is composed by five batches, each batch covers a precise business domain to exchange (applicable configuration, spare part distribution, maintenance repositories, …).

To have an efficient data management during all the lifecycle of new EBMR program, French MoD required:

  • application of ASD/AIA S3000L specification for Initial Support data,
  • usage of DEXs for In-Service Support data.

The presentation will describe S3000L implementation: methodology (LSA activities), selection of data element, searching for a S3000L software.

Finally, we will talk about future potential implementations of PLCS:

  • in French MoD’s LIS for Air systems Support with the study currently conducted,
  • in NATO with the new AC/327 Working Group on Data EXchanges.