Indirect fire can be thought of as aiming and firing a projectile at a target without relying on a direct line of sight between the gun and its target, as in the case of direct fire. Aiming for indirect fire can be performed by calculating azimuth and elevation angles, and may include correcting aim by observing the fall of shot and calculating new angles. Defense organizations may call for indirect/supporting fire during combat operations when it is impractical/not desired for the organization to engage the target itself. In a tactical environment, the indirect fire/supporting fire procedure can involve multiple players.
As mentioned above, indirect fire support can often involve a plurality of players. A Forward Observer (FO) can observe an adversary target, or “High Value Target” (HVT). The FO can determine the Observer Target distance (OTdistance) and bearing (OTdirection) using technology such as a laser range finder or other means. The FO can then transmit the (OTdistance, OTdirection) information to a “Fire Direction Center” (FDC) that is geographically remote to the FO. Since the FO location is already known to the FDC, the FDC can use the FO's position and the (OTdistance, OTdirection) data to calculate the HVT location. Once calculated, the HVT information location can be sent to one or more of a plurality of “Firing Units” (FUs), whose location can also be known to the FDC. The FUs can then use the HVT location, to “fire for effect” on the HVT.
The above-described indirect fire process for even a single HVT can involve a vast amount of data that is required to be generated, manipulated and transmitted between the FO, the FDC and the FU. If multiple HVT's, FO's and FUs are involved, and/or if the HVT is in motion (i.e. the HVT location is changing) the amount of data required to transmit can increase at a geometric rate. This location data could be transmitted via radio, but due to the amount of data to be transferred, the internet can be a more optimal mode of transmission. However, indirect fire can and often does occur in remote areas, out of range of internet servers, so a cloud internet configuration can be more optimal. But for cloud systems, the transmitted location data should be encrypted and in many instances the cloud internet configuration may be nonsecure/untrusted.
In view of the above, it can be an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for transmission of secure indirect fire data that can be transmitted via an unsecure cloud internet environment (i.e. without a trusted server). Another object of the present invention can be to provide a cloud-based system and method for transmission of indirect fire data that can be encrypted at the point of generation of fire data, prior to transmission to the cloud. Still another object of the present invention can be to provide a cloud-based system and method for transmission of indirect fire data that allows for computation of the data with decryption. Another object of the present invention can be to provide a cloud-based system and method for transmission of indirect fire data that is lattice-based and that is secure against quantum attacks. Yet another object of the present invention can be to provide a cloud-based system and method for transmission of indirect fire data that can use homomorphic encryption methods for encryption of the data. Another object of the present invention can be to provide a cloud-based system and method for transmission of indirect fire data that can be used in a cost-effective manner.