NATO Calls For RFID

NATO is implementing a pilot radio-frequency identification-enabled supply-chain system to manage the flow of military supplies from Europe to Afghanistan. If successful, the system could be expanded to manage supply logistics among all of NATO's 19 member countries.

The organization has contracted with Savi Technology Inc., a supplier of RFID hardware and software, to implement the system by July. NATO will use the system to track the movement of military supplies at the pallet and container level from NATO bases in the Netherlands and Germany through Uzbekistan to Kabul.

NATO has issued a directive to its members to implement by the end of 2005 technology that provides greater supply-chain visibility. The U.S. military already uses technology from Savi as part of its In-Transit Visibility logistics-management system, and the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense began using the same technology in the run-up to the Iraq war. "This project provides the opportunity now for NATO to adopt a similar solution for consignment tracking," says Col. David Martin, director of the Defense Logistics Organization Operations Center in the United Kingdom.

Savi is supplying its SaviReader SR-650 fixed RFID readers, SmartChain Site Manager software for managing RFID-generated data, and active SaviTag ST-654 RFID tags that can be read at a distance of 100 meters. Project costs were not disclosed.