Survive to be lethal

Today militaries must juggle between being lethal and operating in a more transparent battlefield. This is why survivability has become such a major consideration.

Protection is built through multiple layers, from avoiding detection to defeating incoming threats. The principle is simple: survivability and lethality are not competing priorities. In modern warfare, one enables the other. Put simply, you must survive to be lethal.

A new era of battlefield survivability

The survivability onion may be decades old, but the idea behind it is as relevant as ever. It takes a layered approach to stopping an adversary from finding, targeting, and destroying you.

Today, that challenge is being driven by drones, networked sensors, electronic warfare, and precision-guided weapons. To survive, forces need to manage their signature, maintain situational awareness, and minimise their exposure across the battlespace. Ukraine has shown this in action, with dispersed formations, rapid manoeuvre, multi-spectral camouflage, and battlefield networking helping troops reduce the threat from drone-directed and traditional indirect fire. It is a powerful reminder that survivability is most effective when multiple measures work together.

Making that happen is not always easy. Legacy equipment, training gaps, and the need to integrate communications, sensor, and command-and-control systems can all get in the way. But in a connected battlefield, the ability to bring technology, tactics, and training together is increasingly what gives forces the edge.

Building layers of protection

Layered survivability starts well before an attack. In today's sensor-rich and increasingly transparent battlespace, the aim is simple: avoid becoming a target in the first place.

That starts with understanding the threat. Early warning and situational awareness capabilities, such as the passive electronic warfare sensor Sirius Compact and the Giraffe 1X 3D multi-mission radar, help forces detect, track, and assess threats before they become immediate risks.

The next challenge is avoiding detection. Modern conflicts have shown that once a force is identified and targeted, its options rapidly narrow. Signature management solutions, such as the Barracuda Camouflage System, reduce visual, thermal, infrared, and radar signatures, making vehicles and personnel harder to detect, track, and engage.

The strength of the survivability onion lies in how all the different layers reinforce each other. Each layer enhances the next, creating a more resilient force capable of surviving, manoeuvring, and completing its mission. 

Be lethal

As armed forces seek greater battlefield effectiveness, one truth remains: a force that cannot survive cannot be lethal. The survivability onion shows that combat power begins with protection. Only by preserving freedom of manoeuvre can forces deliver lethal effects.

Capabilities like NLAW offer versatile, proven options for engaging threats ranging from armoured vehicles and structures through to dismounted personnel. 

Training for tomorrow's battlefield

Technology alone does not ensure capability. The effectiveness of any system ultimately depends on its operators and their ability to make decisions under pressure.

Training and simulation are central to both survivability and lethality. The ability to train rehearse realistic scenarios with multiple weapons systems such as the Carl Gustaf and NLAW on a common platform cannot be understated. Training enables soldiers to practise detection, survival, and engagement, ensuring that capability translates into operational effect when it matters most.

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As modern battlefields become more connected and contested, survivability depends on integrating awareness, protection, training, and combat effectiveness into a unified approach. Ultimately, survivability and lethality are interconnected. Each layer of protection enables soldiers to manoeuvre, make decisions, and deliver decisive effects when it matters most.

Survivability is about much more than a single system. To explore how these layers work together on the modern battlefield, visit Saab at DVD 2026 on 16-17 September at Stand SP-12.