Two F-22s and two F-35s
WASHINGTON: With an eye on a skeptical Congress and the 2021 budget battle, the Air Force has wrapped the first of many planned joint exercises to demonstrate the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS), which the service sees as the heart of DoD’s emerging concept of Multi-Domain Operations.
“Cloud, mesh networking, and software-defined systems were the stars of the show, all developed at commercial internet speeds,” Air Force acquisition head Will Roper said after the exercise.
The stakes are high. The 2021 budget request will be the first big shot at getting ABMS underway. Roper noted in a Nov. 26 speech at the Center for a New American Security and the post-exercise Air Force press release reaffirmed that the service “intends to bolster these resources over the next five years.”
The “ABMS Onramp” test — staged Dec. 16-18 in Florida — involved aircraft from the Air Force and Navy, a Navy destroyer, an Army air defense sensor and fire unit, and a special operations unit, as well as commercial space and ground sensors in a scenario that simulated a cruise missile threat to the US homeland, according to the Air Force.
The exercise “tested technology being developed to enable the military’s developing concept called Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2),” the Air Force release said.
Demonstrating the real-world value of the complex, software-centric ABMS ‘system of systems’ that will enable JADC2 (formerly known as Multi-Domain Command and Control) is key to garnering support from lawmakers, but also from other service leaders, as Roper has admitted.
Specifically, the exercise involved QF-16 aircraft simulating a cruise missile attack. Once the missile signature was detected, the Air Force used “new software, communications equipment and a ‘mesh network’,” to relay the information to the USS Thomas Hudner, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer deployed in the Gulf of Mexico. “The same information was passed to a pair of Air Force F-35s and another pair of F-22s. Also receiving the information were commanders at Eglin, a pair of Navy F-35s, an Army unit equipped with a mobile missile launcher known as HIMARS, and special forces on the ground,” the Air Force says.
(HIMARS, the Army’s M-142 Highly Mobile Artillery Rocket System is mounted on a 5-ton Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles XM1140A1 truck chassis, and can launch six MLRS rockets or one ATACMS missile.)
As I reported earlier this month, the exercise included testing the so-called “dataONE” cloud-based data repository that is intended to eventually house data from all sensors — regardless of service and including commercial sensors — used by the military. The dataONE repository is the successor to the Air Force’s ground-breaking Unified Data Library experiment to compile data from military and commercial space situational awareness radar, telescopes and satellites.
Up to now, ABMS testing has been a piecemeal effort, focused on individual technology demonstrations such as the Global Lightening effort at Air Force Research Laboratory to connect various aircraft to commercial satellites providing Internet capability.
The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, signed by President Trump late Friday, provides $33.6 million for ABMS, a cut of $2 million from DoD’s $35.6 million request. However, given the fact that pieces of ABMS currently are dispersed into a number of experimental projects, the Air Force “expects to receive around $185 million this fiscal year,” the service said.
Reflecting skepticism on both sides of Capitol Hill, the 2020 NDAA demands that DoD and the Air Force provide a raft of documentation explaining the system and presenting a final analysis of alternatives (AoA) by June 2020.
Specifically, lawmakers want to see a “list that identifies each program, project, and activity that contributes to the architecture of the Advanced Battle Management System.” They also want the Air Force to provide the “requirements for the networked data architecture necessary for the Advanced Battle Management System to provide multidomain command and control and battle management capabilities and a development schedule for such architecture.”
Lawmakers also pressed the Air Force to move quickly to insert artificial intelligence (AI) into the ABMS testing effort.
“The conferees understand this concept, the Advanced Battle Management System family of systems, envisions several existing airborne and ground intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and command and control systems connected by resilient, protected communications and data links. Given the intended capability of ABMS, the conferees believes the Air Force should consider prototyping and demonstrating the utility of artificial intelligence and automated sensor fusion as part of the ABMS concept.”
Reflecting the fact that there also remains some skepticism among DoD and service leadership (especially in the Navy) about ABMS and JADC2 despite new-found endorsement by the Joint Staff, the Air Force invited senior Pentagon and service officials to the last day of the exercise. Further, the service engaged Northern Command to put together and manage the scenario. Of course, it is a multi-domain effort and the service would want observers there from all four and from OSD to see what they can do.
As Breaking D readers know, the Air Force intends to develop ABMS capability on a rolling basis, holding testing rounds every four months in what Roper has called “connect-a-thons” with each iteration designed to build upon and resolve problems discovered in the previous go-round.
“In order to develop the right capability that the operator needs at speed, we partner with Combatant Commanders every four months to ensure that what we are building addresses the array of challenges presented by the National Defense Strategy across the globe,” said Preston Dunlap, Air Force Chief Architect and one of the service’s trifecta of ABMS gurus along with Roper and Brig. Gen. David Kumashiro.
Roper further sees the connect-a-thons as an opportunity for industry — including innovative startups — to work directly with the services to rapidly build tailored technology solutions and capabilities.
“Our four-month ‘connect-a-thon’ cycle unlocks industry’s ability to iterate with testers, acquirers, and warfighters. For example, the insights from connecting the F-22 and F-35 for the first time will help our industry partners take the next leap,” he said.
An Air Force spokesperson said that the exercise “went well,” but that Roper will host a round-table to review the full results after the first of the year.
