[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]During spring 2010, Coalition Forces encountered a high level of insurgent activity. Commanders on the ground were faced with the challenge of providing persistent situational coverage of critical U.S., coalition, and host nation areas throughout Afghanistan. In developing a solution, the Army sought to apply valuable lessons learned during Operations Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn in force protection and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR).

In Iraq, the Army introduced a class of capabilities that put sensors onto various towers and aerostats. These systems provided a situational understanding for ground commanders by using a persistent stare capability. In light of the operational success of these systems in Iraq, similar investments were made in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). Today, almost every operating base of significant size has one or more of these ISR and force protection platforms providing overlapping, persistent, day-and-night overwatch of our bases, forces, allies, and the Afghan people.

To further leverage fielded ISR systems, the Army decided in May 2011 to add capabilities. The newest of these is part of the Coalition Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Quick Reaction Capability, which provides an Aerial Layer Network Extension initial operational capability (IOC), among several other capabilities.

The Aerial Layer Network Extension provides improved sensor and communications networking among forward operating bases and combat outposts in Afghanistan so that our forces can communicate and access network resources across widely dispersed areas and challenging terrains.

This Operational Needs Statement (ONS) is being met by reconfiguring Program Executive Office Intelligence, Electronic Warfare, and Sensors (PEO IEW&S) host platforms, primarily the Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment towers and Persistent Threat Detection aerostats. The primary mission for these assets will remain ISR collection and force protection; however, once the C5ISR radios and network solution sets are deployed on elevated platforms, they instantly extend communication links. Thus, the Army will be able to distribute critical data, including biometrics and full-motion video, to lower operational levels in real time, across the country.

A Synchronized Response

The C5ISR ONS was developed in summer 2010. U.S. Forces – Afghanistan (USFOR-A), Task Force 236 from U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), and the Army’s G–3/5/7 LandWarNet Directorate were flooded with ONSs from across Afghanistan’s regional commands. Some of the ONSs requested specific vendor solutions to various command and control (C2) and terrain-related challenges; others asked for broader or more general capabilities. These teams realized that fulfilling these requirements in a piecemeal fashion was likely to result in an expensive, suboptimal, and fractured architecture. Instead, the team developed the C5ISR ONS, which grouped related capabilities under a single, phased requirements document.

Initially, the acquisition approach for satisfying these requirements was business as usual. Once validated, each of the sub-capabilities in the C5ISR ONS was executed by the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (ASAALT) project manager most capable of fulfilling that requirement.

This approach was beneficial in providing a well-scoped, focused requirement to the team with the appropriate expertise in that area. However, this became a disadvantage because the requirements team had produced an integrated, mutually supportive requirements document, while the acquisition team was pursuing an uncoordinated, material solution approach. The Aerial Layer Network Extension capability required extensive integration of products across several project managers, but the acquisition team did not have a framework from which to achieve this.

The challenge was resolved in April 2011, when ASAALT issued a directive assigning the acquisition lead for C5ISR ONS execution to PEO IEW&S, with PEO Command, Control, and Communications – Tactical (PEO C3T) as the principal supporting PEO.

“Soldiers at the tactical edge of the battlefield are a deciding factor in defeating our adversaries. This synchronized response to the C5ISR Operational Needs Statement will empower them through the timely exchange of voice, video, and data, so they can effectively meet their commander’s intent,” said Bill Sverapa, Deputy PEO C3T.

The Challenge: Integration

The desired level of integration was the most significant of several unique challenges posed by the C5ISR ONS. The integration requirement existed at two levels, the first involving the five capabilities being fielded in Phase 1 of the execution, listed here with the project managers (PMs) responsible for them:[/vc_column_text][unordered_list style=”circle” animate=”no”]

• Secure compartmented information to battalion, which allows for the dissemination of highly classified information to a much lower tactical echelon than previously possible; thus time-critical information can reach the tactical operator (PM Warfighter Information Network – Tactical (WIN–T) Increment 1).
• Increased bandwidth to battalion, a significant upgrade to existing satellite communication capabilities fielded to tactical users, with the ability to more than double the available data throughput without requiring new hardware or additional spectrum, thus greatly improving the connectivity of tactically disadvantaged operating bases (PM WIN–T Increment 1).
• Regional broadcast capability, which allows one-way broadcast of large data files, full–motion video, or other bandwidth–intensive applications; frees up the C2 network from congestion caused by these pushes; and avoids the need to ferry disks around the battlefield (PM WIN–T Increment 1).
• Full–motion video,  a two-part capability that takes the stovepiped analog video from ISR and force protection video sources and encodes it so that it is routable on the C2 network, along with the line–of–sight network capacity to carry this and other traffic. The capability allows the commander to view video from supporting ISR and force protection assets (PM Night Vision/Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition (NV/RSTA)).
• Aerial Layer Network Extension IOC, TOWERING OVERWATCH In Iraq, the Army introduced sensors on towers and aerostats to improve force protection and ISR, providing better situational understanding for ground commanders. In light of the operational success of these systems in Iraq, similar investments were made in Operation Enduring Freedom. Here, a Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment tower, which is part of the Base Expeditionary Targeting System of Systems – Combined, is raised on a base in Afghanistan to provide fully integrated views of multiple points.

[/unordered_list][vc_column_text]

Coordinated Planning

The integration, fielding, and logistical coordination of multiple material solution sets, managed by multiple PEOs, seemed to be a daunting task. The first step was to use a simple yet effective tool for achieving integration and clarity of purpose—weekly secure teleconferences initiated by Team C5ISR.

This venue brought together numerous representatives from the C5ISR core team, as well as PM WIN-T, PM NV/RSTA, Army Staff, ASAALT, Army G-3/5/7 LandWarNet, CENTCOM Task Force 236, International Security Assistance Force Joint Command CJ6, USFOR-A CJ6 and ASAALT (Forward), and OEF Regional Commands South and East. This collaborative environment allowed for the frank discussion of requirements, logistics, installation plans, and capabilities, and greatly improved both understanding and support of the C5ISR execution while enabling the rapid resolution of integration issues.

The second major integration challenge existed within the Aerial Layer Network Extension. Executing this capability required testing, design, manufacture, and deployment coordination, along with support of three different platform PMs, including one external to the Army, and five different radio providers. After several weeklong sessions with CENTCOM, G–3/5/7, platform PMs, and theater representatives, the team developed a baseline, high–level aerial layer architecture, which dictated the radio capability and platform to be provided and where they would be fielded. Additionally, the team performed in–depth technical and design reviews, with each platform owner ultimately producing a site–specific bill–of–materials–level design for each site.

These marathon sessions with all key stakeholders were paramount to the initial planning phase. They resulted in not only a detailed design for test, but also a bill of materials for ordering and the input to provide a detailed cost estimate, which gained quick buy-in from DA staff. In parallel, the U.S. Army Communications- Electronics Research, Development, and Engineering Center (CERDEC) Space and Terrestrial Communications Directorate team led multiple iterations of testing at Yuma Proving Ground (YPG), AZ, and produced an Aerial Layer Assessment documenting the safety, performance, and recommended path forward for the integrated material solutions.

“The YPG Aerial Layer Assessment laid the foundation for the material solutions. … We learned a lot about how to integrate communication payloads on what were traditionally ISR platforms,” noted Henry Muller Jr., Director, CERDEC Intelligence and Information Warfare Directorate. “The success of these integration efforts added the much-needed technical credibility this newly formed team leveraged to garner Army Requirements and Resourcing Board [AR2B] approval and funding to execute the IOC phase of the Aerial Layer Network Extension effort.”

Fielding Preparations

Preparation for fielding the C5ISR solution took place in multiple steps. First, the product director teamed early with the Training Support Division (TSD) of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command to build a deployment and training approach. The approach included three distinct deployment teams operating independently, with the requisite skill sets, to facilitate installation and training at the sites identified in the IOC list.

The TSD staffed these teams in time for their participation in several of the testing events at YPG; the results were then integrated with the team’s training in preparation for deployment. This rehearsal, known as the Yuma Proving Ground Training Culmination Event, provided the team members with the hands-on experience of integrating the radios onto the platforms and into the network at the one place outside of OEF where this was possible.

Next, a team went to OEF several months before the aerial layer deployment, to pave the way with the staffs for the deployment as well as to facilitate the ongoing fielding ahead of the other four C5ISR capabilities. “This ONS was too important to us not to have a strong leadership presence downrange, before and during the fielding cycle,” noted BG(P) Harold J. Greene, Program Executive Officer IEW&S. “The forward C5ISR team that we deployed is still paying dividends, as the rotating forces and theater leadership depend on them to educate and reinforce the benefits that the C5ISR gear brings to the fight.”

Conclusion

Team C5ISR is currently fielding all five capabilities across each of the regional commands. Fielding of the Aerial Layer Network Extension began in November 2011, just six months after Army Staff approval and receipt of AR2B funding. We are well-positioned to take on several post–IOC efforts once the initial fieldings have been completed this summer.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]