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Coalition Interoperability Solutions Tested at NSWC Dahlgren During JWID 2003

NAVSEA News Wire

Release Date: 7/11/2003

By JO1(AW) John J. Joyce, NSWC Dahlgren Division Public Affairs

DAHLGREN, Va. - A Spanish soldier sent US Army Staff Sgt. Timothy Knoblach an Artillery Systems Correlative Activity (ASCA) message from Madrid, Spain via a global wide-area network that called for fire on a specific target out of his reach. Instantaneously, a dozen military and civilian visitors on tour at the Joint Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (JWID) 03 in Dahlgren,Va., witnessed a demonstration of coalition interoperability in action - if they didn't blink an eye.

The U.S. Army fire support sergeant - utilizing the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS) - responded decisively to the request by coordinating artillery support with a U.S. Navy warship through the Naval Fires Control System (NFCS).

"Spain is proving they have interoperability with our systems," said Knoblach. "In the past, we had to run back and forth to use a radio. This new digital exchange of information gives us complete control, overcomes language barriers and prevents us from firing on friendly troops . it forces prior coordination before conducting fire missions in a friendly area."

"ASCA (Artillery System Cooperation Activity), enables the Spanish field artillery tactical system to become interoperable with the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps tactical fire support systems," said JWID 03 Dahlgren Site Manager Dennis Warne. "We have to be tactically significant to their systems. We have to correctly and quickly provide data to a multitude of users -- to various nations and cultures that act and think in a different context."

Information sharing across multiple domains - a critical capability in the Global War on Terrorism - is the main concern in coalition interoperability. At the Dahlgren site, a multitude of new information technologies and methodologies were tested to determine their usability in a myriad of combat situations that depend on fast, accurate and secure coalition interoperability.

"This area of interoperability is vital to our warfighting success," said Barry Dillon, head of Naval Sea Systems Command's Theater Warfare Systems Department. "We have got to improve and stay ahead of our adversaries who have equal access to the hardware technologies."

With a focus on "Coalition Interoperability, the 21st Century Warfighter's Environment," JWID's 42 Coalition Interoperability Trials (CIT) assessed at various sites offered a full spectrum of command and control, computer, communication, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) solutions to improve combatant commanders near-term coalition interoperability.

Each CIT, conducted in a simulated operational environment to provide context for warfighter validation of C4ISR solutions, received a comprehensive assessment. Depending on the CIT, evaluations included the warfighter, technical and/or security assessments.

The Secondary Navy Site at Dahlgren was a "virtual" cruiser; USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) -- manned by a coalition of U.S. and New Zealand Sailors -- was instrumental in demonstrating methods of sharing situational awareness information with nations via coalition networks in a Multi-national Naval Task Force (MNTG). The Naval Fires Control System (NFCS) - a Dahlgren demo - also expanded JWID's warfighting capabilities and helped to examine the ability of different nations' logistics systems to support the planning and execution of naval fires.

"From the Combat Information Center (CIC) aboard this virtual ship, our communication with seven different nations in 17 different time zones is instantaneous," said New Zealand Navy Lt. Cmdr. Shane Arndell. Arndell demonstrated the Multinational Naval Task Group (MNTG) trial, an amalgam of command and control, communication and computer capabilities operating in a low-bandwidth, high latency maritime IP environment typical of Allied and Coalition operations.

"We're receiving orders and we're passing the orders and everyone is getting them as soon as you see them," he explained. "It's bouncing off a satellite on a 24 hour basis and it proves we can talk - sort of like in the world-wide, web fashion - and pass information through secure links."

Several hi-speed tools, designed to increase the speed of imagery analysis and targeting by a quantum leap, were introduced at this Dahlgren site. For example, other Dahlgren Demonstrations, the Pilot Aircrew Cockpit Management (PACMAN) system and the Precise Tactical Targeting (PTT) system, are expected to enable aircrews and infantrymen to interoperate and respond within minutes to active targets

"To have a product that allows you to communicate directly with a pilot or a base station or artillery area is absolutely incredible," said Naval Reservist and former Marine, Intelligence Specialist 1st Class Robert Williams who demonstrated both the PACMAN and the PTT systems. "It speeds up the process of targeting from days to minutes - literally. The interest in this system has been one of the greatest in JWID, especially among staff officers. PACMAN is a product that lets you forward what you see on a map, chart or imaging data to someone else so they know exactly what you're looking at and can target that area. It's fantastic."

While planning and executing coalition operations, warfighters found JWID's real-time or near-real-time language translation tools invaluable to share situational awareness information among different nations' logistics systems.