USJFCOM: USJFCOM demonstrates improved battlespace awareness capabilities during experiment

Experts monitored and maintain intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) systems from Suffolk, Va., during Extended Awareness III, an exercise happening simultaneously at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. from Sep. 9-23, 2005. Screen like this one showed troop movements, live feeds from unmanned air vehicles (UAVs), and other data gathered from the field. (Official USJFCOM photo by Air Force Senior Airman Bryan D. Axtell)

USJFCOM demonstrates improved battlespace awareness capabilities during experiment

Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance interoperability, tested during USJFCOM’s Extended Awareness III experiment, increased battlespace awareness and improved time-sensitive operations.

By Jennifer Colaizzi
USJFCOM Public Affairs

(SUFFOLK, Va. – Sept. 30, 2005) -– The U.S. Joint Forces Command’s (USJFCOM) intelligence enterprise recently tested dozens of critical intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) processes, methodologies and technologies for interoperability and timely data dissemination.

Extended Awareness III (EA III), the third in a series of experiments, provided the premiere venue for a three-part USJFCOM-sponsored initiative, known as the ISR Troika Project.

The ISR Troika Project forms an integrated ISR architecture which links the Joint Operational Test Bed System (JOTBS), and two Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrations (ACTD), the Adaptive Joint C4ISR Node (AJCN) and Multi-sensor Aerospace/ground Joint ISR Interoperability Coalition (MAJIIC).

According to USJFCOM officials, the ISR Troika Project is designed to give front-line joint warfighters faster access to quality near-real time ISR data.

“There’s a real danger of ambush during convoy operations,” said Air Force Maj. Scott Kunkel, EA III experiment lead in Suffolk. “The guy in the HUMMVEE wants to know if the enemy is waiting around the corner” and this experiment is assessing how well the intelligence assets and processes are working.

Suffolk provides a “reach back” site for the EA III warfighters, who are running convoy operations in the main experiment site at Fort Huachuca, Ariz.

During the experiment, which ran Sept. 9-23, those warfighters could reach back, through a chat capability, to imagery, signals and all-source intelligence analysts from the Joint Transformation Command for Intelligence (JTC-I) who sat in Suffolk at the USJFCOM facility.

“We have access to full-motion real-time surveillance video, via MAJIIC, and can reference a map and then request to redirect a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to collect imagery for coordinates for where our convoy is heading -- before they get there,” said Harry Adams, an imagery analyst, who had video, cartography software, chat and several other software programs open and working simultaneously.

“We can also search archived video to see if things have changed,” said Adams, who is one of several imagery analysts from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), who support USJFCOM intelligence needs.

“This kind of intelligence information is great for the tactical commander on the move,” said Kunkel, who added that ISR Troika is contributing to increased warfighter situational awareness through sensor fused data, sent across a common network.

Comments from experiment participants affirm the experiment is showing how intelligence transformation is increasing battlespace awareness and providing solutions to pressing needs of the front-line warfighter.

According to people who are working on the ISR Troika Project, the EA III experiment showed remarkable ISR interoperability improvements compared to the previous two experiments in the series.

In EA III, the MAJIIC full motion video server is connected to live data feeds from both Predator and Scan Eagle unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). It provided imagery data that could be accessed in near real time.

Kunkel said that JOTBS represents an interoperability concept that promotes payload commonality, standards development, and contributions to joint and coalition cooperation. “It helps in achieving decision superiority on the battlefield.”

During the experiment, the AJCN ACTD, which supports a net-centric collaborative environment, provided a single, multi-mission radio frequency system that enabled seamless interoperable communication, signals intelligence, electronic and information capabilities.

Other capabilities, incorporated in the experiment included:

• Active Data Communications (ADC)
• Cursor on Target (CoT)
• Fusion Technology Test Bed (FTTB)
• Hunter UAV
• LYNX Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
• Mission Battle Management System (MBMS)
• Paul Revere aircraft
• ShotSpotter

Participating organizations included:

• Joint Futures Laboratory (JFL)
• Joint Transformation Command for Intelligence (JTC-I)