News From USJFCOM: Command unveils new command and control vision


Share \|

Command unveils new command and control vision

U.S. Joint Forces Command recently released its command and control vision focused on the human element of leadership and directing near-term efforts toward providing coherent policy, strengthened partnerships, training and education initiatives and joint and coalition capability integration.

• Listen to the podcast

By Robert Pursell
USJFCOM Public Affairs

(NORFOLK, Va. - May 14, 2008) -- An Army unit on patrol takes gunfire from the third house in a row of five.

In the heat of battle, the unit spots civilians in the first house scattering for cover.

The unit can't get to the house so the ground commander calls on his Air Force joint terminal attack controller (JTAC) embedded with the unit for air support. He must be accurate in passing the coordinates to minimize the loss of innocent lives. He sends the information to a pilot in an F/A-18.

The Navy pilot, whose mission grants him the authority to strike, confirms the target through the use of infrared video that he can share with the Air Force JTAC on the ground via handset to confirm the intended target.

The pilot locks onto the target and fires. The streets go quiet and still, except for the innocent civilians who slowly come out of the untouched first house.

You have just read the essence of command and control (C2) according to a new U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) document.

"It shows decentralizing to the right level. It shows irregular warfare. It shows bringing together joint systems and technologies. It shows the warfighter making it all happen from the ground," said Air Force Maj. Gen. David Edgington, U.S. Joint Forces Command's (USJFCOM) director for capability development (J8) who related the example in a recent interview.

This is USJFCOM's new C2 vision.

USJFCOM Commander Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis recently issued a document stressing that first and foremost, C2 is a human endeavor.

"It strikes a balance between the art of war (human interface) and the science of war (technological solutions)," the document states. "The vision emphasizes the inherently human aspects of C2 to include, but not limited to the education and training of our service members and the development of robust tactics, techniques and procedures, while clarifying the policies for technical advances and integration."

Edgington said focusing on C2 as a human endeavor, makes it more leader-centric.

"Command and control is a human endeavor. In other words, we're not talking about toys anymore. We're not talking only about building networks or building screens. The network will empower the commander; it will enable the commander to make those decisions."

Edgington said the vision will actually provide more simplicity for commanders, while also allowing them to decentralize power to a lower level. Empowering lower level commanders offers higher level commanders the opportunity to focus more on the theater-wide mission, how to command it, how to communicate their guidance to their subordinates and what technology to use based on the command and control portfolio.

"This is going to be informed by technological capabilities and we're going to try to get the state of the art, but we're extremely focused on this being command and control as a human endeavor," said Edgington.

"Don't go out and buy the highest technology, when it's not what the warfighter wants, when a commander looks at this thing and sees that it's so complex or so highly technologically-advanced that he doesn't have time for that in war," he said. "A commander in a warfighting situation with troops at risk needs to have access to decision quality information that's going to give him real time information and enable him to execute whatever the right course of action is."

According to Edgington, one of the major priorities of the command's C2 vision is to bring together many of the capabilities that are already out there and synergize them using partnerships with services, combatants commanders, the Joint Staff, agencies and industry.

"We need to establish some standards, but anybody who builds one of these network enabling pieces needs to be able to populate a common system," he said.

Another priority is to look at the technology and ensuring that it's interoperable not just amongst the services but amongst coalition partners as well, said Edgington.

"We're not just doing this with a focus on U.S. systems," he said. "We're sharing with our coalition partners. We may chase some really advanced technology and find out that our coalition partners will never be able to afford or be interested in pursuing that. That could help us decide to go for a less glitzy solution so that we make it more useful to our commanders and allow our coalition partners to come with us on this thing and have a solution that fits better."

Another priority of the C2 vision is to identify outmoded, unhelpful, redundant policy and make it coherent. Edgington said there are hundreds of policies that the vision could help consolidate.

"Some of them are redundant," he said. "Some of these are overcome by events that are not pertinent anymore. Some of them just don't make sense. Some of them are exactly what we need but we may be able to consolidate a few similar ones into some comprehensive documents."

Edgington summed up how all of this will, most importantly, show a direct effect on the warfighter and benefit them in theater.

"The warfighter in theater ought to see that we are focused on the human element of command and control," he said. "We are going to leverage and synthesize all of the existing technologies to have a joint solution, which brings the best of breed and the next generation of all network enablers to allow information display, utility and robustness to allow the warfighters the greatest use of technology in a very dangerous environment, but to be able to bring it all together on the battlefield."