News From USJFCOM: Empire Challenge showcases key points

Empire Challenge showcases key points

An annual demonstration that focuses on distributing mission critical intelligence to the warfighter is currently in progress at several locations in the United States and various other countries.

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By MC2 Katrina Parker
USJFCOM Public Affairs

(SUFFOLK, Va. - July 23, 2009) -- An annual demonstration that focuses on distributing mission critical intelligence to the warfighter is currently in progress at several locations in the United States and various other countries.

Empire Challenge (EC), conducted by U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) and its partners on behalf of the under secretary of Defense for intelligence (USD(I)), focuses on providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) support to warfighters.

Several key players for this demonstration discussed its solutions and capabilities to visitors here today.

"Empire Challenge 2009 (EC09) focuses on improving interoperability with the distributed common ground systems (DCGS) and also looking at what new tools, capabilities and techniques we can bring into the fight to improve the situational awareness of our operational forces," said Christopher Jackson, Integration Division chief at USJFCOM's Joint Transformation Command for Intelligence and a principal investigator for EC09.

This year's demo includes a virtual brigade combat team in addition to the live ISR assets. Both the live and the virtual assets are working together to form a combined task force that collects, analyzes and shares information.

USJFCOM's Joint Intelligence Laboratory (JIL) and the Combined Air Operations Center-Experiment at Langley Air Force Base, Va. conduct the modeling and simulation capabilities and analysis. Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, Calif. hosts the demonstration's more visual aspects.

"China Lake is the tactical edge for this event," said Air Force Col. Skip Krakie, EC09's director for intelligence operations. He spoke to guests via live feed from China Lake. "They offer us a fantastic range where we can conduct operations in realistic environment. It's hot, dry and dusty. It's everything Afghanistan is."

According to Jackson, by putting a demonstration through a laboratory alone, the results may not be the same if it is put into an environment that is operationally representative of what warfighters are facing today. EC09 events include specific scenarios to address joint capability threads. These include irregular warfare, joint ISR management, multi-domain awareness and ISR-strike integration.

"Things might not work as well or as crisply as they do within a compliant environment," Jackson said. "EC09 is a proof of ISR capabilities before we take them into real world situations."

Virtual simulation is used in place of live assets to exercise and experiment with new tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP). Within the JIL, live feeds are shared across distributive architecture to include sites from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and NATO.

"The whole purpose of this is to not just look at and test new technologies," Krakie said. "The real purpose is to see if we can move this data around an enterprise and provide intelligence to the warfighter. It is exciting to see that we can tie this network together and provide data to the warfighter."

Although EC09 will continue until July 31, demonstration leaders are already looking ahead to next year's Empire Challenge.

"We anticipate that it will be dynamic to take into account new technologies and conditions," said Navy Capt. Patrick Donohue, the director of intelligence operations in charge of the execution of EC09 within the Hampton Roads area. "Given the irregular warfare threat we face, a lot of things learned in Iraq and Afghanistan are going to be the focus on how we craft the experimentation to support the warfighters."