Late this June, the littoral waters in and around Southern California provided the setting for the largest experiment and demonstration exercise ever conducted. Known as Kernel Blitz Experimentation 2001, or KBX, the exercise was designed to explore the emerging 21st century naval expeditionary warfare concepts in two major areas: network-centric warfare—the use of voice and data networks to link platforms and units in support of time-critical operations; and ship-to-objective maneuver—the use of emerging technologies to link sea and ground forces while expanding sea-based operations to locations far inland.

For purposes of KBX, operational locations ranged from U.S. Third Fleet naval elements operating several miles off the California coastline to Marine Corps units in the hills of Camp Pendleton, to a participating U.S. Army brigade at El Centro, CA, and to Air Force and Navy air attack assets at China Lake, CA.

Under a scenario that examined the ability of a joint task force (JTF) to ensure the continued flow of maritime traffic through strategic international waterways, KBX provided an umbrella exercise for five separate component experiments: Fleet Battle Experiment-India; Capable Warrior Advanced Warfighting Experiment; Extending the Littoral Battlespace Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ELB ACTD); Commander in Chief 21st Century ACTD (CINC21); and Joint Medical Operations-Telemedicine ACTD.

Each individual experiment or demonstration focused on the potential applications and contributions of information technologies to military commanders in the period 2007-2010. The ELB demonstration, for example, involved application of a wide area relay network communications architecture to link units ashore with Marine Corps reconnaissance elements operating more than 100 miles inland. One of 14 ACTDs currently sponsored by U.S. Pacific Command, the ELB effort was developed and conducted by representatives from the Office of Naval Research under the guidance of an oversight board, executive agents and a senior advisory group.

Wide-band wireless

Referring to the demonstration’s multiyear maturation process, Ray Cole, demonstration technical manager at the Office of Naval Research, explained, “We’ve been working on establishing a wide-band wireless network down to the small tactical unit. There are many who believe—we among them—that the next revolution in warfare is going to be about situational awareness at levels all the way down to the individual.

“If you walk around corporate headquarters today, you see people with portable systems moving around, tracking what’s going on, really staying in touch with their end of the business and communicating on the move. The difference there is that their routers are stationary and built into the infrastructure of the building, while ours are mobile.”

He continued, “We have airplanes or helicopters or, in the future, unmanned aerial vehicles that will carry the package. And, if you can conceptualize it, in the not-too-distant future the package would be small enough that it would be a benign package on just about any airplane or any ground vehicle, and as [the vehicle] moved across the battlefield the network would dynamically reconfigure itself, and it would be transparent to any client on the battlefield who had a device that was trying to do something.”

Where the ‘friendlies’ are

Like others, the Office of Naval Research has learned that “the most compelling information on the battlefield is knowledge of where ‘friendlies’ are,” he stressed. “If you know where ‘friendlies’ are, and you can assume that everything else is the enemy or bad guys, then your approach can be much more aggressive—much more violent. The long and short of it is that, in our operations centers, units from platoons up to regiments spend about 75 percent of their time trying to make sure that they understand where ‘blue’ is so that their operations don’t endanger ‘blue.’ ”

Referring to his own background of 27 years as an infantry unit commander, Cole asserted, “About 75 percent of our communications in those units today is ‘Where are you? I am here.’ If you can put into place an infrastructure of systems that allows them to know exactly where the individuals are, or to know with a high degree of confidence where they are, you can significantly reduce the communications load.”

One example from the scenario supporting the ELB ACTD involved a two-man Marine Corps reconnaissance team operating more than 150 miles inland in 2010. The team observes a column of enemy vehicles moving toward an airfield that will be seized in the near future by fellow Marines. Using their man-portable devices called end-user terminals, some similar in appearance to a laptop while others resembled handheld devices, the reconnaissance element immediately enters and transmits information on the unexpected enemy force to the Combat Operations Center onboard a fleet command ship sailing over the horizon, as well as the airfield assault commander who is already approaching his target by air.

While assault planners make last-minute adjustments to their plans, a few additional keystrokes on the end-user terminal result in transmission of a “call for fire,” which is approved aboard the command ship and, within seconds, forwarded to the “shooter,” the engagement asset best suited for neutralizing the vehicle column (in this case, close air support).

Prototype facilities

The Combat Operations Center during KBX was located onboard the USS Coronado (AGF-11), command ship for the U.S. Third Fleet. In addition to providing the Experimental Combat Operations Center (ECOC) that supported the ELB scenario, the vessel was equipped with a sophisticated Joint Operations Center, as well as other prototype facilities used to support the experiments underlying Kernel Blitz.

“CINC21 is an advanced-concept technology demonstration, as is the ELB,” explained Terry McKearney, onboard technology lead for that demonstration program. “An ACTD is an innovative advanced technology injection program where you take off-the-shelf technology that looks like it’s got a military application and you try to prototype it and put it in the field to see if it does meet the needs of the military user. If it does, you go back and put it into a program that would allow you to buy it and install it.”

Highlighting the rapid turnover in information systems technologies, McKearney said, “What CINC21 is trying to do is to provide collaborative services, network services and visualization tools for senior decision-makers both at the CINC’s headquarters and—why we’re here at this particular exercise—at the joint task force commander’s echelon.”

The KBX scenario involved the execution of a mission by the CINC for U.S. Pacific Command (USCINCPAC), using a joint task force under a JTF commander, aimed at ensuring that a vital international waterway remained open.

“The reason we’re here with the CINC21 information technology is to enhance that collaboration between the staff here, actually doing the warfighting, and the CINC’s staff back at Camp Smith in Hawaii, who may be called on to answer questions or, if necessary, to have the general [Marine Lieutenant General Michael Hagee, JTF commander for KBX] and the admiral [Admiral Dennis Blair, USCINCPAC] sit down together and discuss a problem.”

According to McKearney and other demonstration participants, the range of component technologies and supporting subsystems employed under the demonstration included knowledge base and services (XML, XSL, XMLF; WebLogic by BEA; Oracle 8i); visualization services (XIS by Polexis, GeoVis, Composable Frames II by Science Applications International Corp.); advanced displays (Mini-Wall by Sarnoff Labs, PV-290 by Panoram Technologies); a defense collaboration tool set (NetMeeting and Digital Dashboard by Microsoft, MeetingPoint by CUseeME, Sametime by Lotus); and security and infrastructure (virtual private networks, public key infrastructure and Cisco routers).

‘Knowledge Wall’

The CINC21 hardware and software were installed in a room adjoining the USS Coronado Joint Operations Center, where a range of computer displays presented sea-based warfighters and planners with the latest operational information.

One of the unusual features of the Coronado center was a so-called “Knowledge Wall,” where very-large-format touch-screen display technology facilitated the activities of the Joint Fires Element and others involved in balancing fire requests and target engagements between legacy and experimental systems. Another was the ECOC, where Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Jerothe was observing activities as a representative of the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab at Quantico, VA.

“This is the first time that this particular equipment has been used by an operational command,” Jerothe explained. “That’s the 13th MEU [Marine Expeditionary Unit]. So it’s been put through its paces this week under actual operational command. The ECOC is different from a regular Combat Operations Center because this one is digital.

“The idea behind the ECOC was to provide an environment for a component combat commander to gather information across the battlefield—that’s air, land and sea—in a very quick, rapid, high-tempo environment to stay ahead of his opponent. And what we’re doing here is collecting that information digitally and putting it on the screens. We have the different warfighting capabilities throughout the different stations displayed on a common tactical picture, so now that commander can make decisions more rapidly,” he added.

“What we’re trying to do in the ECOC is to replicate the Landing Force Operations Center of the future that will support Operational Maneuver from the Sea,” echoed Captain Brian Collins, fires officer for the 13th MEU. “And Operational Maneuver from the Sea is the direction that the Marine Corps is heading in the 21st century, and the ECOC demonstrates that we are a ‘no kidding’ Navy and Marine team, which we will need to be in over-the-horizon, ship-to-objective maneuver.”

To facilitate Marine Corps operations closer to inland objectives, KBX encompassed the Capable Warrior Advanced Warfighter Experiment. It marked the culmination of 24 months of preliminary experimentation sponsored by the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab and the I Marine Expeditionary Force.

Included in the experiment was an examination of the command and control issues that will be critical to an operational maneuver force. Specifically, Capable Warrior elements were commanded from the ECOC, which served as the primary execution center for the 13th MEU and Amphibious Squadron Three naval command elements. Staffs from both elements formed an integrated “blue-green” staff that was linked to the field forces by a wide area relay network.

From laptop to handheld

As part of the command and control experiments, Marines in the field worked with a number of experimental hardware systems, including the end-user terminal. They also used three different experimental configurations of the man-portable data terminals, ranging from a Panasonic laptop to a handheld Compaq iPAQ (with 32 MB RAM and BVT-Lite software).

Because of the significant ranges inherent in Operational Maneuver from the Sea, Marine Corps developers also provided some participants with a prototype over-the-horizon communications system. Developed with the help of Orbital Sciences Mobilcom, the handheld radio device uses a notional constellation of rather low-cost, low-orbiting earth satellites (only one is aloft at present, but a full constellation would reportedly include 55 satellites). The device would provide a ground-based Marine with a communications capability extending 400 miles.

Along with voice and data communications systems like end-user terminals and over-the-horizon devices, Capable Warrior experiments also examined the potential combat contributions of new reconnaissance and surveillance systems, including a reconnaissance surveillance targeting vehicle and the new man-portable “Dragon Eye” unmanned aerial vehicle.

While formal analysis of experimental data will likely require several months, initial observations regarding the power of information were quite positive.

“The more people at the lower level are sort of looking around and doing the things that their boss tells them to do before even asking about it, the better,” Blair said. “And I think that’s how the armed forces of the United States are going to win in the future—because we’re not control freaks. We want young people with initiative to be able to exercise it. The 43 other armies, navies and air forces that I see when I travel around the Pacific theater are sort of sitting there waiting for the order to come down, and then we’ll go do it. Meanwhile, our junior people will be off doing the job ahead of time. And that’s going to be our real advantage; information is going to make us do it—education and their basic irreverent but dedicated attitude are going to make it happen. So I’m encouraged.”