Headquarters in a Box
Written by RODNEY PRINGLE
MILITARY INTEREST GROWS IN PREPACKAGED
SYSTEMS DESIGNED TO RAPIDLY BRING COMMAND
AND CONTROL CAPABILITY TO THE BATTLEFIELD.
In the age of network-centric operations, there are few imperatives on the battlefield greater for commanders than mobility and the ability to quickly achieve information dominance. Mobile military command posts are playing a greater role in Army and Marine Corps efforts to better achieve those results.
The structures allow the services to set up communications quickly in areas where there is usually no infrastructure to do so, and they provide command and control capability for commanders on the battlefield. As the need for the military and other agencies to provide mobile communications quickly grows, more companies are offering products to help fill that need.
General Dynamics, with its Combat Operations Centers (COCs), is one such company. Three years ago, the Marine Corps turned to the company to provide a command and control capability for Marine Operational Forces whenever and wherever they operate. The centers were then referred to as Tactical Operation Centers but are now called COCs.
A COC deploys rapidly, setting up within 40 minutes, and serves as a C2 operation station in the field, according to General Dynamics. It includes a network of workstations supporting standard Tactical Data Systems and other mission-critical software, and it has large-screen displays that can take input from any workstation.
The system integrates non-secure and secret voice and data communications, Voiceover-Internet Protocol capabilities and networked servers. Tents, trailers, radios, power generation and other tactical hardware are also integrated for command and control that can be deployed via air, ground or sea. The Marine Corps awarded the original contract to General Dynamics in April 2002.
The company is under contract to build 102 COCs, according to Mike Fallon, director of Marine Corps programs for General Dynamics C4 Systems.
“The threshold requirement for COCs was to do command and control in a static position or fixed position, but it had to be mobile,” he said. “The objective requirement is to do command and control fully on the move. The Marine Corps decided to develop and field the threshold requirement because of the global war on terrorism.”
Kelvin Holt, program manager for operational facilities, Marine Air-Ground Task Force Command and Control Centers, said the COCs have played a key role in Marine Corps operations.
“Decisions are made faster with more confidence because of the increased data/information presented and then the ability for collaboration with all members of the staff,” he said. “Information is being shared easier across the echelons—they are seeing the same thing and are able to share.”
The staff is able to analyze data more quickly as well, Holt added.
“The command and control function in the Marine Corps has been greatly enhanced because of the ability to make decisions quicker, with more confidence and because the receiver at the other end has a better understanding of intent,” he said.
The most important capability of the COC, according to Holt, is “the open collaboration of all staff functions.” The Marines have procured 105 COCs to date, covering all echelons—MEF, division, regiment and battalion—and the requirement is to procure 250 more systems, he said.
REMOTE DEPLOYMENTS
Pacific Star Communications this winter launched the PacStar 5500, a self-managed and secure deployable communications system contained within a lightweight and rugged case and intended for use in war zones, disasters or remote areas. The company describes the 5500 as supporting the need for situational awareness and information superiority in the field, empowering military units and field operations with reliable and secure command, control and communications capability anywhere in the world.
PacStar officials said the 5500 can be transported in a Humvee or helicopter, carried by two people and set up in 10 minutes with single-button operation. The product delivers wireless/wireline LAN, PBX and WAN connectivity; communication to backbone networks via satellite, microwave, free space optics or public switched telephone network circuits; wireless communications that are FIPS 140-2 or NSA Level 1 compliant; and adherence to platforms and codes currently in use by military and commercial contractors.
“During the past several years, changing warfare requirements, disasters, both natural and man-made, and globalization have made apparent the need for communications that can be deployed beyond the reach of traditional networks,” said Robert Frisbee, president and chief executive officer of PacStar.
“Our intention in developing the 5500 was to fill a critical gap in existing communications infrastructure by providing a product that offers full C3 capability no matter how remote, rugged or temporary the location may be, and with the reliability and ease of use required under the most severe conditions.”
Technology product provider CDW-G, meanwhile, is offering its own Mobile Command Center Solution product. The company can either provide the products to fill a mobile command and control center or actually build and integrate one itself, according to Vic Berger, lead technologist and strategic account team manager for CDW-G. “We can design the center, we can build and integrate the center,” he said. “We can do it all.” Almost every military service and some federal agencies have expressed a need for mobile command centers, he said. The disaster response effort for Hurricane Katrina is another example where an effective mobile command center capability would have been a tremendous help.
“We are just looking at applying new technology to an old problem,” he said. “If you can’t communicate, you can’t fight. The military is always looking at how we can communicate, coordinate and command and control better. Now we are looking at the C2 going down into lower and lower levels.”
Berger said having the ability to set up communications quickly is essential to the missions of the military. “We want to be able to move in very quickly and move out very quickly,” he said. “Command and control isn’t setting up tents in this huge infrastructure. It is, ‘What can I pack in the back of my Humvee and how can I communicate effectively with it?’”
Berger said he expects there will be many changes to the mobile command post platform in the near future. “I think what you will see is smaller and smaller packages, more uses and pulling in more capabilities to the point that they become very mainstream in the military as well as other federal agencies,” he said. “What we have today is fantastic. Five years from now, I think we will double or triple our capability.”
COMMAND PLATFORM
Northrop Grumman offers its own mobile military command post platform as well, providing the Command Post Platform (CPP) to the Army. The Army awarded the CPP program to Northrop Grumman Mission Systems sector in August 2004. Under a contract valued at $400 million over five years, the company will develop and field the Army tactical command posts. (See MIT, Volume 9, Issue 3, page 12.)
The CPP provides common digitized command centers with advanced commandand-control technologies to give commanders improved situational awareness using Force XXI Battle Command, Brigade and Below (FBCB2) software and other Army automated battlefield-command systems. It also allows operator and staff to move between organizational echelons without the need for retraining.
“Mobile, modular, digitized, fully integrated command posts built on a common platform will give commanders a critical capability for optimal performance on the battlefield,” said Otto Guenther, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman’s tactical systems division.
Following the initial 18-month contract award, the Army will execute followon options to develop command posts for Stryker Brigade Combat Teams 5 and 6, which will be the first units equipped with the operational test units. Full-rate productive options, which begin in 2006 and continue through 2010, will equip the remaining Army units.
The current contract covers 10 active divisions and 10 brigades, with 26 shelters per division and nine to 11 for separate brigades. The first equipped division will be 1st Cavalry Division, prior to its redeployment to Iraq. This requirement could grow to as much as $1.4 billion as the Army moves to equip command posts at the battalion and lower level. ♦
