Written by / Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
MIT 2010 Volume: 14 Issue: 5 (June)
Joint Experiment Offers Lessons on Airborne Networking, Irregular War
Military and industry officials are currently reviewing data from the recently completed Joint Expeditionary Forces Experiment 2010 ( JEFX).
The exercise, the final phase of which occurred in April, featured live-fly activities at Nellis AFB, Nev., Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, and elsewhere. It also included numerous simulations. The focus of JEFX 2010 was irregular warfare, with initiatives centered on command and control, ISR and close precision engagement. It provided a forum to experiment with 13 promising technology initiatives, most dealing with some aspect of airborne networking. The airborne network setup for JEFX was the most complex to date, involving multiple experimental and emerging Internet Protocol waveforms.
“IP radios are definitely where we’re headed,” said Colonel Jeff Hodgdon, Enterprise Integration Division director for the Air Force Electronic Systems Center. “The key now is to develop and use IP as effectively as we can.”
The experiment produced numerous data-sharing successes, with ground-to-air and air-to-ground communications working particularly well. Participants also moved data terrestrially over IP effectively, and moved most situational awareness data to and from various locations without much problem.
Moving full motion video, with its huge bandwidth requirements, through the air proved more difficult. Successfully transmitting video between Dugway, where the Department of Defense Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Task Force was operating, and Nellis via an airborne bridge brought particular challenges.
Another successful demonstration, according to Rockwell Collins executives, involved the Tactical Targeting Network Technology (TTNT) and Quint Networking Technology (QNT) initiatives. TTNT and QNT were utilized to enable quick communication, collaboration and networking capability to units at the tactical edge, reducing the “find, fix, track, target, engage and assess” timelines associated with ground fighter engagement.
IT Training Program Aids Wounded Warriors
A proposed mandate in the Defense Information Systems Agency’s draft version of the Global Information Grid Services Management-Operations contract has focused industry attention on the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP), a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping those recovering from severe injuries received in the line of duty to build new careers.
The provision in the draft request for proposals encourages contractors and subcontractors to participate with WWP, and directs them to report twice a year on the number of wounded warriors employed.
One program that could play an important role in such efforts is the Transition Training Academy (TTA), which offers innovative IT training for servicemembers injured on active duty, who face unique challenges as they transition to civilian life or change their military specialty.
TTA was established as a joint effort of the U.S. Department of Labor, Veterans’ Employment and Training Service, Cisco, the Office of Disability Employment Policy and WWP, which administers the program.
The TTA program helps participants explore IT as a potential career and develop new skills with real-world applications. Hundreds of active duty military, spouses and caregivers have completed the TTA program at its current sites: Naval Medical Center San Diego; Brooke Army Medical Center; Camp Pendleton; and the newest center at Fort Bragg. Graduates have gone on to gain full-time civilian employment or return to service in an IT related military career field.
The TTA series courses are taught in a modified, instructor-led classroom setting, supported by Web-based exercises and online learning. The program, which runs for eight weeks, provides a flexible schedule of courses to accommodate participants’ medical and duty requirements, holding the same class twice weekly and allowing for students to attend just six of the eight sessions to graduate. Each class is also available in virtual format. These considerations facilitate attendance, completion and material retention, regardless of physical limitations, medical obligations or duty assignments of the wounded warrior.
The course series includes computer hardware and software support fundamentals, networking, small office home office, network design, and coursework in business application software. The course also includes coursework in mobile computing and computer security.
While the initial course of instruction, “Introduction to Computer Technology,” has no certification, students do receive a certificate of completion from the WWP/ TTA. The follow-on course, which was developed to align with the CompTia A+ Certification Exam, provides a certification should the student choose to complete the CompTia exams. Once the student has successfully shown that he or she is ready to take the exams, the instructor provides a voucher to ensure that the testing process, like the TTA course, is accomplished at no cost to the warrior.
DISA Show Goes On
In the wake of the Nashville, Tenn., flooding that forced cancellation of its Customer Partnership Conference this spring, the Defense Information Systems Agency has scheduled a 2010 DISA Customer and Industry Forum on July 28-29. The event, which will be held at the National Defense University on Fort McNair, Washington, D.C., will combine the agency’s annual forecast to industry with elements of the illfated earlier event.
The agenda will include a plenary session featuring remarks from Lieutenant General Carroll F. Pollett, DISA director, and key officials who will provide details on DISA's lines of operation. There will also be industry-focused briefings by agency leaders, breakout sessions for customers and industry partners, and networking opportunities.
The cost for this event is $125 per person. Capacity for this event is limited, and early registration is encouraged. ♦
