TARGETING QUEST
TARGETING QUEST
Combat ID Demonstration Focuses on Reducing
Fratricide and Improving Air-to-Ground Effectiveness.
by Adam Baddeley, MIT Correspondent
Information-sharing and cross-domain network access technology are playing a key role in an ongoing initiative to reduce fratricide and improve targeting in combat operations, particularly from airborne platforms.
A large-scale demonstration of combat identification systems, titled Bold Quest Plus (BQ+), took place this summer with participation by several NATO nations. “We are all about minimizing fratricide, making our shooters better in a gunfight and putting those two things together,” explained John Miller, operational manager, Coalition Combat Identification (CID) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD), Joint Capability Directorate at Joint Forces Command (JFCOM).
“This particular multi-national project is focused at the shooter level rather than the strategic level of warfare,” Miller said. “We are really focused on guys who pull triggers and drop bombs: infantrymen, vehicles crews, forward air controllers, helicopters and the aircrew-executed air-toground mission.”
The battlefield that confronts U.S. and coalition forces today is extremely complex, and expected to remain so into the future. This is especially true in the context of ongoing joint and combined operations in Afghanistan, where coalition forces of differing capabilities and methods of operations are coming face to face with high-speed high-tech warfare in a continuously changing and uncertain environment.
“Fratricide will break down the cohesion of the unit; morale within a coalition task force will degrade, perhaps to the willingness and political will of nations to join coalition task forces, as they can’t be reasonably assured that their own people and equipment will be safeguarded to the maximum extent,” Miller said.
But reducing blue-on-blue casualties is not the only goal of CID, which is also seeking combat advantages against the enemy. “Something that often doesn’t get as much attention is the combat effectiveness side of the equation,” he noted. “What we are also trying to do is make our shooters faster in sorting out what is in front of them, in the dust and dark and smoke and noise. We give them tools to help them to be faster in sorting that out and quicker to pull the trigger on the right target and thereby survive the engagement.
“When working with advanced technologies, it always brings up the need to work on tactics, techniques procedure and associated training, because anytime you put a new tool out there, you have to develop the new procedures to use them properly. A true CID capability takes that all into account,” Miller added.
The ACTD began life in 2001 with the goal of addressing coalition CID interoperability issues, with major demonstrations in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007. Bold Quest Plus, held in July, was the fifth such event. Until 2005, the ACTD was primarily focused on the ground CID arena, but subsequently it has become increasingly involved in airto- ground issues.
BATTLEFIELD TARGET
Information-sharing and cross-domain network access are critical to the success of CID, and there are issues of policy as well as of technology.
“It is not only an issue of what the U.S. is able to share and the procedures for doing that,” Miller explained. “Each nation coming into a collective like the ACTD has to be aware that at this time there are already nine other nations involved, and if we are all going to put our technologies and procedures on the table, we all have to make some agreement to share information. We do that at the working level with the policies that we have in place today.
“When the day is done—and last fall’s Bold Quest was an example of that—we may not be able to share everything, but we are nonetheless able to get the data that is necessary for analysts to produce a report that adequately informs investment,” he added.
The ground CID picture for BQ+ is being generated by the Battlefield Target ID (BTID) device. BTID is a vehicle-mounted transmitter/receiver that operates by sending a millimeter wave LPI/LPD signal back and forth when the commander of an air or ground platform wants to determine the identity of a target.
Both Thales and Raytheon are offering STANAG 4579-compliant BTID systems for NATO nations.
Communications interoperability is the key to the success of CID. Two main communications routes are being used for BQ+. “In this exercise we are focusing on BTID,” said Canadian Army Captain Erik Esselaar, the scenario and execution lead for the Canadian contingent participating in BQ+, as well as the deputy project manager for the Canadian Army’s mounted combat identification project. “We have vehicles with BTID devices transmitting their ground picture among themselves. There is also the BTAPSS [BTID Transponder Airborne Platform Surveillance System]—deployed on a 300 foot tower for the purposes of BQ+— that sends the BTID traffic through to the CID Server, which is then able to send it up to the aircraft [via the ASOC and Link 16 or the EPLRS-based Situational Awareness Data Link].
“The goal is to provide that partnership between BTAPSS and CIDS server to get key data back into the cockpit for the pilot. The second route we are working with is the BTID-equipped forward air controller and the digitally aided close air support system. The forward air controller can see the various targets, lase them with a laser range finder to see where the closest friendly is using BTID, and then through his radio system, send it to the pilot as part of a digital nine-line targeting message,” Esselaar said.
“The basic assessment of BTID was wrapped up in 2006, and we have been adding to it ever since,” said Miller. “BTID is now on an acquisition path that is being collaboratively worked by the Marine Corps.” Major Michael Groh, project manager for Canada’s Mounted Target ID program, discussed plans for BTAPPS’ implementation of the battlefield. “There are two visions for BTAPSS, one for surveillance aircraft such as a P-3 or JSTARS to monitor the battlefield. We are also working with industry to put BTID antenna transponders on fighter aircraft in a pod so they can do direct interrogation of the area and not rely on the combat network,” Groh said.
One of the outputs from earlier Quest demonstrations has been the ASIP SINCGARS Based Combat Identification (RBCI). “RBCI was assessed a couple of times. In the Quest demonstrations, we wrapped it up in a military utility assessment that the joint forces commander signed in 2006. RBCI today is being productionized in SINCGARS radios for the U.S. Army and USMC. Future events will now see Air Force and Marines looking at RBCI from the air perspective, but for ground forces, it is already on the way,” said Miller.
“RBCI is a function embedded within the SINCGARS radios that allows users to determine if there are any friendly units in a targeted area,” said John Wentworth, program manager. “An interrogating radio will send a message out to all radios that identifies a targeted area. Any radios within this area will respond back to the interrogating radio with their identifier and position. These positions will then appear on the interrogator’s mapping display.”
“RBCI has been used in previous JFCOM exercises,” said Wentworth. “In 2005, RBCI prevented 44 fratricides in the Bold Quest Plus predecessor, Urgent Quest. RBCI has proven its potential to be a lifesaving technology, and the initial stages of fielding are occurring now.”
ITT is working on further RBCI developments. “RBCI has been extended to non-radio assets through a device called the RBCI box,” according to Wentworth. “This box is small, about the size of a soda can, and inexpensive. Due to the small size and low cost, the U.S. Army can field RBCI to virtually any unit, allowing for the technology to protect troops that normally would not have a SINCGARS with them.”
COMBAT ID SERVER
The variety of CID devices being considered, such as the BTID, RBCI and situational awareness applications such as FBCB2 and coalition battle management system, all contribute to the common ground picture and can be used to establish a comprehensive CID capability. With multiple sources of CID data, a means of fusing that data is needed. That requirement is being met by the CID Server, which is a recent development in the ACTD first demonstrated during Bold Quest last fall.
“The CID Server is all about flexibility,” Miller said. “Whether it is a server box or software on another platform with each brigade or on an airborne platform, what it does is allow any number of variations of technologies on the ground—for example, BTID RBCID or BFT devices—to provide position location information to users. The CID Server continuously updates that information awaiting an interrogation from fixed wing strike aircraft.
“As an aircraft is preparing to attack a point on the ground, the aircrew focuses on that target area, including the nearest friendlies to the point of attack on the ground. The CID server allows attacking aircraft to generate a query and get a response that is relevant to the target. It is another way to crack the coalition interoperability issue. We are never going to have the same devices, but we can develop the means like the CID Server that enable us to get out there and operate with our own devices and be effective,” Miller said.
“We leverage existing capabilities in a unique way,” explained Eric Hansen, who is responsible for combat identification systems in the sensor systems line of business at BAE Systems Electronics and Integrated Solutions. “We have FBCB2, RBCI and BTIDS systems running in combination because you will never see a pure fielding of any one of those in any given force. We go to these sources at the request of the pilot in order to pull current information with virtually no latency, and then we fuse the results to get the five closest friendly positions to the requested target location. We feed the pilot enough information for him to make a determination of what the friendly situation is in the target area.”
“We are linked to a VMF feed from the FBCB2 in the Tactical Operations Center,” Hansen continued. “Every time a new track updates itself we update our database. When a request is received, we compare the data received from RBCI and BTIDS to the data we have on file from FBCB2. For each track, we take the most recent time stamp so the data represents the most recent position when it goes to the pilot.
BAE Systems has funded the CID server initiative to date and will be working with JFCOM to develop a transition plan in order to take CID Server further. “Our whole plan is to create a service-oriented architecture that supports the various services approached to net-centric operations. We are currently CORBA-based, but will work to transition to Web services. We could run that service as a data service on an existing server. We want to go forward and match that more closely to each service’s architecture,” he said.
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
Raytheon’s’ Situational Awareness Datalink (SADL) is being used as a link to A-10C aircraft in BQ+. It fills a dual role, providing a comprehensive picture of airborne platforms to pilots and aircrew while also linking into the ground networks, displaying the relevant segment of the ground picture to support fratricide avoidance in the close air support mission.
Today roughly 1,200 A-10 and F-16 in various models have been equipped with SADL according to Dennis O’Donoghue, technical director for SADL at Raytheon Network Centric Systems. “The Air Force has plans to install the system on additional platforms, and they are making progress on that as we speak,” he said.
SADL is the same EPLRS radio used by the Army and Marines for their tactical data network, extending that network to the airborne platforms. “The same green box in the aircraft allows them to tie into the tactical network in order to receive the SA picture of the ground below,” O’Donoghue said. “The guys up in the sky are able to see the guys moving around on the ground because they have exactly the same radio hardware and both have the same position location report.”
SADL also is being applied for roles other that Combat ID. For many aircraft, SADL is the only data link on board, and is used in the air-to-air role to transmit SA around the airborne network.
“Using SADL the pilot is able to determine where his wingman is, their fuel and weapon status as well as being able to transmit and receive C2 and text messages, among airborne platforms. In addition to that, we have the deployed SADL/ Link 16 Gateway, which ties in the Link 16 surveillance and C2 picture, bridging the two different networks through the ground and airborne based gateways,” O’Donoghue noted. ”A Gateway is essentially a link waveform translator, and it basically takes the data from one network and puts it on the other. It bridges the gap between the two networks.”
SADL will shortly be issued to forward observers under the TACP modernization program, which is currently awaiting contract award and will involve roughly 400 terminals deployed on the ground. O’Donoghue said, “From the ground, forward observers will be able to directly link into the ground network to get the Blue Force and digitally task airborne members of the network for CAS.” ♦
