With help from the Army’s new in-flight internet and mission command capability, commanders of worldwide Response Force units would be capable of plan missions within the air, while their Soldiers receive operational updates and watch full-motion video of upcoming drop zones before their parachutes ever open.
“The ability to grasp a situation can provide the facility to take appropriate action, and if the GRF (Global Response Force) can understand a situation before they get to their drop location, then they are often more practical from the instant boots hit the bottom,” said Lt. Col. Joel Babbitt, product manager for Warfighter Information Network-Tactical, or WIN-T, Increment 1, which manages the recent in-flight capability for the military. “Instead of landing at the ground, analyzing the location and developing execution plans, they’re able to hit the bottom executing.”
The joint GRF essentially comprises two components — the Air Force that supplies and sustains the C17 and C130 aircraft, and the Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps, primarily the 82nd Airborne Division. The GRF must be ready to rapidly deploy at a moment’s notice and effectively command and control forces from the air.
To help meet these requirements, the Army’s new Enroute Mission Command Capability, or EMC2, is being installed on C17 aircraft. The U.S. Special Operations Command, referred to as USSOCOM, which oversees the special operations component commands of every service, already has aircraft outfitted with their very own version of this in-flight capability. The Army’s EMC2 system integrated on additional C17s would expand that initial USSOCOM capability, supporting the increased expeditionary nature of today’s forces.
The Army is scheduled be begin testing of EMC2 installed at the C17s at multiple locations this summer, and the aptitude is anticipated to pass the U.S. Air Forces’ stringent Safe to Fly Requirements by the tip of August 2014. At the current timeline, equipment is predicted to be issued to the XVIII Airborne Corps by the top of the calendar year.
EMC2 provides internet service, mission command applications, full-motion video, intelligence products and collaborative planning tools along side an entire office suite of computers and voice phones — all onboard an airplane. It enables en-route mission command, in order that because the situation develops within the destination target area, commanders shall be in a position to get updates, understand changes at the ground and be capable to adjust their plan to deal with for those changes, Babbitt said.
“It would be a metamorphosis within the situational awareness and effectiveness of the GRF within the first several hours of ground operations,” he said.
One of the primary components of EMC2 is the Fixed Install Satellite Antenna, or FISA, which supplies the net connection for the C17. The same as the aptitude getting used and implemented by today’s schedule carriers, FISA posed a low technical risk for Army adoption. From a frequency perspective, the military is calling to make use of both Ku (commercial) and Ka (military) band in a single antenna at the C17s for maximum bandwidth and efficiency.
“The FISA provides a fourfold increase in bandwidth in order that a brand new host of services may be employed on board, increasing capability for GRF units to plot and maintain critical situational awareness within the air,” said Capt. Mindy Brown, EMC2 lead for PdM WIN-T Increment 1.
The U.S. military already has satellites, airplanes and drones that offer standard and high definition full-motion video. With EMC2, those feeds can now be displayed on board the aircraft on LED screens, including integrated marquees and an intercom system.
“Being ready to see the airfield where you will be landing, to work out that drop zone, helps Soldiers get their heads fully into the operation so that they are better prepared for the mission handy,” Brown said.
The key capability of EMC2 doesn’t just reside within the antenna, but additionally within the incorporation of the most important leader Enroute Node. It’ll provide airborne units with broadband reach-back data capability; secure Voice Over Internet Protocol communications between task force commanders and combatant commanders; in addition to communication between aircraft.
“For the GRF, EMC2 is a fully disruptive technology to the standard way of doing business, and may transform operations,” Babbitt said.
As portion of the GRF mission, with the Air Force providing the aircraft, the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division has deployment-ready paratroopers and infantrymen who can give a direct military capability at the ground in an incredibly short time frame to any location worldwide. In 1991, in its role as GRF, the 82nd Airborne was the primary force at the front line between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, shortly after Kuwait was invaded by Saddam Hussein’s troops. The GRF was also activated for a humanitarian mission through the earthquake in Haiti, in 2010.
Well-equipped, rapidly deployable units similar to the GRF are an essential component of the Army’s evolving force structure because it strives to become a leaner, more capable and expeditionary force. Advanced network capabilities corresponding to EMC2 will continue to extend force mobility and agility by making it easier for Soldiers to get the data they have to succeed, anytime, anywhere.
“EMC2 is not going to only enable the Airborne Task Force commander to raised understand developing situations, but it surely may even increase the situational awareness for each of the joint servicemen and ladies within the aircraft,” Babbitt said. “It really comes right down to mental preparation and the facility to devise ‘on the fly.’”
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