“Accelerate, Change, or Lose”, General “CQ” Brown, CSAF22 Strategic Approach, August 31, 2020.

At Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, last week a distinguished group of key leaders across the Department of Defense, the United States Air Force, SPACECOM, STRATCOM, and NORTHCOM as a sponsor and operational lead, came together to ramp up Distributed Information Dominance over the joint domains of Space, Cyberspace, Air, Sea, and Land, to provide the decision making edge in tracking and negating air-breathing target threats, to include cruise missiles, unmanned vehicles, and aircraft threatening the United States homeland. The developing construct is to provide order out of the chaos of data input coming from modern-day and future battlespaces, at the operational and tactical levels of network-centric warfare, without the frictions ingrained in the joint structure’s current separate command and control (C2) processes from each of the services.

“Future battlefields will be characterized by information saturation. One of the key objectives of this onramp was to present a dizzying array of information for participants to synthesize, just like they would see in a real operation,”

“This compelled commanders and operators to trust data analytics and artificial intelligence to understand the battle. Valuing data as an essential warfighting resource, one no less vital than jet fuel or satellites, is the key to next-gen warfare,”

“To overcome technically sophisticated adversaries, our forces need relevant data at machine speeds. ABMS is building a militarized Internet of Things to deliver it.” Dr. Will Roper, Air Force Assistant Secretary for Acquisitions, Technology, and Logistics.

The centralizing construct is called Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) and it fits under a Joint Cross-Domain Communication Architecture being developed to provide decision-makers a distinct advantage by enabling effective and pervasive defense against a complex, layered, and overmatched environment of multiple threats at multiple times. ABMS is an approach to joint warfighting, within the broader concept of Joint All-Domain Command & Control (JADC2), that pursues the networking of all the systems of collection, processing, transmission, and targeting for future Joint All-Domain Operations, at machine speed. ABMS is in a continual process of ramp-ups every four months with a fluid end product in a rapid development and acquisition process that is significantly different from what is normally being done today and has always been done in the past.

This demonstration of the Air Force’s tactical ABMS involved 33 different platforms across all domains, 70 industry teams, and 65 government teams. It included the first use of 5G as it leveraged the use of mobile networks, cloud computing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to process information. The ABMS “On-Ramp” involved service members from all five services utilizing ABMS-provided systems, connecting sensors and fires from ships, submarines, ground troops, aircraft, and commercial satellites to track and engage simulated bombers, cruise missiles, and unmanned vehicles to the U.S. Homeland, as well as negate targets in the cyber and space domains.

There were many breakthroughs that took place last week, a notable one was intercepting cruise missiles through ABMS enabled US Army Paladin self-propelled howitzers firing 155mm hypervelocity projectiles at Mach 5. Bringing the significant cost of intercept down and increasing capacity to intercept to overcome the overmatch of the missile threats. The uniqueness and leadership projection of strategic power and partnership between Army General Jim Dickinson, the SPACECOM Commander with Air Force General Glen VanHerck, the NORTHCOM Commander stands out in this ABMS On-Ramp 2 demonstration.

“The On-Ramp will demonstrate the services progress in developing Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) while showcasing Joint Force operational integration across all domains. The objective is to seamlessly connect the Joint Force’s weapons, sensors, data, and people in real-time, at the speed of relevance.” NORTHCOM statement, September 2, 2020.

The Air Force is delivering an initial ABMS capability in a process very different from the usual DoD acquisition criteria for a 5-year baseline.

“I think we can give them something that is its equivalent, but it’s not going to be written in stone. And I think, ultimately, are we okay writing things in pencil in this building, or do we want that tablet of stone?  If the answer is that table of stone, then we’re going to continue communicating the way the Flintstones did,” Dr. Will Roper, Air Force Assistant Secretary for Acquisitions, Technology and Logistics, YouTube “Ask-me-Anything”, August 25, 2020.

The Air Force is taking a radical approach to acquisition and testing with ABMS. It is similar to the high technology rapid development of Silicon Valley in how venture capitalists champion startup companies that develop rapid technologies and eventually get the best product to market the fastest.

Currently, 54 companies have been included in the ABMS program.  This strategy is designed to encourage competition and streamline the contracting process at the “speed of relevance” which is necessary to get ahead of adversary threats.

“Rapid, iterative experimenting ultimately places relevant capability in warfighters’ hands faster. We cannot afford to slow our momentum on ABMS. Our warfighters and Combatant Commands must fight at internet speeds to win.” General CQ Brown, Joint Base Andrews, September 3, 2020.

We are accelerating. We are changing. We will win.