Dominant Logistics
Extreme JTRS - A Combat Data Infrastructure
There's a lot of talk in the Pentagon about a Revolution in Military Affairs but most can correctly recognize that this is the stuff of pipe dreams. The RMA concept is based upon the notion of network centric warfare. Now, netcentric warfare is not necessarily a BAD idea - it is simply unrealistic with forces of the kind we currently possess. What we need to do is establish a Combat Data Infrastructure (CDI) that can provide a network from which these concepts can grow in the future. The Pentagon is too interested in purchasing the high-tech munitions and seems to lack the fortitude necessary to field the physical network to link the sensors.
The Joint Tactical Radio System
A watered down version of what is ultimately required is in the works called the Joint Tactical Radio System, or JTRS. This is a high bandwidth digitial communications network based around software radios that use "waveforms" (software programs) to carry out different radio functions. This is an excellent concept and every effort should be made to get this system online as soon as is humanly possible. While it is enitrely too narrow in scope, it can serve as a basis for future expansion into the CDI that we ultimately require.
The JTRS has two critical capabilities that make it an ideal approach to building a CDI. The first is that by using software radios, we can add features to these radios that are impossible in a normal radio. Theoretically, any technology that is based upon a digital radio signal can be incorporated within the JTRS network. Of particular interest for the CDI is the use of digital cellular phones for unsecured communications, GPS and Extrapolated GPS for unbeatable navigational capabilities, and an effective Identify Friend or Foe system.
The second key feature of JTRS is that by design, the signals can be transmitted and relayed by advanced radar systems called Active Electronically Scanned Arrays (AESA). An AESA radar system uses banks of individual tiles, each of which is a radar transceiver. It is a solid state system allowing the radar to operate in multiple modes simultaneously as well as to engage in a wide variety of modes. All planned future military radar systems are currently designed around AESA systems.
Digital Cellular Phones
Currently, most military communications are transmitted using unsecured radios. Traditional radios require physical encryption keys to secure the signal and these are expensive and require complex management procedures to keep them out of enemy hands. With JTRS, we can use software encryption to make all radios secured but most communications do not require encryption.
Modern digital cell phones include a vast array of features that could be of great benefit in military use. These include text messaging for silent communications, vibrating ringers for silent calling, internet access, data transmission, and calculator features. More importantly, cell phones are very lightweight and easy to use. Most soldiers have their own personal cell phones anyways so including this capability in our CDI network can make use of this available resource without significant cost to the military.
GPS and Extrapolated GPS
Our military travels today using Global Positioning System navigational aids. We also guide weapons using GPS. It is arguably the most important technology of the modern military age. Conventional, low-power GPS capabilities can easily be incorporated within planned JTRS radios but we can also take this technology to the next level.
Conventional GPS can be jammed relatively easily by a variety of means. This is because GPS is based around a very low-powered signal to maximize the lifespan of the satellites that make GPS possible. But with JTRS, it is quite possible to develop what I call Extrapolated GPS (EGPS). We have the capability to build GPS receivers that are highly resistant to jamming and we can include these in major systems like aircraft and combat vehicles. But another possibility is that using JTRS, we can then send out a GPS-type radio signal at a much higher power from these systems to defeat jamming technologies with normal GPS receivers. Moreover, we could have GPS capabilities even if the available GPS satellites were disabled.
Major weapon systems include secondary navigational systems, particularly inertial navigational systems. These are entirely independent of the GPS network. The major systems could then use their other navigational systems to develop a high-powered GPS signal to allow for the use of GPS systems even if the satellites are off-line. This is EGPS and it could easily be incorporated into just about any GPS based system currently in use or planned.
Identify Friend or Foe
One of the oldest problems in the military is the effective identification of friends and foes. An effective IFF system is arguably the most important technology on the horizon that must be developed. To be blunt, we must stop killing our own on the field of battle.
With JTRS, we can develop waveforms for use in the radios that can transmit a specific signal if it receives a specific signal from a vehicle that is targeting it. All of this would be based on software that can easily be changed on a regular basis while in the field. We could also field a JTRS-compatible receiver that would use an infrared beacon that would go off were it to receive the appropriate digital radio signal.
With this approach, we can tailor our IFF system to the capabilities of our opponent. We can choose beacons of whatever type is appropriate to minimize exposing our forces to the enemy. Or we can rely simply upon the radios themselves. By using JTRS, all radios would be capable of supporting a force-wide IFF system.
Escort Vehicles
Traditionally, signal roles have been supported on the ground by dedicated signal units using a variety of radios, antennaes, and other hardware to provide the necessary relay capabilities to transmit signals where they are needed. As warfare transitions to a more manuever based concept, these types of structures are no longer capable of sufficiently meeting the needs of the force. Which is why I propose the use of escort vehicles.
Escort vehicles serve a variety of support roles to a force in which they are embedded. An escort vehicle should be based upon a turret housing a 40mm high-velocity cannon commonly used in anti-aircraft roles. This is an off-the-shelf gun capable of firing multi-role ammunition for use in a variety of roles. Mounted on the side of the turret should be a side rack that would carry either four Javelin/Stinger/Starstreak missiles, two Hellfires, or a 19-round Hydra pack. This makes the Escort Vehicle an effective fire support vehicle as well as a potent short range air defense system.
Rounding out the Escort Vehicle is an AESA radar antenna. This would enable the Escort Vehicle to serve in an even greater variety of roles. The radar can function in a battlefield search mode, a counterbattery mode, an air defense mode, and a jamming mode in addition to functioning as a relay for the proposed JTRS based technologies. With JTRS, the relay and transmission systems function automatically so these can be added to the Escort Vehicle without increasing the load on the crew.
The Escort Vehicle should be integrated throughout the military force providing combat support as well as our Combat Data Infrastructure systems in a flexible, capable, and mobile package.
A Multi-Role U-2
To provide greater coverage for the CDI, we will have to use aircraft but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. The most natural option here would be to develop a new variant of the U-2 spy plane that could operate as a UAV or as a manned aircraft. This makes a number of options possible.
The U-2 is large enough and powerful enough that it can carry a significant amount of payload, far more than traditional UAVs. The U-2 already has numerous optics packages available and if we add an AESA radar to the aircraft we will get support for our CDI as well. This combination brings a couple of interesting capabilities into the mix. As is currently done with Global Hawk, we can use real-time visuals that would be transmitted to the appropriate forces on the ground. This could also be combined with data from a terrain-mapping mode in the AESA to generate a near 3-D imaging capabilty of the battlefield. We can also combine multiple sensor capabilities to verify the authenticity of targets including radar data, infrared data, and other means.
AWACS, AEGIS, and Theater Air Defense
With the Escort Vehicles and U-2s providing the tactical portion of the CDI, these functions are integrated at the higher echelon by AWACS, AEGIS, and Theater Air Defense systems. Future versions of these systems should be AESA-based to allow for the full advantages of AESA capabilities combined with higher-bandwidth JTRS capabilities. This combination will give us a highly mobile and highly capable CDI that will enable us to develop the concepts around which netcentric warfare are built.
The Airborne Laser and Satellites
To link our deployed CDI to our stateside Command and Control elements, we will need a very high-bandwidth system that is global in scope. Currently, this is handled by satellites and should continue in this fashion. We should, however, transition to the use of modular satellites that can be efficiently and affordably deployed by gun-based launchers.
To link the air, sea, and ground elements to the satellite network, we should modify the proposed Airborne Laser for use as a laser communication system. These feature extremely high bandwidth and security and can be deployed effectively anywhere in the world.