Recently, Air Force Chief of Staff and General, C.Q. Brown said that moving data and making it accessible is the most important and challenging task in its effort to set up the Advanced Battle Management System, a key component of Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2). JADC2 is focused on centralizing and improving command and control coordination of the battlefield for better decision making and faster response times. In today’s data driven military, edge computing is essential for success in the cyber domain. The ability to collect real-time sensor data from the front lines, communicate that data back to central command, enact analysis through AI, render decisions and communicate commands back to the field faster than ever is a seismic shift. The ability to accomplish this across multiple theaters for shared, comprehensive situational awareness, is even more significant. The real world implications of how this can transform the battlefield are clear, but as General Brown noted, executing this objective is anything but easy.
Image Credit: Gen “Mobile” Holmes- Alamo ACE 2019
JADC2 is reliant on peak performance for the entire technology stack: from sensor information collecting millions of disparate data to high speed networking sending these data points to a central command and control where high performance edge computing interprets data through AI and advanced analytics. Once this cycle is completed, archiving data from this process requires petabyte level storage, data management, security and governance for long-term requirements. Battlefield technology is advancing faster than ever. To maintain a competitive advantage requires data driven systems that can support this modern warfare.
Deploying and maintaining the enormous scope of IT infrastructure to support this level of decision making is a significant hurdle that the Department of Defense and Intelligence Agencies will need to partner with industry to overcome. The investment required to support the underlying architecture is massive. As technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, acquiring these capabilities through a cloud-like as-a-service model becomes more attractive by providing access to latest technology and expertise to manage the infrastructure without the upfront costs. The technology exists to bring JADC2 to the battlefield, but much work still needs to be done. Since 2001, ViON has been helping the DoD extend their capabilities and deliver next generation technology faster, starting with a Capacity as-a-Service contract with DISA and growing to over 30 federal as-a-service contracts within the DoD and Civilian agencies.
Bringing new advantages to the battlefield requires innovative thinking, commitment and the resources to make it a reality. ViON’s longstanding history of enabling agencies to achieve their mission with out-of-the-box solutions can provide the technical agility and financial flexibility to deliver next generation technology. See how we help DoD accelerate their modernization objectives and make JADC2 a reality.