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The Air Force Air Mobility Command (AMC) provides global air support for the entire Department of Defense. This includes air support for the President, day-to-day operational support, natural disaster support, humanitarian support, aerial refueling, and, as job number one, warfighter support during operations in hostile environments. AMC’s aircraft fleet contains more airframes than the total of seven major commercial airlines, averages over 900 sorties each day and, in 1999, provided air service to 153 of 197 countries worldwide. AMC may not actually go where "no man has gone before," but it does go to many locations where commercial aircraft do not. AMC’s annual costs exceed $7.0 billion, and its per annum projected growth by geographic region ranges from 3.7% to 13.1%. Consequently, AMC’s daily challenges are not trivial. Further, in a time of shrinking resources, AMC must seek ways to perform its mission more effectively and efficiently. One major response to this challenge is Mobility 2000 (M2K), a comprehensive AMC initiative to modernize Command and Control (C2) enterprise architecture in order to increase operational effectiveness, save on use of personnel and aircraft, and improve safety. M2K leverages new technologies in communications and information systems to significantly enhance the ability of AMC to plan for use of assets, schedule personnel and aircraft, task operating units, and execute operations using America’s air mobility forces worldwide. M2K is a system integration effort to improve the visibility of all AMC resources to AMC decision-makers, enable more efficient decisions, and increase movement of goods and people through the Defense Transportation System. A major M2K goal is to reduce aircrew workload by eliminating time spent on the ground in airports so that they can make more efficient use of their flying duty day. M2K will revolutionize C2 communications and data flow to position the Command for more efficient and responsive air mobility operations in the 21st century. Current operations are hampered by limited support to aircrews, who receive an inadequate near-real time view of the mission and less-than-current information on changes in weather and airport capabilities. Limited connectivity to the aircraft, characterized by only basic voice communications and limited data transmissions, creates problems for the dynamic decision making required in a changing environment. Improved communications to and from aircraft is critical for positive command and control of AMC assets. The AMC MITRE Team provides multi-faceted and wide-ranging support to the M2K concept through its participation in the programmatic approach used to implement it. For example, MITRE personnel were instrumental in developing the vision and concept of operations. Further, the MITRE Team includes leads on corporate architecture, database engineering, and security engineering projects who play key roles in the implementation of M2K. The AMC MITRE Team is a key contributor to the re-engineering, within M2K, of the business practices and supporting information technology in the Tanker Airlift Control Center (TACC). (TACC is the organization responsible for worldwide management of AMC assets and is the command center from which flight managers develop and file flight plans and monitor the flights in progress.) MITRE personnel play key roles in all three M2K critical subcategories: Aircraft Enabling Technology, Communication Pipeline, and Integrated Flight Management (IFM). Aircraft Enabling Technology The vast growth in air traffic presents increasing challenges. All operators of aircraft, both military and commercial, are competing for the best slot times and most fuel-efficient air routes. Civil aviation authorities (as highlighted in the article on global air traffic) are implementing air traffic architecture that will increase system capacity, flight efficiency, and flight safety, and that will culminate, in 2010, with the attainment of dynamic routing (a.k.a. "free flight"). Dynamic routing will give users the freedom to choose their own routes, speeds, and altitudes in near real-time, representing a shift from air traffic control to air traffic management. As a user of the same airspace, AMC must change its business practices to operate within the same architecture. As part of its work with M2K, MITRE is evaluating and recommending new technology for use in a new Advanced Computer Flight Plan (ACFP) system to select the most fuel efficient flight plan. The new system is anticipated to reduce fuel costs by up to 3%; that equates to $20 million per year in savings. The ACFP provides a capability to file flight plans with the FAA electronically, thereby speeding up the flight planning process and reducing the time that the crew spends on the ground developing flight plans. The new ACFP is projected to be operational in FY01. Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) and Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting Systems (ACARS) are two other key M2K aircraft technologies that will keep AMC in synch with the civil aviation community. By leveraging GATM equipment installation and digital data link technologies, AMC will realize real-time, global, end-to-end data connectivity among the TACC, air traffic control systems, and mobility aircrew. MITRE contributes to the implementation of GATM through technology evaluation and implementation planning and execution. Communications Pipeline Other emerging communications capabilities are being exploited to support M2K communications needs through cooperative relationships with such military and civilian agencies as the Air Force Research Lab, ARINC GLOBALink Services, and the Aerospace Command, Control, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Center (AC2ISRC). These relationships form an active, strategic, long-term partnership for continuous insertion and logical development of AMC information technology. MITRE engineers also support the Air Force-wide deployed communications that are critical to AMC. The more robust communication pipeline provided by emerging digital data technology and enhanced applications software will facilitate improvements to C2 processes inside and outside of the TACC and enhance information flow to aircrews planning and flying AMC missions. As a result, real-time connectivity with the aircraft worldwide and automated reporting to the TACC will become a reality. Integrated Flight Management Integrated Flight Management (IFM) is the catalyst for team collaboration among aircrews flying AMC missions, air traffic control, and the TACC, producing more effective planning, communications, and resource utilization. At the core of IFM are the aircrews and the flight managers. Flight managers will be the aircrews’ primary conduit to the full support of the TACC. In a program modeled after commercial airline operations, they will assist aircrew in flight planning and flight following, and will act as a resource to aircrews as they perform their missions. Those who fulfill such supporting functions as weather reporting and maintenance are part of a team that provides the flight manager with resources, planning, and information for decision making. The AMC MITRE Team has played integral roles in developing the first of many tools to implement M2K by supporting the new concept of flight managers. With MITRE providing project management, logical and physical database design, systems interface design, and implementation, an Integrated Management Tool (IMT) prototype was installed, tested, and made ready for use by the flight managers in the TACC in July 2000. The system is projected to be fully operational by 2003, ensuring that AMC can continue to operate effectively and globally in air traffic management. Through the IMT, flight managers can develop flight plans using ACFP, file the plans electronically with the FAA, provide the crews with electronic versions of all documentation required for the flight, and monitor the flight. Flight managers can also use IMT to inform in-flight aircrews dynamically about changes and re-routing as well as to receive information about such changes from the crews. Real-time, global connectivity paired with IFM operations will be a force multiplier. It will put the full complement of TACC resources at the aircrew’s fingertips. Closer coordination and shared responsibilities between the crew and dispatcher will create improved efficiencies in ground time, route and alternate route selection, and bad weather avoidance. These efficiencies will result in significant dollar savings across the command; more importantly, they will result in safer flight operations. Lessons Learned One of the benefits of the AMC MITRE Team’s efforts in supporting the M2K implementation has been the capture of principles by which AMC will build systems in the future. The embodiment of these principles was presented to and endorsed by the AC2ISRC as the method by which to develop C2 systems. Some of these principles, adhered to by the program managers during the implementation of M2K to date, are shown in the table below.
Employing these principles has allowed the AMC MITRE Team to contribute to the successful implementation of the M2K concept to date. For more information, please contact George Tilden using the employee directory. |
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