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The United States Air Force required approximately 10-15 days, 1500-2000 people and 25 C-17s to establish its forward-deployed Command and Control (C2) baseline during Desert Shield/Storm in 1991. In an effort to project maximum firepower forward, leverage existing national C2 capabilities, and reduce the forward force’s vulnerability, the concept of a Distributed Joint Air Operations Center (D-JAOC) was examined at the Air Force Expeditionary Force Experiment (EFX98). The JAOC was split into two major pieces termed JAOC Forward (JAOC-F) and JAOC Rear (JAOC-R), with additional participants located at strategic remote sites. JAOC-F and JAOC-R were located at Duke Field, FL, and Langley AFB, VA, respectively. The objective was to minimize the forward deployment, sending approximately 125 military personnel to JAOC-F and deploying in 24 to 48 hours using one or two C-17s. The resulting geographic dispersal of decision makers, operators, and combat support personnel posed challenges to the conduct of JAOC operations and created an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the utility of collaborative computing technology to C2 decision-making. MITRE proposed and supported the Collaborative Virtual Workspace (CVW) Initiative in EFX98 to give D-JAOC users a "place-based," virtual collaboration environment. The goal of the environment was to make operations quicker; enhance situational awareness; provide a clear, common vision for near-term and long-term action; and facilitate near real-time mission management. CVW is a MITRE-developed prototype, created to research human collaboration via desktop/ laptop/palmtop computers. The place-based environment for EFX98 included a virtual JAOC building with virtual floors and rooms. Each room was a "place" where users could congregate to communicate in real-time via text chat, electronic whiteboard, audio, and video. The virtual rooms, configured from operator feedback, also served as a repository for providing persistent access to various types of documents. The MITRE team deployed collaborative client software, set up collaborative servers, performed system administration activities, trained over 400 operators, provided over-the-shoulder help to JAOC personnel throughout the EFX spirals and experiment execution, and developed new software to tailor collaborative capabilities based on user feedback. From their normally assigned workstations, all personnel throughout the D-JAOC and those from remote supporting sites were able to use the collaborative environment to find key personnel, plan and coordinate actions, exchange and share information, participate in major decision briefings, and send out alerts for immediate action. Scores of simultaneous "pockets" of real-time collaboration took place as we saw geographically dispersed teams meet in various functionally oriented virtual rooms. The collaborative environment, in conjunction with Theater Battle Management Core Systems (TBMCS) and the underlying network, allowed personnel at all levels to try out new ways of planning, managing, and executing operations across multiple functions. At the divisional, functional cell, and individual level, operators, equipped with collaborative tools and the training to effectively use them, reported using new (collaborative) techniques to execute their functions in support of the D-JAOC mission. EFX98 unlocked the enormous potential of collaborative technology to support distributed C2 decision-making. The participants reported that a D-JAOC would not have been possible without a collaborative computing environment. Support to decision-makers provided by the collaborative environment was not limited to the mere allowance of physical separation. D-JAOC personnel said that the technology actually improved their operations. It also changed their mind set and inspired new thinking on JAOC decision-making processes. Perhaps someday, they speculated, collaborative technology could be the catalyst for changing something as fundamental as the 24-hour ATO into continuous management and execution of aerospace operations. For more details of the virtual collaboration in the D-JAOC, see Details of the Virtual Collaboration in the Distributed Joint Air Operations Center. To learn more about CVW, visit the CVW open source website. For more information, please contact Mike Cokus using the employee directory. |
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