4
Coevolution of FORCEnet Operational Concepts and Materiel
Simply grafting new technology to old processes will not work. To fully leverage the advantages technology brings, we must speed our process of innovation and co-evolve concepts, technologies, and doctrine.1
4.1 INTRODUCTION
Chapter 2 introduced the notion of integrating spiral developments of operational constructs and materiel architecture and technology. The operational-construct spiral involves the coevolution of doctrine, organization, training, leadership and education, personnel and facilities (nonmateriel solutions), with changes in materiel to take advantage of emerging technology and dynamic challenges.
However, the traditional process for the acquisition of large, capital-intensive systems—ships, submarines, aircraft, and spacecraft—so-called ACAT I programs,2 is a linear process dominated by large up-front investments in time and resources to ensure that the relatively small number of systems procured are the best and most cost-effective available at the time. That process can be summarized as follows:3
-
Conduct studies and experimentation to refine capability needs and potential solutions;
-
Generate functional capability requirements and priorities;
-
Gain approval of capabilities through the DOD budget;
-
Establish the program, its governance, and its milestones;
-
Conduct design and feasibility studies and establish the initial design;
-
Award contracts for initial, low-rate production; and
-
Reanalyze the design and contracting and award follow-on contracts for full production.
The challenge in implementing FORCEnet is to make this linear process highly iterative and integrate it with concept development, as suggested by Figure 4.1.
The authority for each of the three major FORCEnet implementation activities is indicated in the diagram: the CFFC for operational concept and requirements development; the ASN(RDA) for acquisition and engineering execution; and the OPNAV for program formulation and resource allocation. However, the responsibilities for these activities are even more distributed, as indicated in Tables 4.1 (“Navy FORCEnet Implementation Responsibilities”) and 4.2 (“Marine Corps FORCEnet Implementation Responsibilities”). Although some of this diffusion is required by law, successful implementation of FORCEnet will re-
TABLE 4.1 Navy FORCEnet Implementation Responsibilities
Functional Area |
Organization |
Responsibilities |
Operational concepts |
CFFC |
Oversee concept development and experimentation (CD&E). |
Second Fleet |
Conduct CD&E for Sea Strike and Sea Basing. |
|
Third Fleet |
Conduct CD&E for Sea Shield. |
|
NETWARCOM |
Conduct CD&E for FORCEnet and ensure alignment with joint concepts. |
|
NWDC |
Coordinate CD&E. |
|
Requirements |
CFFC |
Lead development of fleet operational requirements. |
Second Fleet, Third Fleet |
Determine requirements for Sea Power 21 pillars and relate them to needed FORCEnet capabilities. |
|
NETWARCOM |
Determine FORCEnet requirements. |
|
Programs and resources |
OPNAV N6/N7 |
Validate and prioritize FORCEnet requirements for program development and coordinate with other warfare area sponsors. |
OPNAV N8 |
Assess programs for resourcing and requirements. |
|
Acquisition |
ASN(RDA) |
Oversee acquisition of all FORCEnet capabilities and ensure compliance with FORCEnet architecture. |
PEOs |
Oversee program execution in area of jurisdiction. |
|
CNR |
Oversee Navy science and technology development for FORCEnet capabilities. |
|
Engineering |
SPAWAR |
Develop FORCEnet architecture and function as FORCEnet chief engineer. |
NAVSEA, NAVAIR |
Develop architectures for Sea Power 21 pillars. |
|
PEOs |
Apply architectures in program execution. |
|
NOTE: Acronyms are defined in Appendix C. |
quire close coordination of and collaboration among these activities. This chapter examines the activities and the prospects for improving their coordination.
4.2 COEVOLUTION OF OPERATING CONCEPTS AND TECHNOLOGY INTO WARFIGHTING CAPABILITIES
The enhanced capabilities of Sea Power 21 are made possible by the technical capabilities of the FnII and of the systems that it interconnects. More importantly, however, FORCEnet implementation requires the development of new operational processes—concepts of operations and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs)—that take advantage of the new FnII capability if advances are to be achieved in the naval warfighting capabilities represented in Sea Strike, Sea Shield, Sea Basing, and EMW. Coevolution of technical-capabilities development and operational-concept development is the process by which change in one can be synchronized with change in the other.
TABLE 4.2 Marine Corps FORCEnet Implementation Responsibilities
Functional Area |
Organization |
Responsibilities |
Operational concepts |
MCCDC, MCWL |
Oversee concept development and experimentation. |
Requirements |
MCCDC |
Lead long-term USMC requirements. Lead command element requirements. |
DCMC(PP&O) |
Lead ground combat element requirements. |
|
DCMC(Aviation) |
Lead aviation requirements. |
|
DCMC(I&L) |
Lead logistics and facilities requirements. |
|
Programs and resources |
DCMC(P&R) |
Serve as program and resource sponsor for all USMC programs. |
Acquisition |
ASN(RDA) |
Oversee acquisition of all FORCEnet capabilities. |
MARCORSYSCOM |
Oversee and execute all USMC programs. |
|
Engineering |
MARCORSYSCOM |
Conduct engineering development for USMC programs. |
NOTE: Acronyms are defined in Appendix C. |
With such coevolution, when improved capabilities are deployed, the operational concepts initially employed are those currently in existence that are most closely related to the new capability. The operational concepts are adjusted or changed only after experience with the new equipment is gained in the operational environment. For example, when the F/A-18 Hornet was first introduced to fleet operations in the post–Vietnam War era, flight profiles used in large-air-wing strike packages (known as Alpha strikes) required all strike aircraft, regardless of type, to rendezvous and fly together in a large formation to the target for mutual protection en route and to facilitate a coordinated, near-simultaneous attack. This worked reasonably well when the aircraft mix included A-6s, A-7s, and F-14s, because none suffered a significant performance (fuel) penalty for the air speeds and altitudes used en route to the target. Once the F/A-18 took the place of the A-7 in the strike formation, the operational concept for Alpha strikes had to change to allow the F/A-18s, for fuel efficiency, to fly a higher, faster flight profile than that of the A-6s and F-14s. Designating a fixed time on target provided the means for coordinating the attacks, while the F/A-18s flew a different speed and altitude profile to maximize aircraft performance.
Just as introducing new capability stimulates change in operational concepts, changes in the operational environment can drive change as well. An example of such an interaction is found in the contrast between Operation Desert Storm and more recent operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. In Operation Desert Storm, air operations were scheduled via a serial process, the ATO, based on a 72-hour planning and execution cycle. Targets were picked early in the cycle and attacked in the last 24 hours of the cycle. Three 72-hour cycles ran concurrently, each
staggered from the next by 24 hours; thus, as target development was beginning for one, another was in the middle of ATO production, and the third was in execution on the same day. Except for close-air-support missions, specific targets were assigned ahead of time with the publication of the ATO, and they generally remained unchanged as aircrew and sortie assignments were made, flight plans were briefed, aircraft were manned and launched, and weapons were delivered in the execution phase of each 72-hour ATO cycle.
The formality of the 72-hour ATO cycle works well against fixed targets in a war of attrition such as that accomplished by air operations in Desert Storm prior to the initiation of ground action. But the need for more flexibility became apparent with the initiation of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan; in this conflict the operational environment initially precluded basing aircraft within reasonable distances of the targets, and the targets were more fugitive. Mission flight times during Operation Enduring Freedom increased by three to four times over those of Desert Storm, and targets were more transient. In many cases, special operations forces on the ground identified time-sensitive targets that required dynamic pairing of weapons to targets in real time—otherwise the opportunity was lost. To meet the need, the nature of the ATO changed to make more extensive use of a concept called flex targeting, in which some aircraft are launched without target assignments.
This type of change in operating concept, brought about by a change in the operating environment, can have significant impact on the FnII capabilities that are needed. In this example, the location for the delivery to the aircrew of up-to-date battlefield intelligence and targeting information, including recent imagery, moves from the preflight briefing room on deck to the aircraft cockpit airborne somewhere en route to the target. The need for a means to receive—at over-the-horizon distances and display in usable form—the needed intelligence and targeting information places a new requirement on FnII.
The foregoing examples involved new concepts for the use of already-deployed materiel. The coevolution of concepts and materiel may involve experimenting with prototypes so that the value of the combination of new materiel capabilities and concepts for their use can be evaluated as each is refined. The Navy has formalized this process under the name Sea Trial. Figure 4.2 is drawn from the instruction that describes the Sea Trial process. This process begins with the generation of concepts in response to warfare challenges, as discussed in the next section.
4.3 CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
4.3.1 Concept Hierarchies
The Navy’s approach to concept development, applied by the Concepts Development Department of NWDC in partnership with the fleet and the Marine
Corps, is shown in Figure 4.3. FORCEnet is shown as the enabling capability that spans every level of the concept hierarchy. The Marine Corps has a similar concept hierarchy, with the capstone concept EMW, as shown in Figure 4.4.
The Naval Operating Concept flows from the vision of Sea Power 21 and the strategy of Sea Power 21 and Marine Corps Strategy 21, from which the supporting concepts are developed. Naval forces support the pillars of Sea Power 21 (Sea Shield, Sea Strike, and Sea Basing) through specific concepts as well as through traditional naval capabilities.
Figures 4.3 and 4.4 reflect the FORCEnet-enabled capabilities for naval concepts. The Navy specifically intends to support the Sea Power 21 pillars through Mission Capability Packages (MCPs), listed in boxes in the subsections below, whereas the Marine Corps provides specific support to the MCPs in the form of embarked forces, fires, equipment, and capabilities. In addition, the Marine Corps provides general and specific support to Sea Power 21 pillars in the form of task-organized Marine Air-Ground Task Forces (MAGTFs).
4.3.2 Navy Concept Development
NWDC coordinates concept development for the Navy, but the CFFC has assigned concept-development responsibility for the Sea Power 21 pillars to operational agents—the Second Fleet for Sea Strike and Sea Basing and the Third
Fleet for Sea Shield—and has assigned concept-development responsibility for FORCEnet to the NETWARCOM. Note that distinguishing FORCEnet from the Sea Power 21 pillars risks confining “FORCEnet concept development” to the FnII.
Nevertheless, NETWARCOM is engaged in a collaborative effort with many other participants—the Navy War College, the NWDC, the Net-Centric Warfare Directorate of the DCNO for Warfare Requirements and Programs (N71, formerly N61),4 MCCDC, SPAWAR, numbered fleet commanders, and Warfare Centers of Excellence—to provide a functional-level concept that describes how future joint and combined network-centric capabilities may be used to facilitate and enhance naval operations in the 2015–2020 time frame. The functional concept for FORCEnet is intended to support the development process for FORCEnet transformational requirements, the development of the FORCEnet operational architecture, and CD&E. The FORCEnet concept is to evolve to serve as a coherent unifying concept that enables Sea Strike, Sea Shield and Sea Basing. As of this writing, a final draft for senior leadership review was planned for June 30, 2004.5
4.3.3 Marine Corps Concept Development
Concept development in the Marine Corps is a continuing process. It occurs as the nature of warfare changes, trends are identified, capabilities are assessed, and concepts are written and requirements validated. The commanding general of MCCDC at Quantico, Virginia, is formally tasked with concept development for the Marine Corps. Although ideas and initiatives for concepts may originate from numerous sources, the Expeditionary Force Development Center at Quantico actually writes and publishes Marine Corps concepts.
As shown in Figure 4.4, the Marine Corps has several types of concepts. EMW is the Marine Corps capstone concept. EMW is the union of core competencies, maneuver warfare philosophy, expeditionary heritage, and the concepts by which the Marine Corps organizes, deploys, and employs forces. Integrating concepts for MAGTF organizations are broad-based in nature and define capabilities, organizational structures, and force maneuver options. Operational concepts for Ship-to-Objective Maneuver are based on the Marine Corps warfighting philosophy of maneuver warfare: that is, seeking to shatter enemy cohesion through a series of rapid, violent, and unexpected actions that create turbulent and deteriorating situations with which the enemy cannot cope. Functional concepts
BOX 4.1
|
address capabilities in specific areas (such as logistics) and tend to be more technical than operational concepts are.
Before being formally adopted, concepts are exposed to rigorous examination. As concepts are being developed, they are subject to war gaming, experimentation, modeling and simulation, tabletop seminars with subject-matter experts, Marine Corps Unit review, and operational evaluation by fleet forces. Core competencies are signature characteristics of Marines and the Marine Corps.
4.3.4 The Navy Pillar Concepts and Capabilities
The Navy is in the process of further refining and defining operating concepts for the three Sea Power 21 pillars of Sea Shield, Sea Strike, and Sea Basing. The three pillars, together with FORCEnet, constitute the four Naval Capability Pillars (NCPs) (see Box 4.1). Each NCP is further divided into MCPs6 that relate to the broad missions that the NCP is to address (see the subsections below). Each MCP contains several specific capabilities that must be realized to some level in each deploying Joint Maritime Force Package.7
Note in Box 4.1 that the FORCEnet NCP comprises little more than the FnII. Even the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) MCP does not include all ISR capabilities, many of which are organic to platforms in other NCPs. One consequence of this narrow definition of the FORCEnet NCP is to
6 |
The term “Mission Capability Package” has a different meaning in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, as discussed in Section 4.5.1. |
7 |
The composition of deployable force packages is discussed in VADM Michael Mullen, USN, 2003, “Sea Power 21 Series, Part VI: Global Concept of Operations,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, April. |
narrow the role of the Naval Network Warfare Command, which is the FORCEnet operational agent, in devising concepts for network-centric operations.
4.3.4.1 Sea Shield
The Sea Shield NCP has four Mission Capability Packages, which contain the capabilities listed in Box 4.2. The Sea Shield mission is to sustain access in contested littorals, to project defensive power from the sea, and to provide maritime defense for the homeland. The Commander of the Third Fleet, together with Commander of the Seventh Fleet, is assigned the responsibility for advancing Sea Shield capabilities. The Third Fleet command ship USS Coronado (AGF-11) hosts PACOM’s Joint Task Force for Experimentation and acts as the Navy’s sea-based battle laboratory to provide a venue for testing new concepts and technology.
The defenses put in place under the Sea Shield pillar envision the use of large numbers of networked, distributed sensors and weapons. FORCEnet obviously has a major role in connecting all of the elements of Sea Shield.
A draft document entitled “Sea Trial Concept Development Plan—Top Level Version 030213,” provided to the committee by the Commander of the Third
BOX 4.2
|
Fleet, contains an outline for Sea Shield in the three primary mission areas of Littoral Sea Control, Theater Air and Missile Defense, and Homeland Defense, each further subdivided as shown in Box 4.3. An additional “cut-and-paste” level of detail is provided in the document for each of the bullets given in Box 4.3. No further information on the plans for concept development beyond the list was provided. The lists for each warfare area provide insufficient detail and little indication of what Sea Shield will bring to naval warfare that is new or different in operational concepts from what has been the case historically, although homeland defense is a new area altogether in need of much development.
4.3.4.2 Sea Strike
The Sea Strike NCP has four MCPs, which contain the capabilities shown in Box 4.4. The Sea Strike mission is to provide naval power projection focused on offense using both lethal and nonlethal means. The Commander, Second Fleet, in conjunction with the Commander, Fifth Fleet and the Commander, Sixth Fleet, has responsibility for the Sea Strike pillar. Sea Strike capabilities rely on the infrastructure and functionality provided by FORCEnet for command and control and on the ability to transform sensor data and information into actionable knowledge for targeting, maneuver, and strike.
The Second Fleet developed the “Fleet Required Capabilities List for Sea Strike” that includes the following:
-
Command and control (C2) and C4ISR interoperability;
-
ISR data links to ships;
-
Support tools for naval fires;
-
Information operations targeting;
-
Unmanned vehicles;
-
Time-sensitive targeting;
-
Jam-resistant technology for weapons guided using the Global Positioning System;
-
Tactical decision aids for efficiently and effectively conducting operations including two or more warfare areas at once (e.g., antiair and antisubmarine warfare); and
-
Portable and expendable shipboard-launched air targets.
Each of these areas implies the need for some combination of materiel and nonmateriel solution. The Second Fleet has responsibility for identifying and developing nonmateriel approaches where possible, to achieve the required capability. In several of the areas listed the overlap with NETWARCOM responsibilities for FORCEnet is obvious, in that FORCEnet capability will be required to support the fielding of the capability prescribed by the Second Fleet for Sea Strike. Whatever the interaction between the Commander, Second Fleet and
BOX 4.3
|
BOX 4.4
|
NETWARCOM, no detail on operational concepts for Sea Strike as enabled by FORCEnet exists. The dual-spiral (coevolutionary) development process may be a useful way to coordinate the nonmateriel solutions brought forward by the fleet with the technological (materiel) solutions that deliver FORCEnet capability.
4.3.4.3 Sea Basing
The Sea Basing NCP has three MCPs, which contain the capabilities shown in Box 4.5. The Sea Basing mission is to provide independence, mobility, security, sustainment, and endurance for deployed Expeditionary Maneuver forces. Sea Basing underpins the capability provided through Sea Strike and Sea Shield.
The Second Fleet developed the “Fleet Required Capabilities List for Sea Basing” that includes the following:
-
The Joint Force Maritime Component Commander (JFMCC) concept;
-
A collaborative information environment;
-
A multinational information environment;
-
Support tools for intelligence information management, analysis, and fusion;
-
Multilevel security;
-
Standardized connectivity for coalition information technology;
-
Forward logistics;
-
Increased mine countermeasure capabilities;
BOX 4.5
|
-
Maritime intercept operations involving noncompliant ships; and
-
Support of special operations forces from cruisers and destroyers.
As with the “Fleet Required Capabilities List for Sea Strike,” the list for Sea Basing includes several areas that require FORCEnet capabilities for such things as connectivity, information flow, and information management. A draft concept paper for Sea Basing has been written.
4.3.4.4 FORCEnet
The “FORCEnet NCP,” which is really a FnII NCP, has three MCPs, which contain the capabilities shown in Box 4.6. This NCP provides the information that enables knowledge-based operations in support of rapid and accurate decision making. Its functionality includes integrating large numbers of diverse, widely dispersed sensors; sharing and processing the sensor data, together with providing the means for delivering relevant information when and where it is needed for decision making; and enabling the means to turn decisions into action.
Fleet Inputs to FORCEnet. The fleet’s FORCEnet requirements list of the 11 most important items was provided to the committee by the Third Fleet’s J9 organization on the committee’s visit to the Third Fleet. The list contains these items:
-
Data throughput—increase bandwidth;
-
Data throughput—dynamic allocation and management tools;
-
Migration to Internet Protocol-based C5I (command, control, communications, computers, combat direction, and intelligence);
-
360-degree multiband antenna;
-
Multilevel thin client (multilevel security (MLS));
-
MLS and collaboration capabilities;
-
Real-time collaboration and knowledge management;
-
Coalition communications;
-
Multiplatform data throughput allocation (ship-to-ship grid management);
-
Embarkable and transportable mobile C5I modules; and
-
Multi-Tactical Digital Information Link processor.
Most of the FORCEnet requirements listed above are expressed in terms that appear to be preselected technical solutions to operational needs. For example, the 360-degree multiband antenna is a point solution for a reliable (meaning that
BOX 4.6
|
the level of data loss is very low, if any), multiband communications connectivity requirement. Information on how these fleet requirements for FORCEnet relate to and reflect back into each of the Sea Power 21 pillars to provide specific pillar capabilities was not provided to the committee.
FORCEnet Operational Advisory Group. The FORCEnet Operational Advisory Group (OAG), co-chaired by NETWARCOM and MCCDC and composed of members from fleet commands and type commanders, meets twice a year to provide a review and assessment of the needs and requirements of the fleet. The OAG’s first meeting, held in July 2003, considered Navy requirements; the second, held in October 2003, examined the needs of the Marine Corps. The top fleet requirements as determined by the FORCEnet OAG are shown in Box 4.7. Rather
BOX 4.7 Requirements
|
than using a formal analytic process to relate requirements to warfighting effectiveness, the OAG relies on the collective judgment of the group.
4.3.5 Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare and Navy Pillars
Marine Corps Strategy 21 marks the Marine Corps axis of advance into the 21st century. It provides the vision and goals for and aims to support the development of future combat capabilities. EMW is the capstone concept of Marine Corps Strategy 21. It provides the foundation for the way the Marine Corps will conduct operations within the complex environment of the new century. EMW describes the Marine Corps shift from relying on the quantitative characteristics of warfare (mass and volume) to realizing the importance of qualitative factors (speed, stealth, precision, and sustainability).
EMW is firmly aligned with Sea Power 21 and supports the three pillars Sea Strike, Sea Shield, and Sea Basing by providing forces and capabilities directly from the continental United States, from a sustainable sea base, or from adjacent shore locations. The types of interaction that EMW has with each of the pillars is indicated in Box 4.8.
The Naval Operating Concept for Joint Operations describes the naval forces’ unique contribution to future joint and multinational operations. EMW capitalizes on congressional tasking for the Marine Corps to operate as an integrated, combined arms force providing a joint force enabler in three dimensions—air, land, and sea. MAGTFs are the Joint Force Commander’s optimized force, which will enable the introduction of follow-on forces and the prosecution of further operations.
BOX 4.8
|
4.3.6 Naval Power 21 Pillars’ Feedback into FORCEnet
Considering the Mission Capability Packages contained within the FORCEnet NCP (see Box 4.6) and referring to the capabilities included within the three Sea Power 21 pillars, two points can be made:
-
FORCEnet—defined and understood as the network-centric enabler for Sea Power 21—must be considered in the context of the requirements for Sea Shield, Sea Strike, and Sea Basing.
-
An implementation strategy for FORCEnet cannot be separated from the implementation of Sea Strike, Sea Shield, and Sea Basing.
All elements of the Navy need to develop a real understanding of the concepts of Sea Power 21 in order to move beyond legacy activities aimed primarily at relabeling old ideas to fit new buzzwords. The pressure to provide something now tends to override thinking about what FORCEnet, as the enabler of Sea Power 21, is supposed to do. The result is that efforts tend to gravitate toward solving old problems rather than toward addressing the new challenges of Sea Shield, Sea Strike, and Sea Basing and the ways in which FORCEnet relates to them to bring real combat capability to those concepts.
At this point, a detailed understanding of what is involved in each of the NCPs is lacking, particularly for FORCEnet. The lists and tables presented above represent most of what is known about the NCPs: that is, several lists and tables have been developed without a great deal of underlying detail. The absence of detail to date can be attributed to the fact that those engaged in this work at the fleet level have other daytime jobs that tend to inhibit making progress in this area. On visits to the commanders of the Second and Third Fleets, the committee observed that only a few people (most on a part-time basis) are engaged in concept development for the three Sea Power 21 pillars. NETWARCOM appeared to have a larger but still inadequate commitment of resources to FORCEnet concept development. Dedicated resources, particularly staff resources, are needed here.
In order to assess and understand the detailed capability needs within each of the Sea Power NCPs, at a minimum the details of the interactions that occur between the Sea Power pillars and FORCEnet at the mission level must be described and evaluated. Such an evaluation should focus on enumerating the dependencies that exist between the Sea Power pillars and FORCEnet and, conversely, the dependencies that FORCEnet may have on the pillars. As discussed earlier, when building to the capabilities envisioned for Sea Power 21, what can or cannot be achieved in FORCEnet depends on what needs to be done operationally within the pillars. Moreover, what can be done operationally within and among the pillars is dependent on the capability that FORCEnet can deliver and when.
4.4 THE ROLE OF SEA TRIAL
4.4.1 Navy Experimentation
Sea Trial is the Navy process for integrating operational concepts and technology to improve warfighting capabilities through a program of innovation based on experimentation.8 The Naval Transformational Roadmap of July 2002 puts the fleet in the lead for Sea Trial, and the CNO designated the CFFC as the lead agent for Sea Trial. CFFC Instruction 3900.1A for Sea Trial provides policy guidance, assigns responsibilities, and describes the process.9
The Sea Trial concept development and experimentation process is intended to provide a path for rapid maturation of Sea Power 21 concepts and technologies, a way to codify the results of experiments in doctrine, and the means to inform and reflect results in the programs of record. The Sea Trial CD&E campaign plan, maintained by NWDC, is concept-based and aimed at mission capability gaps and fleet priorities. The CFFC Instruction for Sea Trial also establishes the Sea Trial Information Management System (STIMS), in which the details of all Sea Trial experiments are maintained.
The NWDC has been designated the Sea Trial project coordinator and as such is responsible for coordinating the planning and implementation of the Sea Trial process for all the components of Sea Power 21. The Maritime Battle Center (MBC) has been established at the NWDC to serve as the single point of contact for Navy Fleet Battle Experiments (FBEs) and for participation in joint experiments. The MBC is responsible for designing and planning FBEs, as well as for coordinating the execution of these experiments in conjunction with the operational command elements of the numbered fleets and for analyzing and disseminating experiment results. The FBE results are used to accelerate the delivery of innovative warfare capabilities to the fleet, identify concept-based requirements, and evaluate new operational capabilities.10
As part of the Sea Trial process, the CFFC has assigned responsibility for prioritization and coordination for the warfighting concept development and experimentation related to each of the Sea Power 21 pillars and FORCEnet to numbered fleet commanders and the commander of NETWARCOM as opera-
8 |
Another recent study conducted under the auspices of the Naval Studies Board contains additional information on experimentation: National Research Council, 2004, The Role of Experimentation in Building Future Naval Forces, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C. However, that report was not made available to the committee during the course of the present study because it was undergoing Navy classification review prior to its public release. |
9 |
Commander, Fleet Forces Command (CFFC). 2003. CFFC Instruction, 3900.1A, “Sea Trial,” December 22. |
10 |
Additional information is available at http://www.nwdc.navy.mil/MBC/MBC.aspx. Accessed July 24, 2004. |
tional agents. These operational agents “will validate proposed CD&E initiatives…oversee the planning, coordination and conduct of Sea Trial events; and brief results….”11
The operational agents are to make use of fleet collaborative teams (FCTs) chartered by the CFFC. Generally aligned with the Mission Capability Packages associated with the four NCPs discussed previously, FCTs will provide operational agents with the expertise needed to develop and evolve Sea Power 21 operating concepts.
The CFFC Instruction for Sea Trial is comprehensive. It promotes greater Navy-wide participation in experimentation and the CD&E process. The instruction also establishes greater centralized control over the process for approving experiments, which in the view of the committee could serve to stifle the innovation that experimentation seeks to promote.
4.4.2 FORCEnet Innovation and Experimentation at the Naval Network Warfare Command
FORCEnet will be built in an iterative process driven by architecture and experimentation. The process involves the development of a concept and architecture and standards document, subjected to joint and Navy review, that drives the assessment of programs and determination of operational concepts and technical issues that will be resolved through experimentation. This experimentation continuum includes laboratory experiments to evaluate technology, fleet battle experiments to merge operational concepts and systems, and FORCEnet limited objective experiments (LOEs) to test FORCEnet-specific issues and reduce risk for the integrated product demonstrations (IPDs).
NETWARCOM has embarked on a campaign for FORCEnet innovation and experimentation. The approach uses two parallel paths: one for the near term, labeled the FORCEnet prototype path, and another for the midterm and far term, labeled the FORCEnet CD&E path. The prototype path provides the means to field FORCEnet block capability in the fleet immediately to improve joint warfighting. The CD&E path is to feed actionable recommendations from the results of experimentation into the naval capabilities development and planning, programming, budgeting, and execution (PPBE) processes. Both paths look to a process of coevolution among technology, process, and organization. Spiral development is used in a series of fleet-led experiments and exercises that might begin with workshops or war games, spiral into LOEs, and then move to field experiments as a part of fleet exercises. Figure 4.5 illustrates the range of activi-
ties involved in CD&E for FORCEnet.12 All of these activities together constitute the innovation continuum.
4.4.3 FORCEnet Innovation Continuum
Figure 4.6 provides a snapshot of the near-term plan for FORCEnet innovation that includes events ranging from fleet-level experimentation to prototyping to interactions with other joint and Service CD&E in war games. FORCEnet LOEs such as Giant Shadow (LOE 03-1) along the prototype path feed into the bigger events of the annual Trident Warrior series of experiments.
Trident Warrior is established as a series of large-scale Sea Trial events in the joint operational environment. FORCEnet Trident Warrior events are aimed specifically at delivering initial, incremental FORCEnet capability and at developing TTPs and concepts of operations related to the best use of the new FORCE-
net capability. The focus of Trident Warrior is primarily on developing and experimenting with the FnII.
The first Trident Warrior event—Trident Warrior 03, conducted September 25–30, 2003—was a fleet C4ISR experiment cosponsored by the CNO, NETWARCOM, and SPAWAR to demonstrate FORCEnet capabilities with existing C4ISR products and to deliver the first increment of FORCEnet capability to the fleet. The main focus was on exercising robust, dynamically reconfigurable networks in support of command and control and integrated fires for the ESSEX Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG)13 in a Pacific Fleet predeployment at-sea exercise in the western Pacific. The demonstrations included bandwidth optimization through allocation, load distribution, and line-of-sight data transfer; distributed and collaborative command-and-control capabilities with a focus on Blue Force Tracking (BFT); and multitiered sensor and weapon information used to generate joint calls for fire.
Network survivability and reliability improvements were realized using four elements—Advanced Digital Network System (ADNS) for dynamic bandwidth allocation, quality of service (QoS) for maximizing load distribution, Challenge Athena III for increased bandwidth, and Inter Battle Group Wireless Network for line-of-sight data transfer. The ability to reroute data transfers in 10 to 30 seconds was demonstrated as links were broken and remade.
Improvements in joint fires operations—reducing target prosecution times from more than 20 to fewer than 5 minutes—were achieved through the use of several technologies associated with the Supporting Arms Coordination Center– Automated.
Following are several SPAWAR observations14 on Trident Warrior 03:
-
The emergent, Web-based information management tools were underutilized by warfighters owing to the lack of policy fundamentals on how to operate with the tools. This was a noted cultural issue with the forward-deployed naval forces Expeditionary Strike Groups.
-
Manpower levels for newly installed fires support systems are deficient. Many systems are only manned by a single person.
-
The increased bandwidth that was provided was underutilized.
-
Applications were not optimized (Transmission Control Protocol window size) to take advantage of available bandwidth.
Trident Warrior 04 was scheduled for the October/November 2004 timeframe with the TARAWA ESG, to build on Trident Warrior 03 and to provide FORCEnet initial (or Block 1) capability to the fleet. As shown in Figure 4.6, FORCEnet LOE 04-2 and Trident Warrior 04 Wargame precede Trident Warrior 04 and are designed to feed into the larger field experiment. Trident Warrior 04 is a campaign with links to Sea Viking 04, discussed below.
4.4.4 Marine Corps Experimentation
The Marine Corps Combat and Force Development process provides for the Marine Corps what Sea Trial provides for the Navy. The Marine Corps is an equal partner in the Sea Trial process. The commanding general, MCCDC, acts as the Marine Corps’s Sea Trial coordinator. The Marine Corps conducts the Sea Viking Experimentation Campaign in order to inform decisions and strategies for achieving transformational goals for the year 2015. This CD&E campaign is to assess Marine Corps and Navy capabilities in a joint context. The objective of Sea Viking is to develop and assess the composition and employment of the
future sea-based Marine Expeditionary Brigade, ESG, and Expeditionary Strike Force (ESF) capability sets. A time line of objectives for the Sea Viking is shown in Figure 4.7.
4.5 TURNING REQUIREMENTS INTO PROGRAMS
The Sea Trial process diagram (see Figure 4.2) shows two forms of output from operational experiments: “Establish Doctrine” and “System Production.” The single arrow connected to each of these outputs represents a number of processes, described below.
4.5.1 The Naval Capabilities Development Process
The operational agents for warfighting CD&E related to the NCPs generate requirements for new materiel from the experiments, and the CFFC integrates the operational agents’ outputs into fleet capabilities priorities. These priorities are transmitted to the N6/N7 and enter the Naval Capabilities Development Process (NCDP) that validates the requirements and reprioritizes them.
The NCDP deals with Naval Capability Pillars that correspond with the NCPs described in Box 4.1, although the N6/N7 refers to the sets of programs that are intended to supply these capabilities as Naval Capability Packages. The “FORCEnet” Naval Capability Package corresponds principally to the FnII and does not span the entire FORCEnet as defined by the CNO. Each Naval Capability Package contains several MCPs that relate to the stated missions each Naval Capability Package is to conduct, and that include specific capabilities that must be realized to some degree in each Naval Capability Package or deployed maritime force package. Note that to the operational agents, the MCPs are sets of operational capabilities; to the NCDP, an MCP is a set of programs that could provide these capabilities.
The NCDP analysis is based on simulations of campaigns set 10 to 15 years in the future. The simulation scenarios assume future strategic situations, enemy threats, and the availability of the materiel already contemplated in previous Program Objective Memorandums (POMs). Experts view the outputs of these simulations, situations that cause unacceptable losses are highlighted, and an attempt is made to identify capability gaps that caused the excessive losses. Excursions are run on the simulations to identify those MCPs that can close the gap so that priority can be assigned to them.
The limitations of the simulation process include the following:
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Setting up a simulation is so time- and resource-consuming that very few scenarios can be examined in a POM process,
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The simulations are of attrition warfare and do not fully represent effects-based operations, and
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Representation of the FnII, surveillance sensors, and C2 nodes and their decision makers are incomplete or inaccurate.
The committee understands that efforts to ameliorate some of the limitations in the third set are contemplated.
4.5.2 Resourcing
The N6/N7 directs the Navy’s generation and prioritization of internal requirements and passes these priorities on to the N8. The N8 then coordinates the generation of requirements with the Joint Staff through participation in JCIDS.15 JCIDS, a fairly new construct, requires joint oversight on all DOD acquisition efforts that are anticipated to have lifetime costs in excess of a billion dollars (so called ACAT I programs). This requirements-generation process, lasting up to a
15 |
For additional detail on the JCIDS process, see Chapter 3 in this report. |
year, culminates in a set of joint approved system requirements and priorities being delivered by N8.
The N8 then compares the priorities from the N6/N7 against the Navy’s available resources and works closely with the CNO to develop the POM, the DON prioritized budget request submitted to OSD. The ASN(RDA) reviews acquisition program budget changes and new starts during the process to ensure that programs can be certified executable at the programmed levels. Typically, the POM is provided to the DOD about a year before it is anticipated to be voted on by Congress. This year is spent in close discussions with the Congress and the President to develop and pass a final budget.
4.6 PROGRAM ACQUISITION
Once Congress has approved funding for a new start, the ASN(RDA) is able to establish a program office and direct the acquisition of the desired technology or capability. (Note that about 2 years have passed since the need was first identified by the fleet.) The ASN(RDA) and staff, and the Deputy Assistant Secretaries of the Navy, typically work through and with the various naval systems commands and program executive offices to design the acquisition strategy needed to meet the need, and to generate the specifications necessary to develop, acquire, and support the needed capability. This process involves not only additional design and feasibility studies, but also work with potential industrial suppliers to ensure that a cost-effective system can be procured. The process requires the development of numerous documents, plans, studies and assessments, mandated by oversight organizations, prior to the release of a request for proposals (RFP). The development of these documents alone can take an additional year or more. One drawback to this stage is that often the offices establishing the original need (the fleet and the DCNOs) are not included in the acquisition stage. This has led to a concern over how the fleet and DCNOs can more effectively ensure that their needs will be met during the final acquisition stage.
As noted, this current process typically takes several years from concept definition to release of an RFP for procurement. The source selection process itself will take another year before a contract can be awarded for beginning to develop the needed capability. Even after no less then six recent acquisition reforms, the time from identified need to contract award is longer than the time to design, build, and deliver a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)-based capability. This amount of time has been acceptable for large systems (ships, aircraft, spacecraft, and the like), for which basic research or extensive development is required. However, it is not responsive to mission needs that can be satisfied by existing computer-driven technologies in which systems (software and hardware) can go from state of the art to nearly obsolete in the span of a few years.
The NMCI program short-circuited this lengthy process by buying a service versus a system. The time from validation of the need by the Secretary of the
Navy (SECNAV), CNO, and CMC to contract award was less than 1 year. The NMCI program was executed by a PEO empowered by both the acquisition community (ASN(RDA)) and the requirements community (CNO/CMC) to make it happen. The requirement was a one-page document that sufficed because the PEO had representatives on his staff from the requirements community to help develop the procurement specification, and the ultimate users of the capability participated fully in the acquisition and source-selection process. The only impediments hampering speed to capability were oversight organizations external to DON, and even they moved with unprecedented vigor. DOD 5000 series16 policy changes and perhaps legislation would be required to implement this approach for a product versus a service. Since the complaint about speed to capability is long-standing, perhaps it is time to press for the required system changes and accept the increased risk.
However, the applicability of the NMCI model to FORCEnet is limited. One cannot buy all of the elements that contribute to FORCEnet combat power as a commercial service. Although commercial information technology can make substantial contributions to the FnII, many commercial products assume that the networks on which they ride have continuous high-capacity connectivity—a capability hard to maintain in combat, particularly to ships at sea and dismounted riflemen.
4.7 ENABLING TIMELY AND EFFECTIVE COEVOLUTION
The timely and effective coevolution of FORCEnet will require improvements in the three processes shown in Figure 4.1 at the beginning of this chapter (operational concept and requirements development, acquisition and engineering execution, and program formulation and resource allocation) and in the interactions represented by the arrows in that diagram. The material that follows first discusses those activities individually and then discusses the interactions among them.
4.7.1 Improving the Activities
The committee observed that the Sea Power 21 operational agents devoted relatively little time to concept formulation. New concepts can inspire the technical community to explore and prototype new capabilities, and an active concept formulation activity would be alert to new technical capabilities and would be devising new concepts to exploit them and experiments to evaluate them. Devoting more resources to concept development would likely be the activity that
would accelerate progress in the CFFC’s arena (see Figure 4.1) of operational concept and requirements development.
Some committee members, impressed by the resources of the Pacific Fleet and by the operational insights that the fleet has gained from its mission, believe that this fleet could contribute substantially to concept development and exploitation.
A major limitation of the OPNAV process is the separation of the FnII from the other Naval Capability Packages in the NCDP. This separation causes FnII components to compete for funding with the sensors, weapons, and platforms that they empower. A better approach would be to evaluate the combination of weapons, sensors, platforms, and FnII components that constitute a mission thread. FORCEnet engagement packs could be constructs for such evaluations. The process would be significantly improved if the simulation tool limitations discussed in Section 4.5.1 above were overcome.17
All acquisition activity is conducted under the authority of the ASN(RDA). In this capacity, the ASN(RDA) oversees the program executive officers, program managers, systems commands, and ONR. In January 2004, the ASN(RDA) led the first meeting of the FORCEnet Executive Committee (EXCOMM) to address FORCEnet implementation issues. The subjects treated included establishing a FORCEnet implementation baseline and redirecting some current-year funds to support FORCEnet objectives. The decisions and actions of the EXCOMM represent a good start in addressing FORCEnet implementation issues, demonstrating a focus on the future and communicating an urgency for FORCEnet implementation. The meeting, however, had only very limited attendance from the fleet commands; greater senior-level representation of that perspective would aid coordination across all functional areas denoted in Table 4.1 in this chapter.
The committee identified two other opportunities for improving the acquisition process. One, discussed in detail in Chapter 5, would be the promulgation of an architecture that guides functional partitioning and simplifies the integration of new capabilities. The other would be the introduction of some flexibility in the acquisition process.
Today, PEOs presented with specifications and budgets strive for many years to align schedules to meet those specifications, irrespective of what has happened to other acquisitions or to the emergence of new operational constructs and technological opportunities. Keeping the elements of the total FORCEnet synchronized and responding to emerging threats and opportunities requires the ability to change program goals and to reallocate funding among programs without going through the protracted process presently required for major programs.
Some of the needed flexibility may be attainable by administrative action, but it may be necessary to importune Congress to appropriate a mission thread as a unit and permit the Navy more flexibility in allocating those funds among the components that constitute the thread.
4.7.2 Improving Coordination
Beyond improving the three activities designated in Figure 4.1 themselves, there is a need and an opportunity to improve coordination among the activities. As just mentioned, there is no senior fleet representation on the ASN(RDA)’s EXCOMM; that inclusion would improve coordination between the fleet and the acquisition community. More collaborative interaction between the fleet and OPNAV, including the sharing of simulation tools among them, could reduce the dissonance between their respective priority lists. OPNAV should not just pass funded requirements to the acquisition community and wait passively for products to emerge years later. Instead, there should be continuous interaction so that progress in materiel development can be calibrated against changing threats and operational concepts for dealing with them.
4.8 GOVERNANCE
Achieving FORCEnet capabilities will require extraordinary process coordination and integration in order to be successful. To oversee this process, the committee believes that a single organization or decision maker may be necessary—one having the mandate and the authority to align inputs across warfighters, technologists, and numerous functional specialists into a coherent, requirements trade-off process. Such an oversight authority would thus need to report to both the CNO on issues of requirements generation, resourcing, concepts of operations, training, and the like; and to the ASN(RDA) on issues related to system prototyping, contracting, procurement, and production.
4.8.1 Naval Nuclear Propulsion Model
One model for FORCEnet oversight may be Naval Nuclear Propulsion (NNP). NNP provides a service (nuclear power) to the carrier and submarine communities and so must be responsive to the needs of these communities and must coordinate reactor development time lines to match those of the other ship components. NNP is also responsible for all nuclear power plant concepts of operations, requirements generation, acquisition, R&D, training, and experimentation of naval nuclear reactors. Given NNP’s broad roles, its director is given a unique, 8-year term. This long-term awareness and continuous tracking of all relevant activities by the director has been described by many in the Navy as critical to the success and consistency of NNP in producing reliable and useful
power plants of the complexity necessary to meet the Navy’s needs. Another strength of NNP has been the availability of highly competent technical support organizations.
Although the committee agrees that these two characteristics—leadership continuity and competent technical support—are needed for FORCEnet, it also notes that significant differences exist between FORCEnet and nuclear propulsion. For one, NNP’s mandate is over the power plant, while FORCEnet has the potential to impact every individual in the naval Service. NNP was able to start from scratch (no nuclear reactors existed in the Navy before the office was created), whereas any FORCEnet oversight authority will have to spend significant effort aligning legacy systems and existing initiatives.
4.8.2 Future Combat System Model
The Army’s FCS is comparable in scope to FORCEnet in that its materiel aspects include platforms, weapons, and sensors, as well as the equipment that networks them. The Army’s approach to the FCS was to compile a detailed performance specification and then to select a systems integration contractor to which it granted authority exceeding that usually granted to a prime system contractor. The integration contractor decomposes the performance specification into systems, acquires them, and, after they are delivered, will integrate them into the FCS.
The committee expresses little enthusiasm for applying the FCS model to FORCEnet. The FCS model presumes a fixed end state that can be described by a system specification, and it appears to make little provision for the coevolution of concepts and materiel capabilities.
4.8.3 Programs-Acquisitions Coordination Board
Recognizing that authority over acquisitions is vested in the ASN(RDA) and that authority over programs and resources is vested in OPNAV, another option for managing process coordination and integration calls for the formation of a Programs-Acquisitions Coordination Board, co-chaired by the Vice Chief of Naval Operations (VCNO) and the ASN(RDA) to synchronize and coordinate FORCEnet activities in both their domains.18 Because of the broad scope of FORCEnet, the scope of this board would be tantamount to that of a General Board.
The Programs-Acquisitions Coordination Board would have support from a dedicated staff in OPNAV and the office of the ASN(RDA) to monitor events in
both domains and to present issues to the board. The board would meet regularly, and the staff would work issues on a daily basis. The executive secretary of the board, a flag officer or senior executive service equivalent, should have tenure longer than the 2 to 3 years typical for flag assignments.
The Naval Studies Board committee that 5 years ago considered the challenges of realizing network-centric capabilities made a similar recommendation in its report.19
4.8.4 Director of FORCEnet
Although most of the committee believes the Programs-Acquisitions Coordination Board to be superior to the two previous options—the Naval Nuclear Propulsion or the FCS model—some are pessimistic about the forcefulness of a board. They would prefer to give the responsibility for synchronizing and coordinating all of these activities to a single individual, the director of FORCEnet, an O-9 or O-10 who would serve longer than the typical 2- or 3-year term. Because of Goldwater-Nichols requirements, the director of FORCEnet would report to the ASN(RDA) for acquisitions matters and to the CNO or VCNO for other matters. The director of FORCEnet would be supported by the same staff that the Programs-Acquisitions Coordination Board would have.
Because all PEOs must by law report directly to the ASN(RDA), DON’s senior acquisition executive, the director of FORCEnet, would not have line authority over the PEOs. However, if the ASN(RDA) followed the advice of the director of FORCEnet, or if the CNO/VCNO gave the director of FORCEnet control of the funds on which the PEOs depend, the director would have sufficient authority over the PEOs20 to assure that all materiel was acquired in conformance with the FORCEnet architecture. However, giving the director of FORCEnet such wide control over funds might seem to be usurping the authority of the N6/N7 and N8.
4.8.5 Synthesis
The committee agrees that a mechanism is needed to synchronize OPNAV’s program responsibilities and the ASN(RDA)’s acquisitions responsibilities. It
recommends either the creation of the Programs-Acquisitions Coordination Board or the appointment of a senior director of FORCEnet reporting both to the CNO or VCNO and to the ASN(RDA). However, the committee does not have unanimity as to the relative desirability of these two options. Some members believe that boards are not effective and that a strong director of FORCEnet is the only workable option. Others believe that the options are equivalent, because full empowerment of the director would be impractical, and he or she would be relying on the authority of the VCNO and the ASN(RDA), who would be the co-chairs of the board if there were one.
All members of the committee agree that the strength and continuity of the director of FORCEnet or the chief of staff of the Programs-Acquisitions Coordination Board are essential factors for success in implementing FORCEnet, as is the quality of the staff support to the director of FORCEnet or the Programs-Acquisitions Coordination Board.
4.8.6 Oversight by the Chief of Naval Operations
Whatever governance mechanism emerges to coordinate and integrate FORCEnet-related activities, means are needed to keep a fleet perspective in monitoring and accelerating the deployment of new capabilities. Logically, the CFFC would be responsible for reporting to the CNO both on the development of operational constructs and on the effectiveness of materiel being deployed to support these constructs. By periodically setting goals for new operational capabilities, the CNO could provide oversight to the development of both constructs and technical capabilities. A CNO-driven, annually revised master plan with goals stated in terms of operational capabilities to be realized in the near term would motivate all parties.
4.9 FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
4.9.1 Findings
Following are the committee’s findings with respect to the three major FORCEnet implementation activities—operational concept and requirements development, program formulation and resource allocation, and acquisition and engineering execution—and the prospects for improving their coordination.
Coevolution using the dual-spiral approach for the development of the operational construct and architecture of FORCEnet provides positive opportunities for interaction between operators and acquirers as a means to validate solutions for FORCEnet capability needs and gaps. Coevolving technology with concepts, doctrine, and other nonmateriel solutions through greater interaction among users and developers can speed the delivery of improvements in warfighting capabilities to the fleet.
However, very little detail has been developed articulating new operational concepts—only limited descriptive material and certainly nothing with the sort of detail typically found in operational architectures.21 This fact is most likely a consequence of the very limited resources committed to this area. The Second and Third Fleets devote only a few people part time to concept development for the three Sea Power 21 pillars. NETWARCOM appears to have a larger, although still small, commitment of resources to FORCEnet concept development. Interaction between the pillars and FORCEnet as the enabler is very limited. Representatives of the organizations mentioned, especially the Second and Third Fleets, indicated that these limited commitments were a consequence of the many demands (e.g., maintaining readiness) placed on these organizations.
All organizations indicated a serious commitment to experimentation, although generally one of modest scope. The Second Fleet has been active in exploring the use of prototype equipment, the Third Fleet has a history of experimentation centered on the USS Coronado command ship, and NETWARCOM is conducting the Trident Warrior series of exercises, with its experimentation thus focusing largely on the FnII.
The CFFC has underscored the importance of experimentation by issuing a new experimentation instruction (CFFC Instruction 3900.1A for Sea Trial). Furthermore, the CFFC reduced the number of the large fleet battle experiments to allow more of the smaller, limited objective experiments, which should promote greater exploration and innovation. The Sea Trial instruction promotes greater Navy-wide interaction, thereby potentially bringing more ideas and resources to experiments. At the same time, though, this instruction establishes greater centralized control in approving experiments, which could stifle the very innovation that experimentation seeks to promote.
NETWARCOM has an active program for the development of FORCEnet requirements, drawing widespread community participation though its Operational Advisory Group. It does not use any formal analytical methods to relate the requirements to warfighting effectiveness, relying rather on the collective judgment of the group.
The Second and Third Fleets demonstrate only very limited requirements development for the three Sea Power 21 pillars of Sea Shield, Sea Strike, and Sea Basing. While fleet FORCEnet requirements lists have been made, very little interaction of the three pillars with FORCEnet is evident. This limited work is most likely a consequence of limited resources, as described above for operational concepts development.
The NCDP used by OPNAV for formulating and prioritizing programs in response to fleet requirements has not fully explored the interactions between the
FnII and other FORCEnet components and may have led to a competition between the FnII and the other components that it empowers. The modeling and simulation tools used in program assessment are less than ideal, although deficiencies are recognized and efforts to ameliorate some of them are contemplated.
Resourcing of programs takes place years after the need for them has been recognized, and program managers have insufficient flexibility to respond quickly to changes in threats or to new concepts or technological opportunities. The need for more flexibility is particularly acute with respect to the FnII because of the rapid pace of technology advancement.
The influence of the fleet and OPNAV is greatly diminished once a program enters acquisition. If the coevolution of FORCEnet concepts and technology is to be effective, tighter coupling is needed among the activities depicted in Figure 4.1, and mechanisms are needed to accelerate speed to capability.
4.9.2 Recommendations
Based on the findings presented above and on the issues described in this chapter, the committee recommends the following:
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Recommendation for NETWARCOM, and the Second and Third Fleets especially: Devote significantly more resources to concept development. The criticality of concept development to the overall realization of FORCEnet capabilities certainly requires this increase. The committee recommends that CFFC determine whether the increased resources would come by reassigning personnel already assigned to the organizations or by request to the CNO for additional personnel.
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Recommendation for the CNO: Assign the Pacific Fleet greater direct responsibility in Sea Power 21 concept development. This action would apply the sizable resources and operational experience of Pacific Fleet to help redress the current limitations in resources devoted to concept development. The action would also help strengthen the joint aspects of concept development through Pacific Fleet’s relation with PACOM.
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Recommendation for CFFC: Ensure that NETWARCOM plays as broad a role in FORCEnet concept development and experimentation as possible—not just limited to the use of the FnII. This is consistent with NETWARCOM’s charter and reflects the fact that FORCEnet involves forcewide capabilities.
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Recommendation for CFFC: Ensure that the centralized management processes of the new Sea Trial instruction do not stifle innovation. Local initiative is critical to innovation. The Sea Trial management mechanisms should concern themselves with setting broad guidelines and resource allocations within which individual elements in the Navy would be free to innovate. Every experiment, no matter how small, should not require approval by a centralized committee, as would appear to be the case with the new Sea Trial instruction.
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Recommendation for NETWARCOM: Develop analytical means for the development and prioritization of requirements. This would allow requirements to be tied better to warfighting effectiveness and would thereby better support these requirements in the resource-allocation process.
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Recommendation for the Second and Third Fleets: Devote more resources to the development of requirements for the three Sea Power 21 pillars. Needed capabilities for the pillars must be adequately specified in order to determine the necessary FORCEnet capabilities. Means to obtain these resources would be addressed by reassigning personnel already assigned to the organizations or by request to the CNO for additional support.
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Recommendation for the N6/N7 and N8: Develop resource-allocation methods directed at realizing forcewide FORCEnet capabilities. Instead of basing the methods on the current Naval Capability Packages, the Navy should instead use “packages” that inherently reflect network-centric operational concepts. FORCEnet Engagement Packs provide one such example.
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Recommendation for the N6/N7 and N8: Develop (or acquire) modeling and simulation tools that allow faster exploration of scenarios and better measurement of the effects and limitations of information availability and network connectivity in warfare. This will not be an easy task since such tools are in their infancy, but the Navy should be a proponent for the development of these tools.
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Recommendation for the ASN(RDA): Take action to include senior members of the fleet commands in the deliberations of the FORCEnet EXCOMM. Their perspective in general would be useful. In particular, the actions necessary to implement FORCEnet capabilities in a fixed-resource environment could impact near-term fleet readiness and should be accomplished in partnership with fleet representatives.
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Recommendation for the ASN(RDA): Explore methods for increasing flexibility in resource allocation. One approach for doing so is to aggregate program line items into larger line items, including the possibility of establishing a few major lines referring to FORCEnet capabilities (e.g., for implementation of the FnII or for the systems engineering required across the entire fleet). The Navy, in conjunction with the other military Services, could also consider approaching Congress to relax the limit on reallocating program funds. A strong argument for this authority could be made on the basis of the current need to field systems of systems, in contrast to the previous focus on individual systems.
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Recommendation for the ASN(RDA): Review Navy acquisition processes and practices and institute educational measures as necessary, to ensure that programs are providing as rapid a delivery of capability as possible. For example, financial practices could be reviewed to determine means for emphasizing rapid capability delivery while maintaining accountability, and execution instructions could be reviewed to ensure that there is adequate delegation of authority.
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Recommendation for the SECNAV, in conjunction with the CNO and the ASN(RDA): Develop a means to integrate more closely the Navy’s program-formulation and acquisition functions, to ensure that adjustments in program execution are consistent with program intent and best serve the overall need of providing forcewide FORCEnet capability. Options to consider include establishing (1) a Programs-Acquisitions Coordination Board co-chaired by the VCNO and the ASN(RDA) or (2) a director of FORCEnet reporting to the VCNO and ASN(RDA). This recommendation envisions that the board or director (depending on which was chosen) would have a major role in carrying out the other recommendations pertaining to program formulation and resource allocation and to acquisition and engineering execution.
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Recommendation for the CNO: Charter the CFFC to provide periodic assessments of the state of realizing FORCEnet capabilities. The review would include the following: the status and plans for concept development and experimentation for each of the Sea Power 21 pillars and FORCEnet, the current understanding of the set of capabilities required in the fleet, recommended changes in programs to align them better with this set of capabilities, and opportunities for employing acquisition prototypes in naval and joint experiments and exercises. NETWARCOM would provide the staff support to the CFFC in preparing this assessment.
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Recommendation for the CNO, in conjunction with the ASN(RDA): Establish a set of FORCEnet goals to be realized by specified dates in order to drive the implementation process. Examples of these goals include the provision of specified bandwidth increases and networking capabilities to the fleet, the achievement of designated joint maritime and air situational-awareness capabilities, and the achievement of FORCEnet compliance (or phaseout) for a specified set of legacy systems. Goals could also be of a directly operational nature—for example, the ability to destroy a given class of targets within a stated number of minutes after the targets emerge from hiding.
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Recommendation for the CNO, in conjunction with the ASN(RDA): Direct the preparation of an annual FORCEnet master plan for their review. The plan should lay out milestones—with an emphasis on near-term deliverables—for obtaining key FORCEnet capabilities in terms of operational concepts and systems deployment. The purpose of this plan would be to ensure senior visibility and scrutiny of FORCEnet activities and consequent motivation for conducting these activities.