Fall 2006 - Air & Space Power Chronicle - Air Force Link

APJEditor’s Note: PIREP is aviation shorthand for pilot report. It’s a means for one pilot to passon current, potentially useful information to other pilots. In the same fashion, we intend to usethis department to let readers know about air and space power items of interest.Joint Airspace Management andDeconflictionA Chance to Trade in a Stovepipe for Network-CentricWarfareLT COL ALEX WATHEN, USAF, RETIRED*The lack of significant situational awareness in our combined air defense system, which involvedmajor systems such as Patriot, Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS), and Aegis[was a significant shortfall in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)]. We tend to assume that dataare routinely communicated from one system to the other, that targets are correlated, and targetinformation is shared and assimilated by all. We believe that we are a long way from that vision.The communication links, the ability to correlate target tracks by disparate sensors, and the overallinformation architecture are simply not there.—Defense Science Board Task Forceon Patriot System PerformanceTHE MILITARY IS transitioning froma stovepipe (vertically designed systemincapable of integrating properlywith other, similar systems ownedand operated by sister services) to a networkcentric-warfare(NCW) operating environmentas described in Joint Vision 2020. As partof that transition, a concept of airspace managementin the battlespace is being developedby the Air Force Research Laboratory / RomeResearch Site (AFRL/RRS) Requirements andOperations Division. That laboratory is workingin conjunction with the Air Force Commandand Control and Intelligence, Surveillanceand Reconnaissance Center (AFC2ISRC/DOR/DOO) to develop the joint airspace managementand deconfliction (JASMAD) system.The program is being coordinated with AirCombat Command (ACC) and Air MobilityCommand (AMC) airspace managers, as wellas with all interested combatant command(COCOM) service or agency personnel andis being developed with strong support fromthe United Kingdom Ministry of Defense. 1The JASMAD represents an opportunity to reduceor eliminate stovepipe mentalities thatcontinue to thwart true interservice interoperability.Throughout the Department ofDefense (DOD) numerous command andcontrol (C2) systems have been conceptual-*Lieutenant Colonel Wathen is a military defense analyst with the Airpower Research Institute, Maxwell AFB, Alabama.26