On 6 November 1998, a naval warfare firs occurred, when the Enterprise (CVN-65) Battle Group sailed from Norfolk, Mayport, Earle, and New London for the initial Information Technology for the 21st Century (IT-21) deployment. This was the first time a deployed group of ships was outfitted with a substantial internetworking capability.
This first IT-21 deployment was a revolution in connectivity for cruiser-destroyer (CruDes) units. The combination of enhanced IT systems, expanded connectivity paths, and power projection placed them in a prominent role during the execution of Tomahawk strikes in support of Operation Allied Force in May and April 1999. A group consisting of a guided-missile cruiser, guided-missile destroyer, destroyer, and two attack submarines conducted the initial phase of the operation. This example and others lead us to believe that the IT-21 Navy is ushering in "network-enhanced" warfare, where ships are more capable of independent operations and fleet commanders enjoy greater options in conducting strike operations when a carrier is not available.
The first effect of IT-21 to be noticed was how rapidly e-mail was adopted. It became a routine part of business so quickly that ships with no e-mail capability just a few months before found that their routines were interrupted whenever e-mail capability was down. Once they had the ability to communicate via SIPRNet (the secret internet protocol routing network), there was no turning back to less effective communication paths. A loss in the enhanced coordination and planning ability provided by operational use of SIPRNet was as critical as the loss of any major communications path.
The number of NIPRNet (non-secure internet protocol routing network) e-mails to and from the Enterprise during the deployment totaled more than five million. Many of these were personal, although there also was large official use of unclassified e-mail, because many shore commands do not have SIPRNet access.
On SIPRNet, e-mail use increased steadily throughout the deployment (see Figure 1). This was a result not only of the additional complexity of our operations as we entered the Mediterranean and then returned to the Arabian Gulf but also of the increase in the number of contacts each of us had established and found useful. As we grew accustomed to SIPRNet we used it more and more, and others found it a convenient way to contact us as well, further increasing the traffic.
E-mail also allowed us to work around time zone difficulties. In the Arabian Gulf you are 9 to 12 hours ahead of the continental United States, making it difficult to arrange a telephone call. You may have only an hour or two window to contact someone by phone, but you can send an e-mail message whenever the need arises or when it is ready, knowing that you will receive a response within about 12 hours. For most communications that is more than fast enough, and the people at both ends can communicate when it is convenient.
Another e-mail benefit is the ability to transmit information to other ships and to shore. Our flag morning brief was e-mailed daily to all ships in company for use in preparing briefings for their commanding officers. For example, the intelligence brief prepared on the carrier by an intelligence officer with two years of experience in Bosnia contained a wealth of additional information that the best intelligence specialist on one of the CruDes ships could not obtain. Thus, we leveraged the experience of the people on the carrier throughout the battle group and produced treater situational awareness.
A more profound consequence of IT-21 was a change in the operational effect of the CruDes units. Each surface ship now was able to communicate with its commanders and units from other services far more effectively. In one case, the Philippine Sea (CG-58) received short-notice tasking to participate in an operation with an Army unit ashore. Transiting toward the area of operations, the ship was unable to establish normal message communications with the unit. Once the Philippine Sea discovered that the Army unit had SIPRNet capability, however, she rapidly established a close working relationship. She used SIPRNet e-mail to receive the concept of operations (a Microsoft Word text document), coordinate actions, make reports, and conduct troubleshooting.
The commanding officer of the Klakring (FFG-42) described his experiences in the Arabian Gulf, including the use of Microsoft NetMeeting, as follows:
IT-21 revolutionized daily operations within the battle group. Coordination of routine operations such as underway replenishments, personnel transfers, helicopter schedules, logistics requirements, and port visit plans were no longer achieved by message or radiotelephone, but through email. These features saved time, decluttered voice circuits, and enabled decision processes to be coordinated in a timely manner. In the time it would take to normally process a standard navy message, several e-mail exchanges could occur. NetMeeting chat sessions were used during tactical operations to provide commander's estimates, [concepts of operations], and situation reports and to receive concurrent orders from warfare commanders. This was a vital capability in maritime interdiction operations [MIO], especially given the intermittent nature of voice circuits in the Gulf and the usual backlog of naval message traffic, particularly at the routine precedence. One good example of this occurred during a political asylum request, where the MID commander was able to feed requests for information directly to the on-scene [guided-missile frigate commanding officer]. He, in turn, could quickly turn these requests into assessments using the chat feature of NetMeeting. Chat notes were then discussed at the fleet level to arrive at a determination. Interestingly, during this entire evolution, voice satellite nets were down at the master communication station. IT-21 served as the only pipeline that supported the commander.
An IT-21-equipped ship also can perform more effectively as a flagship for a destroyer squadron or allied commander. The phone lines and e-mail capability give the embarked staff a significant increase in connectivity that provides immediate benefit. The Thorn (DD-988) served as flagship for the Standing Naval Forces Mediterranean. The embarked NATO staff used the phones and NIPRNet capability to communicate with NATO commanders ashore. The Thorn's crew—using the networking knowledge gained from operating their local area networks (LANs) installed by Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command—was able to build a separate LAN to support the NATO staff. NATO messages were loaded onto this LAN via an "air-gap," allowing more efficient dissemination of message traffic.
The Nicholson (DD-982) served as flagship for Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 18. During exercise INVITEX in February 1999 DesRon 18 was assigned as opposition forces commander. They used NetMeeting chat sessions to link the tactical action officers and command-and-control warfare watchstanders on the opposition ships. These virtual teams passed tailored spot reports and conducted engagement planning. This enhanced command and control allowed Destroyer Squadron 18 to fine-tune the targeting picture, provide last minute target positions to the shooters, and transmit execution orders.
Operation Allied Force
During the opening weeks of Operation Allied Force—the strikes into Kosovo by NATO forces—Destroyer Squadron 18 served as Commander Task Force60 while embarked in the Nicholson. DesRon 18's staff was the first to execute an actual Tomahowk land-attack missile (TLAM) strike. The situational guidance needed from Commander Sixth Fleet would have been unattainable without the connectivity provided by IT-21.
DesRon 18 commander talked frequently with the Commander Sixth Fleet and his chief of staff via Secure Telephone Unit-III while the two staffs exchanged numerous SIPRNet e-mails for strike coordination. Without the benefit of an assigned intelligence officer, the DesRon staff used SIPRNet browsing to download tailored intelligence from web sites. They used the briefings prepared for Sixth Fleet and other commanders to round out their situational awareness. They_ also used browsing to obtain weather information for target areas that were too far inland for their shipboard sensors. Using these techniques, large, multiunit, surface and subsurface TLAM strikes were directed and coordinated by a small staff embarked on a Spruance-class destroyer. This simple fact, all for the investment of an international maritime satellite (INMARSAT) B terminal and a classified LAN, speaks volumes for the effectiveness of IT-21.
The Nicholson's IT-21 suite paid additional dividends when DesRon 18 turned over Commander Task Force60 duties to the Theodore Roosevelt Battle Group. The ability to coordinate the turnover at long range via SIPRNet e-mail and NetMeeting greatly improved the situational awareness of the relieving commander and allowed a more orderly and systematic approach at all levels of the two staffs involved. A turnover of this kind between two carrier embarked battle group staffs is not new, but to conduct the turnover in the midst of combat operations between a carrier and a destroyer was a first.
Do We Have Critical Mass?
During installation, many briefers refer-red to our equipment loadout as the "critical mass" needed for IT-21. They were correct in that they were giving us the hardware and software needed for success. However, there is a third side to the IT-21 "triangle"—people. What the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SpaWar) was not able to install for us was people sufficiently trained to operate, maintain, and employ our new tools.
Each ship experienced a manning challenge when it became clear that the operation of two LANs required the full-time effort of at least five people. Most ships reassigned people from other duties, but this created a greater workload for those people remaining in the supplying divisions. Until they are manned with appropriately trained IT personnel, IT-21 ships will operate better but at the price of more man-hours for the crew.
Setting a person down in front of a functioning computer with adequate bandwidth will not produce a satisfactory result unless that person is trained to use the equipment and the software loaded on it. The average users, be they seamen or admirals, need to understand the basic operations of WindowsNT, antivirus programs, internet browsers, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, WinZip, and message-reading software. They need to understand how these programs work together and what they need to do to be a responsible user. Many sailors and officers will need more advanced training, including the ability to author web pages or design a data base.
Sufficient documentation and troubleshooting information were not provided to deal with the technical issues associated with operating the LANs and other IT-21 equipment. In one case, a ship experienced a server problem that was beyond her crew's ability to correct. It took ten days for a technical representative to travel to the ship and two hours for him to correct the problem. Had the ship been given the documentation for the router or a trained technician, the equipment downtime probably would have been much shorter.
Individuals who have learned programming and data base techniques are able to design applications that improve their ability to perform their duties. A sailor in the security division on the Enterprise, for example, designed an application called Security Alarm Response Coordinator (SARC). The software allows the security dispatcher to respond to several hundred different alarms that require specific actions. In the past, the dispatcher would refer to numerous manuals and guidebooks to determine the actions to be taken. With SARC, the dispatcher simply enters an alarm number or name and the appropriate actions are retrieved and displayed. This type of independent innovation will be a key to successful employment of IT-21. But it will be possible only if we have individuals who understand computers and how to design applications that can leverage the IT-21 investment.
To build the critical mass needed to obtain full effectiveness from IT-21 we also will need some sort of clearinghouse that not only looks for and promulgates individual initiatives but also actively promotes the application of information technology to the fleet. The Enterprise security division, for example, will pay much greater dividends if it can be promulgated to other ships that have a similar requirement. The Third Fleet initiative to develop a Network-Centric Innovation Center to "identify, assess, and direct the implementation of innovation practices and technologies to optimize the execution of operational missions"' is an excellent start that should be extended to cover the entire Navy.
Building the Navy after Next
The Enterprise Battle Group is the first member of the Navy of Tomorrow, a network-enhanced force with the tools that enable faster and higher quality planning. In that Navy, individual units and small groups of ships will perform missions that could be accomplished only by the high-value units of the Navy of Today. We witnessed these improvements in our deployment and will see more as we learn to employ our IT-21 tools more effectively.
The Navy after Next is envisioned as a network-centric force that will operate in an environment dominated by speed and the increasing value of access. It will feature instantaneous communications and computer links to allow us to understand our environment, make decisions, share operational understanding, and achieve the desired effect with greater speed. Greater access to information, people, and ideas that will translate into superior ability to confront threats.
Some areas that must be addressed to ensure the Navy after Next becomes a network-centric force include:
- The Navy faces a scarcity of IT expertise. There currently are 300,000 unfilled IT positions in the United States. As the Navy trains sailors in IT, the enticement for them to leave at the earliest opportunity will increase. Because Navy IT is almost completely based on commercial equipment and software, the skills needed to run Navy equipment are immediately transferable to the civilian sector. Like the nuclear propulsion community and the Medical Corps, we will need to pay a premium to keep these experts in the service. We should require additional service as a condition for fully funded training and must entice these members to stay Navy through selective reenlistment bonuses and other tools.
- IT must pervade the Pacific and Atlantic Fleets in a common manner. The smaller number of ships and the greater likelihood that they will be brought together in unanticipated ways make it essential that there be no configuration differences between fleets. Data bases and IT practices must be standardized so that a ship can operate in any area of responsibility.
- Network access needs to be as ubiquitous as the telephone. All Navy members must have regular access to NIPRNet. All operational units and supporting staffs must have regular access to SIPRNet. One infrastructure that supports both systems and the application of information technology must be put in place as rapidly as possible.
- The data base is at the center of the network-centric warfare concept—network-connected individuals will access common data bases and reduce the work needed to achieve understanding. The Navy should be looking to eliminate paper forms and formatted messages and to enter data directly into data bases that can be queried for the information needed.
IT-21 is making a real difference at sea today. In one short deployment we witnessed the tremendous benefits it brings to ships. The officers and enlisted personnel entering the Navy today will serve in the network-enhanced Navy of Tomorrow and will play a prominent role in building the Navy after Next. Building on lessons learned, they will develop network-centric warfare before the end of their careers.
Admiral Dawson is the Commander, Commander Fordice is the Assistant Chief of Staff for Command, Control, Communications, and Computers (N6), and Commander Harris is the Communicator (N62) of the Enterprise Battle Group.