The next generation of command-and-control capabilities for the U.S. Navy will not be manufactured or built—it will be "composed." The so-called Composeable ForceNet concept provides a command-and-control capability that far exceeds previous "systems" with respect to:
* Rapid response to new threats and situations
* Multiple command level integration
* Increased speed of action
* Improved man-machine interfaces
* Enhanced information availability
Composeable ForceNet has been established using Web services concepts, wherein a picture of the operating area is developed that can employ a variety of maps or charts to represent a specific operating area or almost any area of interest, or browsers to access documents or images, or various types of temporal information. Any of the information (or links to it)—geographic points, targets, friendly forces, and so on-can be superimposed on the representation. But each point also is an icon in the context of a Web page."
For example, a target icon—say, a ship identified by a variety of means—can be designated by a mouse pointer to reveal all known data about that target, including a photo or, if available, streaming video. Similarly, a geographic point can be brought up to reveal the political, military, cultural, and even historic features-in any form available to the database.
And, of course, Composeable ForceNet has the ability to search for public information through Google and other Web browsers. Indeed, any document or graphic material entered into an accessible database can be presented, with the appropriate icon placed on the map or chart. Based on the user's access authority, classified databases also can be accessed.
The presentation screen can be anything from a huge command display board on a major warship to a Palm Pilot. Usually seen as a map or chart, the presentation can be rotated to present the perspective from another direction, for example, the Korean Peninsula as seen from Beijing or the Persian Gulf viewed from Tehran. It can be "tilted," to provide an aircraft's perspective, and refined to the perspective of a platoon commander ashore or the captain of a U.S. Coast Guard cutter approaching a flotilla of fishing craft off the coast of Singapore.
Being Web based, the concept provides a common operating picture that can be shared on a real-time basis with other ships and facilities. While Composeable ForceNet is not used to control weapons, a commander at any level can have performance information about sensors and weapons—friendly and enemy—superimposed on the representation, again in the format of icons that can be opened to reveal specific data, including potential attack trajectories. The concept's limitations are two:
* Computer capacity
* Imagination
With respect to the latter, because Composeable ForceNet is based on commercial computing standards-commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components—it can be upgraded and expanded easily. An analogy used by Jeffrey D, Orossman of the Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command's Systems Center (SSC) at San Diego is that of your home computer.1 Regardless of whether it is a Gateway, Sony, or HP, you can use virtually any peripheral, use any application, connect to any Internet provider, and access any information source. You can upgrade any of these without the requirement to reengineer your system. And, being Web based, the "picture"—of your grandchildren or the Gulf of Aquaba-can be transmitted (the latter over secure links) to any other authorized computer.
Grossman also notes that because Composeable ForceNet is derived from basic Internet theory, personnel training is greatly simplified. "If you can browse the Web, you can operate Composeable ForceNet with minimal orientation," he explained during a demonstration at SSC.
Composeable ForceNet is now being used on an operational basis by Commander, Task Force 74/Submarine Group 7, located at Yokosuka, Japan. Employing a variety of fixed and mobile sensors, the latter in ships, submarines, and aircraft, he is able to maintain a continuous picture of activities in his areas of interest. A look at his "picture" during a recent exercise in Far Eastern waters revealed several hundred surface targets, each of which could be called up and identified as it was "painted" by the array of sensors available to U.S. forces in the area.
Task Force 74 is the Navy's first major operational command to employ a "complete" Composeable ForceNet capability, although components are being used elsewhere in the Navy. "Interest is high," said Grossman. "We expect to 'compose' additional setups for other commands in the near future."
Grossman and his colleagues are careful to avoid the word "system." That term implies specialized and standardized hardware requirements, a prerequisite shunned by SSC engineers. Rather, Composeable ForceNet provides flexibility and capabilities made possible by COTS and by one's imagination to reach forward to provide for Navy command and control in the 21st century.
1 SSC San Diego is one of several centers subordinate to Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command.