For years, planners have recognized the requirement to develop, test, and train with warfare systems in joint operations environments. But they never have been able to establish a permanent facility because of the high perceived investment and support costs. For the most part, jury-rigged annual or biennial joint exercises fill the X in the square.
Now, Battle Management Interoperability Test and Evaluation/Training Exercises (BITEs), developed at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division Sea Range, offer a low-cost option to immerse weapon systems and personnel into realistic sea-land-air joint warfare environments.
U.S. involvement in recent international conflicts has increased the emphasis on testing and training in joint service, interoperable environments, and Department of Defense policy revisions have directed that systems under development undergo testing in these complex environments. Modeling and simulation offer an excellent alternative to actual outdoor testing and they are used extensively where appropriate, even though they have their shortcomings.
Since the open-air ranges are the common ground for supporting such tests, they also are the logical place in which to solve many of the problems. On this common ground, range planners should take an active role in coordinating and integrating their test and training evolutions, to look for opportunities where combined evolutions can satisfy each user’s needs—with little increase in cost and a more realistic combat environment.
Under the BITE concept, major tests and training evolutions are examined for their potential to work into larger combined events. Where appropriate, coordination is initiated with the various users to determine whether such combinations are feasible and can benefit all users. When such examinations test positive, exercises are scheduled and effort are made to build more testing or training into the events.
For example, Test A is designed to test a pod that collects signature data on various items from an aircraft, while Training B is a missile firing against an unmanned air vehicle. Under BITE, Test A is run against platforms for Training B, collecting signature data on each platform, while B’s participants are planning the engagement of Test A’s aircraft in preparation for a later target which they can actually engage. The test range itself may well have been the only entity that was aware of both. By bringing the two events together, they gave both users more realism than they originally hoped for—and did it for little or no additional cost. Actual operations are more complex, but the basic mechanics are there.
Since June 1991, the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, Point Mugu, using its large 36,000-square-mile Sea Range, has been actively organizing and conducting such exercises. To date, 24 BITE evolutions have been conducted, including three that have involved force projection into land ranges at China Lake and Fort Irwin, California.
The Navy established the Sea Range at Point Mugu in 1945. Since then it has developed into one of the most sophisticated and highly instrumented ranges in the world. It is equipped with advanced-range metric radars and multilateration systems, telemetry antennas, communications, geophysics, command and control, surveillance, and data processing systems needed to provide comprehensive range support from the simplest captive flight to multiplatform (air and surface), multiwarfare operations for more than 30 participants.
While range command-and-control functions are exercised in the large tracking and control rooms typical of any large ranges, command and control for the BITE exercises has been conducted from the Battle Management Interoperability Center—also at Point Mugu. It houses many of the mission planning, warfare planning, and related tactical decision aids as well as operational connectivities including secure fleet satellite systems. The center provides a battle group commander and his staff with many of the capabilities available on board a flagship.
Best of all. Point Mugu and the Sea Range are close to other major Western land ranges—most are within 300 miles. All of these factors combine to offer unparalleled sea, air, and land training opportunities for all the services.
Fleet warships use the Sea Range to conduct most missile-firing training exercises; one or more ships come to the range monthly to conduct their intermediate training exercises. Before BITE existed, these ships typically fired several missiles at one or two targets. Surface gunnery against a target hulk and tracking operations against manned aircraft often were included.
Using these naval missile-firing training exercises as a foundation, the BITE planning team expands the exercise to add Navy, Marine, and Air Force air assets, which are incorporated as manned raids, often supported by electronic warfare aircraft. The evolution consumes four to ten hours and features: attacks by air and surface threats; simultaneous antiair and antisurface warfare engagements; force projection, including strike, mining, bombing, and carrier air operations. Costly range instrumentation is turned on only during actual weapons’ firings.
The concept’s major innovation is that the range, acting as a requirements network, links various users and their individual test and training requirements into single evolutions that greatly enhance ship training while supporting other units’ training objectives. Some exercises have allowed near free-play planning and execution for Navy, Marine, and Air Force aircraft, which first attack ship tactical formations as enemy air and then switch sides to become a Blue Force strike group.
To construct and conduct these more complex exercises, participants must be flexible; as long as the fundamental training objectives and safety requirements are observed, the exercise can evolve freely. Several carrier battle groups recently have conducted major training evolutions on the range, flying strikes on China Lake’s Echo and North ranges.
Each BITE evolution has been different, although nearly all have involved Navy ships and aircraft and Air Force aircraft. All have addressed antiair and antisurface warfare training requirements for the participants. Some have included antisubmarine, strike, and mine warfare training. Test objectives for target platforms, aircraft, and weapon systems have been incorporated successfully. Some have involved the German Luftwaffe and the U.S. Coast Guard; one included Army Special Forces. Multiple ranges—e.g., at China Lake and Fort Irwin—have been incorporated and supported.
By pursuing an aggressive outreach program, the BITE team has been able to stage far more realistic evolutions involving joint-service elements that typically do not exercise together.
Lessons Learned. BITEs cost less. By sharing range time and resources, users capitalize on range resources while creating more complex operational scenarios. When scheduled participants drop out—which happens for many valid reasons—the test conductors must be flexible enough to make last-minute changes—as in the real world.
Planned Enhancements. The BITE team currently is pursuing additional avenues. Most notable are the greater involvement of the test communities and the incorporation of more land forces— particularly in the littoral environment— and simulation.
The team has briefed the headquarters staffs of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force operational test commands. They are interested, and detailed discussions are scheduled. A major operational test and evaluation squadron in the immediate area—(VX-9 at China Lake, which was established 30 April 1994, incorporating the former VX-4 at Point Mugu and VX-5 at China Lake) already has participated in previous BITEs for tactics evaluation and training. Fewer systems are being tested, but early involvement by all the players should ensure that proper support is in place.
Inclusion of amphibious warfare and land forces (both tests and training exercises) poses another challenge that the BITE team is now addressing with Marine Corps commands at Camp Pendleton and Twentynine Palms, California, and the Army Electronic Proving Ground at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.
The goal is to develop a capability to provide support for major test and training events covering joint military operations to a theater level including, littoral warfare, joint air defense, joint land warfare, joint sea warfare, theater missile defense, joint C4I, joint precision strike, and joint special operations.
The concept works. While the fleet’s willingness to participate has been the key to success, the active role played by the range is essential. Other ranges should be encouraged to pursue similar approaches to review support requirements for greater integration into single events. This approach will permit the Department of Defense to meet the increasing challenges of testing and training in a joint environment, without any increase in the test-and-training infrastructure