22 novembre 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - November 22, 2019

NAVY

United Technologies Corp., Pratt and Whitney Engines, East Hartford, Connecticut, is awarded a $762,486,023 modification (P00014) to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-fee contract (N00019-18-C-1021). This modification exercises options for the Lot 14 production and delivery of 48 F135-PW-100 propulsion systems for the Air Force and 10 F135-PW-600 propulsion systems for the Marine Corps. Work will be performed in East Hartford, Connecticut (85.3%); Indianapolis, Indiana (11.8%); and Bristol, United Kingdom (2.9%), and is expected to be completed in April 2022. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Air Force and Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $762,486,023 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This modification combines purchases for the Air Force ($521,507,748; 68%); and the Marine Corps ($240,978,275; 32%). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Cianbro Corp., Pittsfield, Maine, is awarded a $157,949,610 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a super flood basin and extending portal crane rails for Dry Dock #1 located at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNS). Work will be performed in Kittery, Maine, and is expected to be completed by March 2022. Fiscal 2019 military construction, (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $157,949,610 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website with one proposal received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40085-20-C-8500).

Huntington Ingalls Inc., Newport News, Virginia, was awarded a $136,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-15-C-4301 to continue performance of the repair, maintenance, upgrades and modernization efforts on the USS Columbus (SSN 762) Engineered Overhaul. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia, and is expected to be complete by November 2020. Fiscal 2020 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $136,000,000 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, USN, Newport News, Virginia, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Nov. 20, 2019)

J.F. Taylor Inc.,* Lexington Park, Maryland, is awarded an $83,563,471 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract will provide engineering, technical and project management support for developmental test and evaluation in the areas of test planning, test conduct, data analysis, test reporting, technical documentation, test project management and systems engineering through utilization of command and program test and evaluation toolsets. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland (96%); Point Mugu, California (2%); and China Lake, California (2%), and is expected to be completed in January 2025. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was a small business set-aside competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal; one offer was received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-20-D-0001).

New Direction Technologies Inc.,* Ridgecrest, California, is awarded a $68,712,640 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides engineering, program, operational and maintenance support as well as technical administrative services to improve and maintain Airborne Threat Simulation Organization capabilities in a dynamic electronic warfare environment. Work will be performed in Point Mugu, California (87%); Victoria, British Columbia, Canada (10%); Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (3%), and is expected to be completed in November 2024. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was a small business set-aside competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal; four offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, California, is the contracting activity (N68936-20-D-0005).

The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded a $43,783,296 firm-fixed-incentive delivery order (N00019-19-F-2412) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-16-G-0001). This order provides for the manufacture, test and delivery of 48 Trailing Edge Flap retrofit redesign kits in support of the F/A-18E/F aircraft. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri (72%); Lucerne, Switzerland (20%); Paramount, California (5%); and Hot Springs, Arkansas (3%), and is expected to be completed in June 2022. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $43,783,296 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded a $24,068,180 modification to a firm-fixed-price delivery order (N00019-20-F-0331) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-16-G-0001). This order exercises the option to procure 34 Group A-1 retrofit kits, 34 Group A-2 retrofit kits, and 34 Group B retrofit kits for incorporation of the Distributed Targeting Processor-Network into the EA-18G aircraft for the Navy. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri (99%); China Lake, California (0.5%); and Whidbey Island, Washington (0.5%), and is expected to be completed in June 2022. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $24,068,180 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

IAP Worldwide Services Inc., Cape Canaveral, Florida, is awarded an $18,301,899 recurring/non-recurring services type contract for base operating services at Naval Support Activity, Annapolis. The work to be performed provides for all management, supervision, labor hours, training, equipment and supplies necessary to perform base operating services to include, but not limited to, facility investment, service calls, pest control, operation of utility plants, refuse collection, special events and snow and ice removal. Work will be performed in Annapolis, Maryland, with the contract period of Dec. 1, 2019, to May 31, 2020. No funds will be obligated at time of award. Fiscal 2020 operation and maintenance in the amount of $12,025,901 for recurring work will be obligated on individual task orders issued during the contract period. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N40080-20-D-0500).

Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a Lockheed Martin Co., Stratford, Connecticut, is awarded a $15,387,971 cost, cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price task order (N00019-20-F-0429) against a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite quantity contract (N00019-16-D-1000). This task order provides for security, project engineering, integrated logistics support, material support, sustainment engineering, training and program support for the VH-3D/VH-60N executive helicopter special progressive aircraft rework. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut (88%); and Quantico, Virginia (12%), and is expected to be completed in November 2020. Fiscal 2020 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,846,993 will be obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Bell Boeing Joint Project Office, Amarillo, Texas, is awarded a $14,323,100 firm-fixed-price order (N61340-20-F-7000) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-17-G-0002). This order provides for the design, fabrication, installation, test and delivery of four Navy CMV-22 flight training devices. Work will be performed in Chantilly, Virginia (64.29%); and Hurst, Texas (35.71%), and is expected to be completed in November 2021. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $14,323,100 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity.

L3 Harris Corp., Van Nuys, California, is awarded a $9,630,900 modification (P00008) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N68335-16-D-0019). This modification increases the ceiling of the contract to procure additional lightening protection, Moving Target Indicator (MTI) reflectors, refurbished MTI feedhorns, and operator workstations for Precision Approach Radar systems in support of all Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps manned aircraft. Work will be performed in Van Nuys, California, and is expected to be completed in May 2024. No funds are being obligated at time of award, funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity.

Iridium Satellite LLC, Tempe, Arizona, is awarded a $9,378,867 cost-plus-fixed-fee option to support commercial satellite-based network services for the Department of Defense in the areas of satellite, ground node, user equipment/terminal software and hardware development, integration and testing. Work will be performed in McLean, Virginia (50%); and Tempe, Arizona (50%), and is expected to be complete in November 2021. This contract includes a base year and options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $45,807,778 and be complete in November 2021. Fiscal 2019 research, development, training and evaluation funding in the amount of $75,000 will be obligated at time of the option exercise. This funding will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was solicited on a sole source basis via a synopsis posted in FedBizOpps. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, Dahlgren, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N00178-17-C-0001).

Raytheon Co., Tewksbury, Massachusetts, is awarded a $9,339,316 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-17-C-5145 to exercise options for DDG 1000 ship class integrated logistics support and engineering services. Work will be performed in San Diego, California (42%); Portsmouth, Rhode Island (26%); Tewksbury, Massachusetts (16%); Bath, Maine (14%); Fort Wayne, Indiana (1%); and Marlboro, Massachusetts (1%), and is expected to be complete by October 2020. Fiscal 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $4,560,339; and fiscal 2020 operation and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $755,161 will be obligated at time of award, and funds in the amount of $755,161 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

ARMY

Pegasus Support Services LLC,* Woodstock, Georgia, was awarded a $176,853,950 firm-fixed-price contract for sustainment, restoration and modernization services for the full spectrum of facility types to include ranges, barracks, warehouse, administrative buildings, bridges, worship centers, gyms and airfields. Bids were solicited via the internet with seven received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 30, 2024. U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is the contracting activity (W9124M-20-D-0001).

The Boeing Co., Mesa, Arizona, was awarded a $128,682,150 modification (P00041) to Foreign Military Sales (Netherlands) W58RGZ-16-C-0023 for the Royal Netherlands Air Force uniqueness on 11 Apache Attack Helicopter (AH)-64E aircraft, recurring and non-recurring scope, version six integration, integrated logistics support, product assurance, longbow crew trainers and initial peculiar ground support equipment. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Mesa, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2025. Fiscal 2010 Foreign Military Sales funds in the combined amount of $26,265,052 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

Kipper Tool Co.,* Gainesville, Georgia, was awarded a $43,030,677 firm-fixed-price contract for Hydraulic, Electric, Pneumatic, Operated Equipment kits consisting of low technology equipment, which provides the military construction engineer with the tools that it takes to perform the most common type of engineer tasks encountered during the execution of construction missions in a theater of operations or during contingency operations. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 21, 2024. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-20-D-0015).

DEFENSE HEALTH AGENCY

Logistics Health Inc., La Crosse, Wisconsin, was awarded a $161,999,999 modification to their current indefinite-delivery bridge contract (HT0011-19-D-0002). This award, titled "Reserve Health Readiness Program," provides health readiness support services to the military service components to meet medical and dental standards essential in maintaining a deployable force. This extension to the current bridge contract will permit time to complete evaluations and award of a competitive follow-on to this requirement. Services include immunizations, physical examinations, periodic health assessments, post-deployment health reassessments, mental health assessments, dental examinations, dental treatment, laboratory services and other services as required to satisfy military service component health readiness needs. Services are delivered at military service component designated sites during group events, through the contractor's call center and within an integrated network. The work will be performed in every U.S. state, U.S. territory, the District of Columbia and Germany, with period of performance from Dec. 1, 2019, to Nov. 30, 2020. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds will be obligated on task orders issued under this award. This contract was awarded on an other-than-full and open competition basis; pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). The Defense Health Agency, Falls Church, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

AIR FORCE

Infoscitex Corp., Dayton, Ohio (FA8650-20-D-6207); and Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Beavercreek, Ohio (FA8650-20-D-6203), have each been awarded a shared ceiling of $135,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for research and development of the Airman Decision Making and Interface Research. This program provides for basic, applied and advanced research, development and demonstration to understand and deliver persistent situation awareness and improved warfighter decision making for integrated and synchronized Air Force operations in five technical areas: (1) Battlespace Acoustics; (2) Supervisory Control and Cognition; (3) Aerospace Physiology; (4) Battlespace Visualization; and (5) Applied Neuroscience. Work will be performed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and is expected to be completed by Feb. 23, 2026. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition, and five offers were received. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $263,500 and $200,000 will be obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Research Laboratory Wright Site, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity.

The Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Florida, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $87,000,000 firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity single award contract for a multi-country C-130J aircrew and maintenance simulator training. The contractor will provide C-130J aircrew and maintenance training to support the U.S. government and Air Force Security Assistance Training international partners' mission objectives. Work will be performed at Marietta, Georgia, and is expected to be completed by December 2023. This award is the result of a sole source acquisition. The minimum guarantee of $2,500 in security cooperation funds are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Installation Contracting Agency, 338th Specialized Contracting Squadron, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, is the contracting activity (FA3002-20-D-0003).

Kratos RT Logic, Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded a $39,110,705 firm-fixed-price contract for Global Geolocation Support Service (GGSS). GGSS is to provide Combined Space Operations Center (CSpOC) Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) Managers with EMI Resolution Services. These services include bandwidth monitoring, EMI notification, geolocation, aid in resolution and space situational awareness. The contractor shall be capable of providing 24 hours/7 days per week, 365 days per year services in C (4 – 8 GHz) and Ku (12 – 18 GHz), bands for all global areas between 70 degrees north latitude and 70 degrees south latitude. The contractor will accomplish continuous bandwidth monitoring services for government leased bandwidth on commercial satellites and bandwidth on Military Satellite Communication including bandwidth identified by the CSpOC. The contractor will provide timely EMI notifications and responses to assist the government in resolving interference events. Additionally, the contractor is required to operate and maintain an approved Secret Internet Protocol Router Network voice and data system, as well as other Combined Force Space Component Command (CFSCC)-approved secure voice and data systems to achieve timely transmission of classified data. The contractor will provide a Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure web portal capable of providing CFSCC timely and complete unclassified situation awareness of all assets being monitored to accommodate contractor and government real time communication and sharing of digital data products. Work will be performed at Colorado Springs, Colorado, and is expected to be completed by Nov. 30, 2020. This award is the result of a sole source acquisition. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $6,856,126 are being obligated at the time of the award. The 30th Contracting Squadron, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, is the contracting activity (FA4610-20-C-0003).

DEFENSE FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING SERVICE

Ernst & Young LLP, Washington, District of Columbia, is being awarded a labor-hour contract option with a maximum value of $33,509,737 for audit services of the Department of the Air Force General Fund and Working Capital Fund Financial Statements and Examination. Work will be performed in Washington, District of Columbia, with an expected completion date of Dec. 31, 2020. This contract is the result of a competitive acquisition for which one quote was received. The contract had a 16-month base period plus three individual one-year option periods, with a maximum value of $135,006,112. This award brings the total cumulative value of the contract to $95,764,075. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, Air Force funds in the amount of $33,509,737 are being obligated at the time of this option award. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Contract Services Directorate, Columbus, Ohio, is the contracting activity (HQ0423-17-F-0148).

WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS SERVICES

Boston Consulting Group, Bethesda, Maryland, has been awarded a $9,134,199 firm-fixed-price contract. The contract will provide cost transparency to facilitate the design of an optimized maintenance program, including design of governance processes (working within the construct) of the Reliability Control Board, the data environment (working within the existing systems), and the specific algorithms and methodologies for evaluating and assessing the maintenance program via Cost Decision framework. Work performance will take place at the Mark Center, Alexandria, Virginia. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $9,134,199 are being obligated on this award. The expected completion date is July 20, 2020. Washington Headquarters Services, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HQ0034-16-A-0003).

*Small Business

https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2023490/source/GovDelivery/

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    Lt. Gen. David Deptula (ret.) The United States' comparative military advantage has eroded significantly as the technologies that helped sustain its primacy since the Cold War have proliferated to great power and regional competitors such as China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. They have evolved their capabilities and operational approaches to negate and otherwise avoid traditional American warfighting strengths. The United States is highly unlikely to regain its competitive advantage through like-for-like replacements of its legacy platforms with incremental improvements while remaining beholden to industrial age notions of warfare focused on individual weapon systems focused on inflicting attrition. Instead, future success demands that the U.S. military embrace a new approach. 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Progress to date Although U.S. forces can presently conduct multi-domain operations, current practices are far from what will be required when facing advanced adversaries. Each service branch and coalition partner organize, train, and equip their own forces, which joint force commanders then stitch together in a federated “joint and combined” employment construct. This ensures that military personnel and their communications and weapon systems can work together in a synchronized fashion. In other words, the services tend to develop their capabilities in a stand-alone manner focused around their primary operating domain without an overarching construct to ensure joint or allied partner interoperability. This often leads to strategies focused on deconfliction versus collaborative partnership or the interdependence required to achieve force multiplying effects with available resources. 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The development of concepts such as Multi-Domain Operations, Multi-Domain Command and Control, Distributed Maritime Operations, and Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations, as well as their associated capabilities such as the Cooperative Engagement Capability and the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System, have been sporadic and uncoordinated, consisting of dozens of programs being developed independently and lacking a coherent vision to align mission requirements and reconcile gaps or redundancies. To better streamline and synchronize these efforts under the JADC2 banner, the joint staff and the Office of the Secretary of Defense created a joint cross-functional team including representatives from the offices of the DOD Chief Information Officer, the Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering, and the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment. This body is charged with bringing the services together to develop the JADC2 construct by identifying gaps and requirements, enhancing experimentation collaboration, and recommending resource allocation for both materiel and non-materiel C2 capability improvements, while also being mindful of the distinct capabilities inherent in each service and government security organization. At the same time, the Secretary of Defense has tasked the joint staff to deliver a warfighting concept that outlines how the U.S. military plans to fight in the future — a much needed update to existing joint concepts that are becoming increasingly outdated. By describing the capabilities and attributes necessary to fight effectively in the future operating environment—including for JADC2 — this concept will inform the requirements that are produced by the joint requirements oversight council and pushed out to the services. This top-down guidance is critical to help inform bottom-up technological development and experimentation. Although each of the services has been active developing related technologies, the Air Force has taken the rare step of volunteering to lead JADC2′s development as a joint function. Currently, these efforts center on the Advanced Battle Management System — essentially a “combat cloud” to connect any sensor with any shooter across all domains—that the Air Force is using as its technical engine for enabling JADC2. To help field new capabilities as fast as possible and cultivate broader buy-in, the Air Force is partnering with the other services to conduct small-scale field demonstrations scheduled for every four months. The first experiment was completed in December 2019, which connected Air Force aircraft, Space Force sensors, Navy surface vessels and aircraft, Army air defense and fire units, and a Special Operations Team with incompatible data and communications systems to defeat a simulated cruise missile. These efforts are intended to develop both the architecture and the technologies required to implement JADC2. As currently envisioned, ABMS includes six key “product categories” and 28 specific “product lines” the Air Force intends to develop over time. Underpinning all these efforts is digital engineering, open architecture, and data standards that allow all the disparate elements to ‘snap' together. Obstacles remain Despite encouraging progress and widespread agreement of the necessity for JADC2 across the services and other relevant defense agencies in the DOD, significant obstacles remain before its full potential can be realized. Foremost among these challenges, current organizational structures and service cultures do not align well with JADC2′s emphasis on employing assets in service- and domain-agnostic ways that entail dynamically connecting sensors and shooters across domains and enabling multiple, rapid shifts in supporting/supported relationships. Specifically, JADC2 raises difficult questions regarding who has decision authority and risk acceptance. Although joint force commanders exercise operational control over joint forces and are tasked to maintain conditions for joint force success, the subordinate command structure tends to exacerbate military service and domain stovepipes that are resistant to ceding control over their assets. Similar frictions are likely to extend beyond a single combatant command, particularly in terms of integrating space and cyberspace capabilities, which have their own functional combatant commands. Of course, this assumes U.S. forces eventually reach a level of integration that makes resolving such relevant operational authorities necessary. The current service-based model for systems development and acquisition is not optimal for achieving the level of interdependency that JADC2 envisions. Given the complexity and number of programs likely to be affected by ABMS, the Air Force created the position of chief architect to ensure it acquires the right mix of capabilities in a coherent manner. However, the authority of that position does not extend to the other services, which are likely to focus on their own specific operating requirements as they fund and develop their components of JADC2′s technical architecture. Furthermore, ABMS technical demonstrations focused on connectivity have thus far outpaced development of the operational concepts it is intended to support. Consequently, JADC2 risks over-emphasizing communications and ubiquitous connectivity at the expense of effective battle management. This could have several deleterious implications for future operations. First, it could exacerbate the tendency of senior commanders to centralize control, usurping tactical level decisions. Second, the desire to push as much information as possible forward to the tactical edge could overwhelm warfighters, resulting in operational paralysis or chaos. Third, it could result in unrealistic communications demands, particularly in a conflict with China or Russia or their proxies where the United States' exploitation of the electromagnetic spectrum will be fiercely contested. Lastly, given the enormous financial investment JADC2 entails, maintaining stable funding will present a continual challenge due to both the likely downward pressure on the defense budget resulting from the COVID-19 epidemic and because it is challenging to cultivate a constituency on Capitol Hill for ethereal “connections” and “data” compared to more tangible platforms, some of which the Air Force defunded in its latest budget proposal in part to fund further development of ABMS. Furthermore, JADC2 is likely to face ongoing scrutiny because the nature of the program does not lend itself to traditional methods of evaluation, as evidenced by the Government Accountability Office's recent report that was highly critical of ABMS. The path forward Navigating these challenges requires the highest level of direction from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and centralized, OSD-level management along the lines of the recently formed joint cross-functional team to champion overall JADC2 development. Using a DOTMILPF-P (doctrine, organization, training, materiel, interoperability, logistics, personnel, facilities, & policy) approach, the primary goal of this group should be to define a “template” to guide modernization policy, acquisition, and concepts of operation. The United States requires the distinct capabilities inherent in its separate military services and other defense agencies. However, they must be bound by a common vision for employing joint and combined forces, as well as an overarching strategy to realize the JADC2 concept. The United States cannot risk boutique solutions that do not integrate in a seamless, mutually reinforcing fashion. To achieve this, the OSD-level group must pursue four critical lines of effort: 1) establish standards and continuity so individual programs integrate within the greater JADC2 enterprise and secure desired outcomes in a timely fashion; 2) support effective programs and help them to maintain momentum and protection from competing bureaucratic interests; 3) engage across the military services and DOD agencies to respond to combatant command warfighting requirements, while also holding participating entities accountable; and 4) ensure industry is fully integrated into appropriate JADC2 development. If properly executed, JADC2 promises to provide commanders with “decision advantage” by allowing them to gather, process, exploit, and share information at the speed and scale required to defeat potential adversaries. At the same time, allowing joint and combined forces to distribute access to relevant information more widely, JADC2 must also enable new, more flexible command and control techniques that empower subordinate elements to effectively act when they become isolated. The ability to leverage capabilities across a network through the seamless and ubiquitous sharing of information could also ease requirements for systems that are currently expected to operate independently. The complexity inherent to this approach of overloading requirements on a given program drives lengthy development cycles, time and cost overruns, and delays in capability. Instead, by leveraging numerous redundant function options through a combat cloud, individual systems could focus on narrower requirements where their capability can be maximized while also minimizing cost and technical risk. Change will not come easy, particularly given how successful the United States has been using the traditional combined arms approach. However, such complacency could be disastrous, given that critical information technology advances are often measured in days, potentially enabling competitors with less dominant industrial combat means to leapfrog past legacy military concepts by investing in newer information technologies and capabilities. The United States' efforts to harness information are not being pursued in a vacuum—America's adversaries are pursuing similar concepts. JADC2 may be ambitious, but it is also imperative to gain a competitive advantage to deter and, if necessary, defeat those potential adversaries. https://www.c4isrnet.com/opinion/2020/07/09/moving-further-into-the-information-age-with-joint-all-domain-command-and-control/

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