ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (Nov. 19, 2015) -- The Chief of Staff of the Army recently released his top three priorities, one of which directs leaders to keep an open mind when considering how best to build an agile, adaptive force.
To meet this call for innovation, the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, or TRADOC, recently turned to the science and technology community to explore alternative approaches for inserting agility at the battalion level.
"Static command posts are a thing of the past," said Jim Clarke, engineer for the Army's Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, or CERDEC. "We took TRADOC's concept and built three expeditionary command post technology demonstrators that provide Soldiers with the ability to move in, take control of the fight and get out while maintaining continuous mission command capabilities."
The three technology demonstrators, the Light-Mobile Command Post, or L-MCP; the Expeditionary Battalion Command Post, or EXP BN CP; and Combined Arms Battalion Mobile Tactical Command Posts, or CAB Mobile TAC, are part of CERDEC's Expeditionary Command Post Capability, or ECPC, program.
Soldiers of the 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment (1-1 CAV), and the 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment (1-6 INF) of the 2d Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division (2/1 AD) evaluated the ECPC technology demonstrators at the Network Integration Evaluation, or NIE, 16.1 this fall at Fort Bliss, Texas.
NIE 16.1 was a trial for the Army Warfighting Assessments, or AWAs, which will be large-scale exercises held in place of the fall, or "dot one," NIEs to help foster innovative capabilities such as those developed for ECPC that are not mature enough for an operational test.
The exercise required the commander to move his Tactical Operations Centers, or TOCs, forward multiples times to keep up with the fight. In order to "jump the TOC" the smaller, more mobile TACs had to move forward first and take control of the operation until the TOC re-established control. The process, similar to the concept of leap frog, repeated to allow the TAC to move forward again.
The L-MCP formed the 1-1 CAV's TAC, and featured a High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle, or HMMWV, integrated with a quick erect tent, standing height table, chairs, large screen displays, tactical network components, converged voice communications and mission command systems.
"Whenever the TOC has to jump, we must fill the void that the operations cell in the TOC can no longer perform," said Capt. Benjamin Staats, 1-1 CAV. "The L-MCP takes less time than a traditional TAC to breakdown and set up, giving us streamlined, continuous operations and better reconnaissance for the brigade."
Soldiers established control using a suite of Mission Command systems that included the Command Post of the Future for current operations collaboration and future operations planning, the Joint Battle Command-Platform to track blue friendly and red adversary feeds, Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System to send and receive fires missions and the Tactical Ground Reporting System to transmit intelligence from ground patrol units. They also had access to wireless connectivity using the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical, or WIN-T, Increment 1.
The 1-1 CAV also evaluated the Expeditionary Battalion Command Post, or EXP BN CP, which provides a pre-integrated command post within a prototype shelter structure that includes work tables, projectors, laptops, all of the standard mission command systems and a pre-configured interior with power and Internet to establish the current operations cell.
"We like to call this the TOC-in-a-Box," said Sgt. 1st Class Ryan Marrero, 1-1 CAV, the S3 NCO in charge of operation movements. "The TOC is the life support to the fight, and the mobile ECPC TOC and TAC capabilities accelerate our ability to reach our troops."
In the past it took 20 to 25 people and from 45 to 90 minutes to set up the tent for a traditional command post, but with this system it takes four Soldiers just 15-20 minutes to set up the shelter, Marrero said.
Soldiers can load EXP BN CP onto any Palletized Load System transport vehicle or sling load it from a helicopter for an air insertion depending on the terrain.
Robust TACs are just as critical for heavier units that rely on tracked vehicles to conduct their missions. The final ECPC prototype evaluated at NIE was the CAB Mobile TAC, which is an M1068 tracked vehicle with integrated mission command systems, WIN-T Increment 2 Point of Presence network and radio capabilities to allow commanders to "command from the hatch."
"The modernization that has been done to this vehicle provides greater ability to pull in enablers and better coordinate with adjacent and higher units," said Capt. Thomas Cross, 1-6 INF. "Battles are now so spread out and line of sight is not always possible, but the integrated 1068 allows us to stay in touch at those extended ranges."
Looking to the future, engineers designed the L-MCP capability to integrate with the Army's planned replacement for the HMMWV, the Joint-Light Tactical Vehicle, and the CAB Mobile TAC concept will help the Army determine how to integrate its future replacement for the M-1068, the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle for command post roles, said Tyler Barton, ECPC project lead.
All ECPC design and development took place at CERDEC's Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Prototype Integration Facility, or C4ISR PIF, which provides engineering design, development, fabrication, installation, integration and fielding support for shelter, vehicle, aircraft, watercraft and Soldier prototype C4ISR systems.
"The iterative development process and low-rate production output allowed us to transition the ECPC capabilities from concept to delivery in just nine months versus what could have taken multiple years under the traditional acquisition cycle," said Christopher Manning, division chief of the CERDEC Command Power & Integration Directorate's Prototype Integration & Testing Division. "Our prototypes and technology demonstrators save taxpayers both time and money, ensuring state-of-the art technologies reach the Soldier quicker."
By delivering just a few capabilities at a time we are refining requirements to enable future programs of record to build the best solutions for command post operations, Clarke said.
Engineers have started implementing 2/1 AD Soldier feedback into the next ECPC version, planned for evaluation in the spring.
"Over my last 16 years in the Army, Mission Command has evolved to become more of a science," said Sgt. 1st Class Edgar Zavala, 1-6 Infantry. "Over time I believe we are going to get better because we will have capabilities like these that will allow us to get to our initiative faster, make decisive actions and save Solider lives."
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The U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center is part of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, which has the mission to ensure decisive overmatch for unified land operations to empower the Army, the joint warfighter and our nation. RDECOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command.
Related Links:
Rapid prototyping leads to airborne command post solution
Enabling command post capabilities from the hatch or at the halt
U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command
Army.mil: Science and Technology News
U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center
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