Command and control is what keeps US Air Force ahead of adversaries

[F-22Raptor]

Command and control is “what will keep us ahead” as China, Russia, and other potential adversaries catch up in aerospace technology and imitate the US Air Force, Air Combat Command chief Gen. Hawk Carlisle asserted atAWS17 Thursday. The key to prevailing in future conflicts will be knowing the situation “faster, better” than an opponent, and the ability to continually assess and act inside his ability to do so. The Air Force’s Combined Air Operations Centers are the envy of the world, Carlisle said, but USAF is working to make them better, and is dedicating itself to making sure every platform feeds the “combat cloud.” In the future, “everything in the battlespace has to be an information collector and disseminator,” Carlisle said. The F-22 will be a key to that effort, although USAF hasn’t “figured out … yet” how to pass that what it collects to the rest of the force automatically, due to its stealthy communications technology.

Carlisle said C2 is really the key when USAF may not have numerical superiority, and its technology will not be generations ahead of any competitor. Observing that the US had a monopoly on stealth when the F-117 was introduced, Carlisle noted, “we’ll never have an advantage like that again.” The technology pushes, he said, will be in “autonomy and semi-autonomy” of both platforms and the means to interpret what they collect, as well as “manned and unmanned teaming” and “machine-to-machine” communications and collaboration. Unable to be specific due to secrecy, Carlisle promised “we’re truly on the edge of some big moves” in all these areas, and in connecting “all the disparate parts” of the combat enterprise.

http://www.airforcemag.com/DRArchive/Pages/2017/March 2017/March 03 2017/C2-Will-Be-the-Edge.aspx

 

[F-22Raptor]

Despite adversaries’ attempts to imitate and interfere, the Air Force’s command and control capabilities are the best in the world, said the commander of Air Combat Command during the Air Force Association Air Warfare Symposium here March 2.

To remain dominant in the future, Gen. Hawk Carlisle, the ACC commander, said the Air Force must combine its C2 capabilities with fusion systems that bring information from multiple domains into a sophisticated network that allows faster movement through the observe, orient, decide and act loop.

“If you want to get combat ID, if you want to get weapons quality track, you have to get to fusion warfare,” he continued. “It’s not just data – when you talk fusion with multiple sensors across battlespace, you have to get into the mechanics of how the sensors work. You have to get into the algorithms, so that multiple pieces of data can fuse at a level that gives you combat ID. That fusion is hard ... but that’s where we’re trying to get to.”

According to the general, the Air Force has come a long way in its C2 abilities, thanks mostly to predecessors like former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper who had the foresight to put the service on its current path.

“When you look at C2 today, whether it’s the (air operations center) doing a dynamic strike with the (F-15E) Strike Eagles in a forward (deployed) area, or it’s a (tactical air control party) calling in danger-close (close air support) to help in a tight situation ... it’s amazing how we’ve set ourselves up and what we do every single day.”

Carlisle said he believes the service will remain dominant because of the talent of its Airmen and industry partners.

“We will always win, because we know we can deliver,” he said. “We lead the world in precision, stealth, our ability to deliver ordnance, and ability to command and control. My belief is as we move into the future, what’s going to keep us ahead of our adversaries is the ability to command and control into fusion warfare.”

http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/1100441/fusion-warfare-key-to-c2-future.aspx