Naval Forces' Capability for Theater Missile Defense (2001) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix C: Obtaining More Flexible BMC3 Configurations
Appendix C: Obtaining More Flexible BMC3 Configurations
Pages 159-169
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From page 159... ...
C.1 SYSTEMS ENGINEERING FOR BMC3 C.1.1 Introduction The committee is concerned that the BMC3 structures envisioned, as presented in the various briefings it received, are too rigid and do not recognize the need for flexibility and adaptability that is necessitated by the ad hoc nature of likely deployments to hostile areas. The committee is also concerned that concepts of operations were not presented and seem not to have been developed for BMC3 functions.
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From page 160... ...
However, this traditional systems engineering approach will not yield a BMC3 system that meets the Navy's needs for future theater missile defense because of uncertainties in the projections of threats and of the capabilities and technologies needed for managing TMD. The time cycles for evolution of the technology and for evolution of the threats are both inside the systems engineering cycle.
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From page 161... ...
Not only is the technology understood and tested, but robust products are also readily available from commercial sources at affordable prices. Finally, substantial commercial investments in products will make significant bandwidth achievable in a wireless environment.
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From page 162... ...
It is also noted that the Air Force is experimenting with the Internet through its battle-space infosphere efforts, including AWACS, which means that a future TMD BMC3 using Internet technology could readily incorporate AWACS sensor data. C.1.4 The Transition Path These observations present the Navy with a dilemma.
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From page 163... ...
This approach will allow the Navy to significantly reduce the lifetime of the legacy systems and avoid the predictably high cost of ownership. C.1.6 Continue to Evolve Legacy Systems Incrementally As previously described, the JTIDSILink 16 approach is a bandwidth limited, rapidly obsolescing technology that will impede future operational flexibility.
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From page 164... ...
These include agreement on the identity of objects in the battle space, the deconfliction of airspace on an as-needed basis in real time, the assignment of sensors in response to changing conditions, decisions concerning which interceptor or interceptors should aim for which incoming missiles, and so forth. These are difficult problems and historically they have been further compounded by the great scarcity of communications bandwidth between platforms in the battle space and the need for assured tactical data distribution over relatively poor radio channels between these platforms.
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From page 165... ...
The remainder of this section describes each of these issues briefly and shows that the first two are extremely important in the commercial telecommunications industry: they are currently receiving very substantial investments and 2For auction information, see Broadband Fixed Wireless Access Spectrum Auction Site of the Radiocommunications Agency, United Kingdom, at |
From page 166... ...
The list of such vendors includes all major manufacturers of telephony equipment (Lucent, Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola, Nortel, and so on) , all major manufacturers of computer and data networking equipment (Cisco, Microsoft, IBM, Compaq, Sun, 3Com, and so on)
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From page 167... ...
RF channels, of course, provide nothing like the potential bandwidth of fiber, and so wireless speeds will probably never come close to those available across fiber, but even the existing wireless technology can provide major advantages for the Navy. The commercial wireless world is extremely fragmented, so it is impossible to provide a comprehensive overview of the field.
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From page 168... ...
The situation is very different for commercial wireless technologies. A1though certain types of wireless systems are indeed quite hard to plan cellular base station planning comes to mind as an obvious example most of the commercial technologies are designed so that they can be set up and brought into use almost immediately, by operators with relatively little specialized knowledge.
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From page 169... ...
On the other hand, some types of commercial wireless equipment inherently provide certain capabilities in this area, almost by accident as it were. For instance, point-to-point, free-air communications and in particular optical links are generally somewhat difficult to jam, unless by interposed obscurants, because they are highly directional.
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