2000 Assessment of the Office of Naval Research's Marine Corps Science and Technology Program (2000) / Chapter Skim
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6 Command and Control
6 Command and Control
Pages 43-54
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From page 43... ...
Indeed, success in OMFTS depends on meeting unique technical requirements for achieving overall information superiority, not just its C2 components, a larger regime considered in this chapter. In OMFTS, a relatively small force of Marines will launch an assault from ship to shore, will decide on target landing locations while in transit across the water, and may penetrate deep inland with quite small, highly mobile groups.
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From page 44... ...
· Those Marines that penetrate deep inland must rely on some kind of overhead relay, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or satellites, in order to maintain communication with Marines ashore and the naval forces afloat, to call for fire, and to continue to receive timely intelligence and situational awareness that permits the informed maneuver called for in Chapter 2's overview (pages 14-15~.
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From page 45... ...
Joint Tactical Radio System Mobile Network Radios This program aims to ensure that the Marine Corps is fully involved in the development of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) and, in particular, its wideband ad hoc networking technology.
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From page 46... ...
The overall JTRS program may already be experiencing requirements creep and cost growth that, if unchecked, can lead to a well-known vicious circle: equipment costs Prow steadily, thus reducing deployment of equipment, which makes it even more costly on ~7 ~ ' ~7 1 ~ 1 1 ' ~ a per-un~t basis, and so forth Into a programmatic death spiral. l he J l Kbi Is currently required to support 43 waveforms, only one of which is a new, wideband, data waveform suitable for mobile networks.
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From page 47... ...
One cannot buy a cell phone and insert the Motorola software image for time division multiple access to replace the original Qualcomm image for code division multiple access, or indeed insert Sony software to turn it into an FM radio. Although the JTRS manufacturers consortium is often portrayed as the leading edge of the commercial industry forum for software radios, some of the committee members are skeptical on this point and believe that a faster, cheaper, and more reliable means of ensuring inter-Service radio compatibility is simply to replace older radios with newer radios that implement a common waveform.
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From page 48... ...
. Mobile Direction Finding for Tactical Signals Intelligence This program contemplates a brief investigation into methods of automatic signal identification and antenna spatial referencing and the transition of selected methods into the team portable collection system early in FY01.
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From page 49... ...
Recommendations , , ~ The committee recommends that ONR should consult the National Security Agency, the Naval Security Group, and, particularly, the Naval Information Warfare Activity to determine the state of the art in automatic signal identification technology suitable for incorporation into lightweight ground equipment. Marine Corps S&T investment should focus on direction-finding arrays suitable for vehicle mounting.
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From page 50... ...
In addition, the mobile networking scheme adopted for this new network will likely fall into the R&D prototype category and hence should not be confused with a production network that will operate reliably. Ultra-wideband radios are a "hot" area at the moment and, perhaps as a result, their benefits are sometimes overstated.
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From page 51... ...
The committee understands that the Federal Communications Commission recently made a ruling with respect to UWB radios, and it is important to determine if that ruling applies to the DOD and, if so, what if any limitations would be imposed. The performance of UWB radios advertised by various companies should be analyzed if it has not already been to determine if a sample quantity of these radios should be included in some of the tests.
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From page 52... ...
Most research in ad hoc networks is focused on the Army problem i.e., very large numbers of vehicles in a relatively dense mass, organized hierarchically into subcommands that occupy abutting geographic areas which requires technical solutions for accommodating a density of network nodes rather than addressing other needs such as stealth, long battery life, and so forth. A number of Marine Corps operational concepts pose technical challenges that may be Marine Corps-specific, such as deep forward observers, a long line of ocean-going AAAVs following a mine-cleared lane, small tactical UAVs for both sensor emplacement and communications relays, and so forth.
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From page 53... ...
The committee encourages Code 353 to become involved with the AAAV program and support it via C4ISR programs that will specifically enable networked operation of AAAVs. Considering Deception and Other Information Operations Because informed maneuver involves maneuvering where there is no large concentration of adversary forces, and because perfect situational awareness cannot remove these forces from the vicinity of the objective, deception about the location and intent of Marine Corps forces seems to be an essential component of OMFTS and STOM.
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From page 54... ...
The coming year, therefore, may well be a good time for ONR Code 353 to take a systematic look at its programs and prune away those programs that are not closely focused on core needs for the Marines. It should devote all of its time and energy to filling in those key components of C4I technology and other aspects of information superiority that will not otherwise be funded and that will, if provided, directly enable the Marines' operational vision.
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