Defense contractors are rushing to develop Web-based software applications
that promise to help war planners make decisions faster. Web technology
also is gaining popularity among intelligence planners and operators,
experts said, because it provides them with smoother access to a
vast universe of military databases.
Industry officials said that they see growing interest by the military
services in battle-management software for tactical applications—such
as targeting or mission planning—that are Internet compatible,
which makes them easier to network with other systems.
“Superior decision making is the goal,” said Neil Kacena,
deputy for advanced development programs at Lockheed Martin Corp.
Military customers want tools for “rapid re-planning and
real-time mission planning,” he said during a briefing to
reporters in Washington, D.C.
When it comes to battle-management software, however, the lack
of common, open standards presents a “challenge in the industry,”
said Kacena. Companies need to figure out “how to pull this
capability together in a format that allows the war fighter to have
situational awareness so he can operate at a higher level in the
decision process.”
One problem has been the lack of standards in battle-management
software, he said. “It’s fair to say that there are
no standards at this point.”
The so-called “enterprise technology” will help war
planners organize information faster and in a more coherent fashion,
said Don Bently, program manager at BAE Systems.
“The concepts and applications of enterprise technology,
if adopted judiciously, can be particularly appropriate for defense
systems,” said Bently.
He noted, however, that there is a “problem with establishing
standards.” In the industry today, “the competitive
environment is alive and well and is going to continue,” he
said. For that reason, the military services should not rush to
buy any one company’s technology. “The services need
to be sure that they continue to have well-prepared program managers
and technical advisors for those program managers, because they
are going to have to filter through all these operators that industry
will bring.”
In the near term, said Bently, “the adoption of enterprise
technology will be a generalized trend. The particulars will be
based on the mission needs of each service.”
The Web-based enterprise technology is an ideal environment for
many air war planners, he said. These operators typically spend
hours each day surfing the Web. “They understand what Web-centric
and Web-enabled really means,” he said. “They want to
be able to access target information, enemy defense information
and other data.”
The technology used today for joint command and control, called
the Theater Battle Management Core Systems (TBMCS), is being upgraded
to incorporate more Web-based applications, said Frank DeLalla,
the TBMCS program director at Lockheed Martin Mission Systems.
The TBMCS is being improved for “rapid decision making,”
he said. The company is adding more “Web-enabling capabilities,
to make it more user friendly and improve the access to more data.”