IN SEPTEMBER, more than 11,000 soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen convened 50 miles off the coast of Hawaii for a massive training exercise—with the climax being to sink a 4,100-ton guided-missile frigate, the decommissioned USS Curts (FFG-38).
The sinking of the Curts was part of exercise Valiant Shield, a training program held every two years in which all branches of the United States Armed Forces unite to detect, track, and engage a target (in this case, the defunct battleship). The exercise is intended to integrate the different military branches, which typically operate independently.
But this year was different.
For the first time, the branches were connecting on land, in the sea, in the air, and even in space to test an ambitious new operational concept, one that involves transforming decades-old infrastructure and integrating it into a single, cutting-edge unit: Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2).
“It is a shame that people come into our service connected to almost everything in their personal lives, and they encounter a military where they’re connected to almost nothing,” said Dr. Will Roper, who at the time served as Air Force assistant secretary for acquisition, technology, and logistics. “If you have [cloud technology] for cat videos, then shame on us if we can’t provide that for life and death situations on the battlefield—I’m looking for that.”
Weeks before Valiant Shield, the Air Force, U.S. Northern Command, and U.S. Space Command conducted an initial JADC2 training program that encompassed soldiers and technologies based in locales ranging from Nevada to the Gulf of Mexico to the ionosphere. Soldiers in the field, soldiers on-base wearing virtual reality headsets, and satellites and drones providing 5G connectivity all worked together to share information both manually and autonomously via the cloud, shooting down a surrogate cruise missile and showing the potential of a digitally connected battlefield. “You can be skeptical of [artificial intelligence and machine-learning] technology,” said General Glen D. VanHerck, commander of Northern Command. “I am not skeptical after today.”
The Valiant Shield mission, however, was something quite new.
For the first time, the U.S. military was testing the Multi Domain Task Force—a multi-branch unit that would use missiles, cyber-warfare, and satellites to clear a path for missions in previously unreachable locations protected by potential adversaries such as Russia and China. In partnership with private-sector businesses like Northrop Grumman—the American global aerospace and defense-technology company—the Task Force was one of the first dedicated units to utilize JADC2 in a tangible exercise, demonstrating a new type of alliance between the military and tech companies.
“The Department of Defense realized that our adversaries were using commercial software to get ahead,” says Scott Stapp, a retired Air Force brigadier general who is now the chief technology officer at Northrop Grumman. “So the military decided to get ahead of it by working with commercial partners that have been developing these types of technologies for years. Now we’re at a tipping point, working together to bypass our adversaries at an exponential rate.”
In Hawaii, as Valiant Shield began, scores of satellites, drones, and warships convened in the Pacific, with the goal of uniting the joint forces to achieve their mission. Harnessing the cloud, machine learning (ML), the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI)—the technologies communicated with each other autonomously and with service members across military branches—they synchronized from space to sea to find the decommissioned frigate and sink it with cruise missiles. In the aftermath, as the ships returned to port, military commanders realized they’d witnessed something historic: a glimpse of the combat-cloud future of the military.
“Valuing data as an essential war-fighting resource is the key to next-gen warfare,” Roper said.
The Rise of the Internet of Military Things
For decades, the U.S. military has partnered with private companies and institutions to create technological innovations, with many of them improving our lives in the process. From walkie-talkies to GPS to the internet, these partnerships have pushed society forward in numerous ways.
But perhaps nothing compares with the latest innovation—the Internet of Military Things (IoMT). The Internet of Things refers to everyday objects (toasters, thermostats, doorbells) that use the internet to automatically “talk” with each other and help us through our days. (Your smart car, for instance, can turn on your lights and start the air conditioning as you return home from work.) Predicted to become up to an $11 trillion global industry by 2025, according to a report by the McKinsey & Company research firm, IoT will transform industries from health care to manufacturing to finance—and the military.
“We are rapidly moving toward being truly interconnected in our everyday lives—most people don’t even think about the advanced networking technologies used on a daily basis, such as smart home devices, Bluetooth, Google Maps, and Siri,” says Ben Davies, the vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman’s newly created networked information solutions division. “Similar technologies must be applied in a war-fighting context to help keep our men and women safe on the battlefield and outmatch adversaries looking to bring forward IoT applications of their own.”
In the Armed Forces, the Internet of Military Things will enable devices such as wearables and smartphones to automatically communicate with vehicles, weapons, and satellites—providing women and men across each service, and in allied nations, with enhanced perception and understanding in the field. To function, IoMT requires technologies like AI (which allows machines to function with intelligent foresight) and machine learning (which enables those machines to improve from experiences). Going forward, as part of JADC2, the military will work with tech companies to ramp up production of AI- and ML-enhanced planes, ships, ground vehicles, and drones—which will pull data from multiple sources across all branches and autonomously make decisions. “Digitizing everything is the way of the future,” Stapp says. “And we’re investing a lot to ensure we keep leading innovations at the edge.”
Tech Companies Uniting the Armed Forces for the 21st Century
The branches of the U.S. military have long worked in the OODA loop—observe, orient, decide, and act—each in their siloed communication units. But today, due to increased long-range weapons capabilities, the military can no longer rely on this approach. With rapidly advancing technology, enemies can fire missiles that take individual strike groups by surprise, underscoring the need for instant communication among all branches.
To solve this challenge, tech companies are taking pathfinder technologies and harnessing digital transformation to prototype JADC2 with the goal of connecting the joint force. JADC2 is not starting from scratch. Instead, Northrop Grumman is looking at existing digital and hardware systems in each branch of the military and figuring out how to upgrade and integrate those with new technologies. “The military has thousands of existing aircraft, each with their own communication systems,” says Richard Sullivan, vice president of future autonomous aircraft systems at Northrop Grumman. “So with JADC2, we look at how we can leverage the systems on existing aircraft to begin a transformation of connectivity with ships and vehicles in the Navy and Army, as well as with newer planes we’re designing. We’re connecting the technology that has served our nation well with the new framework, and then iterating upgrades into that infrastructure as we go.”
Using technology such as the cloud, AI, and machine learning, JADC2 is a framework that supports the flow of data across all branches of the military and then strengthens the command and control structure (the means by which commanders recognize what needs to be done and then take appropriate action).
“Creating a cyber-secure, open, interconnected, and resilient communications network is one of the foundational elements to making IoMT capabilities a reality for our men and women in uniform,” Davies says. “For 60 years, Northrop Grumman has been a leader in the design, development, and delivery of end-to-end communications and advanced networking capabilities sought out by U.S. and allied military forces. Today, the advanced networking capabilities we are delivering will be critical to helping the Department of Defense realize its vision for JADC2 and bring IoMT to life across the battle space.”
Davies points to Northrop Grumman’s gateway offerings—advanced communications systems that help the DOD securely share mission information across military branches—as one example of how the company is enhancing data flow and strengthening overall command and control structure.
“Northrop Grumman’s gateway systems have an extensive track record of helping interconnect branches of the military, and our new gateway capabilities will be a key component in enabling the DOD to realize its vision for JADC2,” he says. “We’re also bringing forward a new family of gateway systems that include a focus on capabilities such as cyber-secure cloud computing, machine learning, and ethical artificial intelligence that will bring us one step closer to JADC2 and IoMT becoming a reality for our military forces.”
Another factor to enabling JADC2 hinges on space. To link the military, the Space Force may need to launch thousands of small satellites in low Earth orbit that transmit 5G internet to soldiers who’ve set up ground transceivers in remote locations, creating high-speed, encrypted bubble networks around the world. Within each of these bubbles, soldiers and their IoT devices can communicate instantly with soldiers, vehicles, planes, and ships in the region. In addition, their information will be relayed via satellite to other 5G networks and base operations. Overall, JADC2 will examine all this information in real time—enabling commanders and IoMT devices to see the entire scope of global military operations, while the machines get smarter over time due to AI and ML in adaptive sensors and systems.
Finally, tech companies and the DOD are partnering to create command and control systems for leaders to analyze relevant data, make decisions, and execute missions. A key function of JADC2 is not only to enable the flow of data, but also to filter important information. To keep commanders from being overwhelmed, JADC2 will utilize technology that distributes autonomy onto forward-deployed assets, enabling IoMT to make most decisions automatically in the field via edge computing (the ability of machines to process information at or near their physical location, increasing response time). This way vehicles can use their sensors to automatically respond to split-second anomalies—say, incoming fire—and send back only the most important information to base commanders to make higher-level choices. “The Internet of Military Things is really about understanding what information needs to be shared between objects to be effective,” Sullivan says. “You use AI and machine learning to make sure only relevant data is being sent.”
Ultimately, JADC2 is being built as a modular, secure system of software-defined hardware (SDH)—one that can be added to and used as needed, while continually incorporating advanced technologies to meet the needs of battle in real time. “Northrop Grumman operates in space, air, sea, land, and cyber,” Stapp says. “And we work with all branches of the military and allied nations around the world. So we’re creating hooks in all the new digital infrastructures for each branch and partner nation, ensuring they can all connect together when they’re ready.”
The Future of Warfighting
Imagine the following scenario.
Over 1,000 refugees are trapped on a mountaintop, surrounded by hostile forces. Those forces are using advanced capabilities, including radar, surface-to-air missiles, electronic warfare equipment, land forces, and fighter aircraft, to hold hundreds of square miles of territory—and they’re threatening to “remove” the “trespassers.” The refugees they have trapped are from a neighboring country. Not only is their well-being of paramount importance, but there’s risk of a larger conflict if they’re harmed. The U.S. and its allies are determined to bring them to safety. To accomplish this with minimum risk both to friendly forces and to the refugees themselves, they need to control the space around the mountaintop for as long as it takes to arrive on location, airlift the refugees, and exit the area.
This is no easy feat, but it’s one made more efficient by connecting the efforts of each branch of the military.
With JADC2 enabling the joint forces, U.S. and allied commanders launch a multi-branch operation to rescue the refugees in the fastest and safest way possible. First, satellites monitor the area while high-altitude autonomous aircraft send high-resolution video to the commanders. With JADC2 networks connecting land, air, and sea forces from multiple countries over high-bandwidth communication channels, a fleet of more than fifty large, unmanned aircraft swarm into the area, jamming radar and electronic warfare threats while syncing with pilots through manned-unmanned teaming (MUMT). In addition, other autonomous systems use weapons to take out bridges and cut off hostile land forces. Stealth manned Air Force fighters are placed on standby to address the highest-threat targets, while Navy forces hundreds of miles away are ready to fire long-range missiles, if needed, to prevent a humanitarian and national-security disaster.
Once the area is secure, Army helicopter units travel along a controlled corridor to rescue the refugees. Each soldier wears a helmet or personal device that gives them, via screen and earpiece, the most important information they need to function effectively in the fog of war on the ground. Importantly, those same technologies share everything each soldier is sensing back to their commanders and supporting forces—creating a real-time running loop of information. Using IoMT, the soldiers’ weapons—as well as the aircraft that flew them in and the autonomous systems surrounding them—all work together to address any help U.S. personnel need in the field. (This concept, called “any sensor, best shooter,” means that anyone who sees a threat can respond to that threat using whatever tools are available across the entire connected battle space.) Within minutes, U.S. service members have boarded the refugees and are returning home, while land, sea, air, and space forces monitor their movement in case they need to act instantly to ensure mission success.
This is an incredible vision of the future of conflict, one that offers enhanced speed of response and safety—and one that the DOD and its partners are working to make a reality. “We’re taking autonomy and unmanned systems to the next level,” Sullivan says. “Things that were in the movies 40 years ago exist today. I love being a part of a company that is driving imagination and shaping the future.”
In terms of global air defense, JADC2 will use AI, ML, and IoMT to cull all relevant battle information for a commander and then share it—enabling them to make the most informed decisions in the shortest time possible. Threats like incoming missiles may be spotted from space by satellites, evaluated with algorithms, and then counteracted with weapons deployed by JADC2-enabled systems. “With radar images from planes and satellites, the OODA loop can be closed instantly,” Stapp says. “Looking ahead, JADC2 will enable every force in space, on the ground, and at sea, along with all their weapons systems, to be geo-registered. All military branches will know where everyone else—and their weapons—are located. In that scenario, when someone sees a threat, they can order a weapon as easily as we order an Uber.”
Going forward, the technologies created by the U.S. military and private-sector companies may ultimately improve our everyday lives as well. Innovations may lead to new forms of humanitarian aid like flying cell towers, enabling people to connect during times of crisis. New multiuse devices may be created, like antennae that can transmit radio signals while also using light detection and ranging (LIDAR) to guide self-driving vehicles. These ventures may even result in self-guided planes and flying cars, with IoMT technology helping them to navigate crowded airspace. “It’ll be like having R2 droids to help you along,” Sullivan says. “With drone delivery systems and flying cars, we’ll need systems to ensure all these things flying over our heads are safe and meeting their mission objectives. So the technologies we create today may well result in creating that future airspace.”
Overall, efforts to enable the joint force through JADC2 are creating new systems to keep us all safer—both in the military and in our daily lives. “At the end of the day, at Northrop Grumman, we’re making and delivering modern technologies that our customers trust,” Sullivan says. “From JADC2 and beyond, we’re continuing to connect our world in new ways—creating eye-watering capabilities for the future.”
This story was produced by WIRED Brand Lab for Northrop Grumman.
