New Army “Gateway” Technology Speeds up Attacks

Video Above: Army 2-Star on Project Convergence and Sensor-to-Shooter Advancements

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

What if an enemy mechanized column was approaching friendly forces through mountainous terrain, when a forward operating mini-drone detects the fast-approaching force from the air? 

What if that mini-drone instantly networked real-time video to airborne helicopters and medium altitude drones engineered with AI-enabled software to process incoming sensor data, organize information, and use RF data links to transmit time-sensitive data to ground vehicles moving to counter the enemy. Meanwhile, nearby F-35s receive the same target information, enabling a coordinated multi-domain attack upon the enemy positions. Even more, what if this tactical scenario unfolded along a coastal area and datalinks could network threat information to Navy surface ships in support the friendly ground force?

Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) 

These kinds of scenarios are fast becoming a reality as the Pentagon moves quickly to bring its Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) program to life. Yet, bringing this to tactical and operational fruition is not without technical challenges. 

What if the incoming video was sent through a unique or proprietary datalink, not compatible with incoming GPS signals, sensors, helicopter command and control or even ground-vehicle computer systems? Such a technological infrastructure, in which disaggregated pools or streams of incoming data, would impede or even fully preclude the requisite connectivity sufficient to make the aforementioned scenario possible.

Solving this problem is the essential conceptual premise of JADC2. Rapid progress is being made through industry innovations and Pentagon initiatives to create standard, interoperable protocols and interfaces to enable connectivity. This approach, referred to as Modular Open Systems Architecture, or MOSA, is made manifest through specific efforts to engineer a technical infrastructure built upon common standards. The objective is to enable both Line-of-Sight and Beyond-Line-of-Sight connectivity.