“Gloves are off” as US Defense Secretary memo calls for sweeping drone procurement reform
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has promised to usher in a new era of “military drone dominance”.
US Air Force launches new test series for C2 capabilities
U.S. Air Force Airmen participating in the 705th Combat Training Squadron’s virtual Tactical Operations Center – Light experiment at Kirtland Air Force Base. (Photo: USAF)
The USAF conducted the first experiment of its TOC-L’s capabilities, with more to follow before exercise Virtual Flag.
The USAF recently undertook a virtual Tactical Operations Center – Light (TOC-L) experiment to provide an initial assessment of the functions and staffing required to meet combatant commander needs for a rapidly mobile and configurable tactical C2 node to accelerate the kill chain.
A TOC-L is a lightweight, scalable BMS that enables tactical C2 elements to quickly relocate, establish advanced datalinks, connect to a variety of sensors via a resilient communication structure and successfully operate in a denied, degraded or contested operational environment.
The event’s primary focus was to leverage the Distributed Mission Operations Center’s capability to conduct iterative experimentation with Air Component Control System elements.
From this, TTPs could be developed which are focused on the agile control integration team and cross-functional concepts within the TOC-L framework.
The DMOC’s simulated scenarios were designed based on current US Indo-Pacific Command threats and encompass the vast span of oceans that characterise that environment.
The next two TOC-L experiments will test the USAF’s ability to integrate a host of networked systems as well as co-located and distributed Internet Protocol-based sensors.
The team will execute the second experiment in mid-July in order to integrate the TTPs and other lessons into the exercise Virtual Flag.
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