DOD MEETS WITH INDUSTRY TO DEVELOP IP-BASED INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM
Air Force officials will meet with industry representatives this week to discuss development of an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) network. ISR communications infrastructure envisioned by Air Force is seamless transport system that will combine global data links, satellite communications assets and Internet protocol- enabled radios. System “will operate as an integral part of the broader Global Information Grid [GIG],” an integrated worldwide network being developed by Dept. of Defense (DoD), officials said. GIG, which still is in its infancy, will create interoperability among land, sea and space communications systems of U.S. military units, linking policy-makers, Defense officials and war-fighters, they said.
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Industry input is being sought by Air Force on how to best develop ISR network, with initial focus on overcoming technical challenges to its creation. Agency expressed confidence in ability of industry to help it overcome such obstacles: “We see high value in gaining industry assistance in developing the system architecture [and] identifying key components of the network and their functional performance requirements.” For example, it said that data routing would take place over numerous platforms and associated networks in system that were “highly mobile, often connected by dynamic and potentially adaptive wireless links.” Changing topology and bandwidth are among challenges to development of network architecture that prevents connections from being dropped “for significant periods of time,” it said.
Related to concept development of ISR segment of GIG is an initiative by Air Force Common Data Links (CDL) Program Office. It’s accepting industry proposals for “design, development, integration and demonstration” of multiplatform CDL (MP-CDL) system. System would provide multipoint “growth pathway” for distribution of space-based and air-to-ground communications and sensor data, officials said. It’s accepting proposals for MP-CDL program until July 29.
DoD recently began shedding more light on what it needed to deploy GIG and how industry could facilitate that effort. Bandwidth expansion and introduction of state-of-art optics into GIG infrastructure, on which DoD said requires an assessment of what fiber makers are offering and are developing for future release, are among latest GIG-related projects (CD June 3 p5). Similarly, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which invented Internet, is working with industry to develop “thinking” networks to intelligently disseminate data over the GIG (CD June 18 p8).
Despite White House request to provide $517 million in FY 2003 for development of GIG, House and Senate have passed legislation that would cut that request by $115.9 million, saying such an investment was “overly ambitious.” Defense authorization bill now goes to House-Senate conference, but GIG funding doesn’t appear to be major issue since it wasn’t subject of debate on floor of either body. In addition, although Defense Secy. Donald Rumsfeld said he intended to speak with conferees, he didn’t raise issue of GIG.