Jasmin Alsaied
To meet the demands of digitized warfare, the Department of Defense (DoD) is pursuing a concept known as Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2). JADC2’s purpose, according to DoD doctrine, is to create tangible uses of materiel and non-materiel solutions that leverage human capital and innovative technologies. Using data from sensors, the concept works to coalesce and disseminate vital information for decision-making to platforms at unprecedented speeds. The Navy’s component of JADC2, Project Overmatch, builds on this project and also pushes for new initiatives like improving network demand signals and shooter-sensor meshing. Building a JADC2 capacity will enhance the Navy’s ability to conduct advanced, technical operations that counter present and future threats in contested environments. As these systems begin to take center stage in naval missions, the US Navy must begin to explore how units, leaders, and developers will integrate a JADC2 “culture” into their day-to-day functions. Embracing JADC2 means changing everything about how the Navy operates, from logging on to a desktop shell to completing kinetic kill chains.
To effectively provide JADC2 capabilities, the Navy must pursue fleetwide culture shifts by considering the following: a total shift to cloud-based applications and functions, testing in synthetic environments, and the sustainment of feedback loops into development culture.
Consistent efforts to promote these culture shifts will be crucial to JADC2. Without user trust and comfortability on these platforms, the fleet will be slow in adapting to and implementing future warfighter technology. Though there are efforts being made to support a shift to the digital era, the Navy needs to work faster and smarter—America’s adversaries will not wait.
A Culture that Embraces the Cloud
This one’s for the strike groups, air wings, and all the operational units in between. To establish a digitized culture within the fleet, the Navy should prioritize cloud-based applications and commercial cloud environments to create more secure networks for data inputs needed for Project Overmatch. The way the Navy currently shares, receives, and authenticates data is antiquated and works against some of the rapid processes that enable JADC2. When meshing information from different platforms, the cloud is a simple and secure way to transfer data reliably and efficiently. Cloud-based operations could alleviate inaccuracies or miscalculations that arise from inefficient communications, slow data feeds, or malign user infiltration onto Navy networks.
So why isn’t the Navy currently on the cloud? In 2018, the DoD released a Cloud Strategy which has not gained much traction. Today, there are few requirements for cloud usage, or controlled network usage, even for more sensitive tasks related to warfighting. This creates fatal loopholes that can be manipulated or leveraged by adversaries who successfully gain access to Navy networks. Furthermore, Navy network architecture is not yet equipped to fully embrace the cloud due to issues with low-bandwidth environments and identity management. The Navy will need to get creative to improve sea-based interoperability with the cloud using space-based technologies or other means prior to launching an aggressive fleetwide transition.
One way to ease into this transition is by creating a bigger push for fleetwide usage of the Navy Digital Marketplace, which provides secure access to all Navy-based cloud applications. The marketplace also helps facilitate the acquisition and development of cloud-based tools to ensure that security and ease of operability remain at the forefront of naval operations at all levels. A transition to the Cloud simplifies many day-to-day tasks related to warfighting by providing fast access to important information reliably and securely.
Test in Synthetic Environments to Maintain Warfighter Trust
This culture shift is aimed at software developers who work within or around the Navy. Navy software developers need to take greater advantage of synthetic environments to test, experiment, and reinvent the way data and information synthesizes across domains. Synthetic environments allow developers to test out key concepts and features of JADC2 infrastructure without implementing a product or concept that is not ready to go to the fleet. In theory, these platform-enabled environments could be the first time that sensors, data ingestion, and cross-domain input from across the Navy interact in the same environment. Synthetic environments will simulate how multi-source data fusion of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)-fed capabilities integrate with current Navy programs and operating software.
Testing in synthetic environments allows you to troubleshoot and iterate without losing the trust of the ultimate end user—the warfighter. The Navy needs to use these technologies to stress-test every aspect of their networks and equipment to certify that they meet future naval mission requirements, even when operating in contested battlespaces.
Establish a Culture of DevOps and Agile at all Levels
The most difficult shift for the Navy will be a top-down culture shift that prioritizes user needs and expectations. To do so, the Navy’s JADC2 ecosystem needs to adopt a DevOps and Agile culture to shorten development time and improve delivery and deployment quality. DevOps prioritizes the culture around the development and operation of software. A DevOps culture could focus the fleet on maximizing efficiency, streamlining processes, and increasing automation. Just as important, Agile builds the bridge between network and application developers and the end user. Agile processes allow end users to return feedback to developers before fielding a technology.
Agile frameworks require support around a “fail-fast” attitude and allow for the quick turnaround from deployment to development to keep pace with mission needs. “Failing fast” is an excellent way to ingeminate priorities while periodically changing and altering systems for the better. Continuing to work with this mentality could save a lot of time, money, effort, and frustration in the Navy’s JADC2 efforts.
Moving Forward
Fleetwide support for the full integration of JADC2 culture is vital. Leaders need to understand that efficacy and accuracy of data fed across domains, facilitated by JADC2, will improve decision advantage. The Navy must shift the organization’s culture to meet the growing demands of a JADC2 ecosystem to remain on the cutting edge and in the vanguard of the coming decades of competition.
Jasmin Alsaied is Young Professionals in Foreign Policy Rising Expert on National Security. She is a United States Navy Surface Warfare Officer currently pursuing her masters in Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Her research focuses on maritime domain awareness, emerging technology integration challenges, and nuclear counterproliferation in the Indo-Pacific. She is a graduate of NC State University (BS Nuclear Engineering, ’17) and is currently a non-resident fellow at the Middle East Institute and Key Terrain Cyber.
The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense, the Department of the Navy, or the U.S. Government
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