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1 1 (February 15, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/govefzv0001 and id is 1 raw text is: waiiCongressional Research Service Inforrming the legislative debate since 1914 S Updated February 15, 2022 Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) The Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) is the U.S. Air Force's latest effort to create a next-generation command and control (C2) system. ABMS proposes using cloud environments and new communications methods to allow Air Force and Space Force systems to share data seamlessly using artificial intelligence to enable faster decisionmaking. The Air Force describes ABMS as its effort to create an internet of things, which would allow for sensors and C2 systems to be disaggregated from one another (counter to how the Air Force has traditionally performed C2). This program is the Air Force's contribution to the DOD's Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) effort focused on modernizing DOD decisionmaking processes for combat operations. ABMS was originally envisioned to replace the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) (Figure 1), which currently directs air combat operations, but later took on a broader scope. Former Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition Will Roper directed that the program become less focused on command centers and aircraft, and to instead create digital technologies, like secure cloud environments, to share data across multiple weapons systems. Dr. Roper stated the contested environment envisioned by the 2018 National Defense Strategy forced the Air Force to restructure the ABMS program. In May 2021, General David Allvin, the Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force in a DefenseOne article stated, What exactly is ABMS? Is it software? Hardware? Infrastructure? Policy? The answer is yes to all. In other words, the Air Force envisions ABMS as an acquisition program that will both procure things and implement other nondevelopmental efforts that the service views as equally important: new techniques to command and control airborne forces. Figure I. E-3 AWACS Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BoeingE-3_Sentry#/media/ File:E-3_SentryexerciseGreen_Flag_20 12_(Cropped).jpg. Since ABMS's inception, Congress has expressed interest in the development of next-generation C2 systems. The Air Force states that ABMS is a nontraditional acquisition program. As a result, Congress has questioned the Air Force's approach to replacing older systems and its approach to experimenting with emerging technologies. A BMS Development Efforts The Air Force has performed five events to date to demonstrate the new C2 capabilities it hopes to eventually field. In December 2019 the Air Force, in its first ABMS on-ramp-the term the Air Force uses to denote a demonstration-showed the ability to transmit data from Army radars and Navy destroyers to both F-22 and F-35 fighter aircraft. This event also demonstrated the Space Force's Unified Data Library (UDL), which is a cloud environment combining space-based and ground-based sensors to track satellites. In September 2020, ABMS performed its second on-ramp. This second on-ramp demonstrated detecting and defeating a simulated cruise missile bound for the United States using hypervelocity weapons as defenses. In addition, ABMS exhibited capabilities to detect and defeat efforts to disrupt U.S. operations in space. According to an Air Force press release 70 industry teams and 65 government teams participated in the event. The Air Force held a third on-ramp event in late September 2020, in support of exercise Valiant Shield at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. During this event, the Air Force demonstrated using a KC-46 tanker aircraft to perform tactical C2 by relaying data from older, fourth-generation fighters to newer, fifth-generation aircraft like the F-22. In May 2021, the Air Force stated that procuring a communications pod for the KC-46 will be the first capability release for the ABMS program. The Air Force said, In a fight, the tankers will need to be flying near the action anyway, supporting fighters, so using them as a command-and-control system, either as the primary or a resilient backup, just makes sense. A fourth on-ramp was held in Europe in February 2021. According to press releases, the Air Force curtailed this event due to budget constraints. This fourth on-ramp linked allied nations including the Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom into combined air operations. According to General Harrigan, commander of U.S. Air Forces Europe, this fourth event tested U.S. and allied capabilities to perform long-range strike missions with F-15E aircraft launching AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) (see Figure 2), while simultaneously utilizing U.S. and allied F-35s for airbase defense missions. crsreporis.cong ress.

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