The US Department of Defence now has a baseline version of its Joint All-Domain Command and Control architecture. Additional capabilities are expected in the future.
Armada will publish its annual tactical radios supplement in the October/November edition of the print publication. The supplement includes an article examining the United States Department of Defence’s (DOD’s) Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) system. JADC2 is the manifestation of the DOD’s embrace of the Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) mindset. MDO promotes the inter- and intra-force connectivity of all military assets such as personnel, platforms, weapons, sensors, networks, bases and capabilities at all levels of war. The connectivity promoted by MDO is intended to deepen military acumen in performing synchronous operations. These synchronous operations are made possible as MDO will facilitate friendly forces taking better-quality, and faster, decisions than their adversaries. The theory is that this decision-making superiority will help overcome the Anti-Access/Area-Denial (A2AD) postures of US and allied near-peer strategic rivals like the Islamic Republic of Iran, People’s Republic of China and Russia.
Incorporating allies
JADC2 is the architecture providing the connectivity demanded by MDO. The DOD began work on the architecture following the US 2018 National Defence Strategy which highlighted the A2AD threat. This priority was reaffirmed in the 2022 strategy. The development of JADC2 has proceeded apace since then. Armada has been briefed by the DOD on where matters stand at present regarding JADC2 development. In 2023, the DOD renamed the JADC2 architecture CJADC2 (Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control) “to recognise the critical partnership the US has with its allies and partners in military operations,” a DOD spokesperson said. Not only will CJADC2 foster US military connectivity, but allied Command and Control (C2) systems will link into it. This level of connectivity reflects the need to ensure that the MDO concept is also embraced by US allies for maximum effect.
Importantly, “CJADC2 is enabled by infrastructure and technology, but it is not a single network, piece of technology, or specific system that we buy,” the spokesperson emphasises. The DOD is taking a holistic approach to CJADC2’s implementation: “CJADC2 is a whole-of-department effort to ensure requirements, resources, acquisition, and policies are aligned to deliver new capabilities and concepts … All DOD Components contribute to (the department’s) progress on CJADC2.” Implementation is supervised by the deputy secretary of defence and vice chair of the joint chiefs of Staff who co-chair the monthly CJADC2 steering group.
Other key DOD organisations involved in CJADC2’s introduction include the DOD’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office. Key to the implementation is the DOD’s CJADC2 Cross-Functional Team and the department’s CJADC2 experts: “Each of these governance forums brings together department stakeholders to align requirements, resourcing, acquisition, and policy,” regarding CJADC2 says the spokesperson. Frequent experimentation forms a key part of the CJADC2 introduction. These experiments “are coordinated (so that) stakeholders from different organisations can learn from the work others are doing.”
Human-machine teaming
A key element of CJADC2’s implementation is “adapting human workflows to fully leverage that technology,” notes the spokesperson. “This process requires a tight feedback loop between developers and operators to ensure we are achieving the optimal balance of human-machine teaming.” Continued experimentation is the overarching theme of CJADC2 development: “In experimentation cycles, we sit developers and operators side-by-side to create new tools, then ask the operators to exercise command and control with those tools in realistic scenarios and provide feedback.”
As of 2023, a minimum viable CJADC2 capability had been delivered to the DOD. This capability “combines software applications and live data integrations on operational networks” says the spokesperson: “It implements new cross-domain operational concepts and positions warfighters around the world to provide better decision advantage for DOD commanders and senior leaders.”
CJADC2 work in 2024 will see continued refinement and additional functions being added to the minimum viable capability including advances in tactical C2, the spokesperson added. There is no ‘big bang’ moment when the CJADC2 architecture will be considered complete and in service. Instead, the architecture is being implemented incrementally and will continue to receive enhancements and augmentations: “Proven capabilities are rapidly fielded for operator use. We are using new CJADC2 capabilities and concepts in real-world operations today and will continue to develop and field iteratively and continuously.”
by Dr. Thomas Withington
