BOSTON (AFNS) —
Kessel Run’s C2IMERA application was used in support of the recent Noncombatant Evacuation Operation in Afghanistan.
C2IMERA, which stands for Command and Control Incident Management Emergency Response Application, is an application focused on reporting, planning, force generation, emergency management, and command and control monitoring and execution. The capability is developed by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Detachment 12, also known as Kessel Run, which is a software development and acquisitions unit.
The C2IMERA team with their industry partners from Leidos, who execute software development of the application, were able to understand the rapidly-changing requirements and iterate on the application, in real time, in order to meet real world operational needs, during the evacuation operation.
“The safe transit of more than 124,000 Americans and U.S. personnel, allies and partners, and Afghans at special risk from Kabul in the last two weeks of August was an extraordinary effort professionally carried out by (Air Mobility Command) and (U.S. Air Forces Central), coalition, and joint force Airmen,” said Lt. Gen. Greg Guillot, Ninth Air Force (AFCENT) commander. “Kessel Run’s C2IMERA application served as a reliable, adaptable tool as we planned and executed this complex, historic operation.”
Kessel Run was able to update the C2IMERA software in a four-day period; enabling real-time, theater-wide awareness of key logistics and NEO support information. This provided aggregated views of base level data for decision making, and understanding of the operational environment. These abilities were delivered to AFCENT, and encompassed more than 650 new user accounts.
“Prior to the capability request, AFCENT and their installations were relying on typical manual processes like Excel spreadsheets — which works in many cases — but is inefficient and does not provide ability for distributed access, data aggregation, or visualization capabilities,” said Capt. Maurice Morrell, program manager for the C2IMERA team with Kessel Run. “Kessel Run’s C2IMERA team was able to modernize and update the software for theater and installation systems, providing an effective tactical to operational C2 bridge, as the operation was happening in real time.”
During this period, an AFCENT location had an incident that affected a base’s local flying operations. The Combined Air and Space Operations Center used C2IMERA and further showcased its use beyond the NEO by being able to receive automated alerts of the local incident and response.
“The AFCENT Crisis Action Team was able to coordinate aircraft diversion in near real-time without traditional manual reporting processes, saving untold time in response and man hours,” Morrell said.
The event transpired within the same month Gen. Mark D. Kelly, commander of Air Combat Command, directed Kessel Run’s C2IMERA be used across all ACC’s installations.
C2IMERA is used in more than 40 Air Force installations, with another 20 installations scheduled to onboard the capability before the end of the year. It is a wing command and control, or C2, capability used to provide an integrated composite picture of installation resources.
The application uses a common operating picture and dashboarding capabilities as communication tools, which consolidates and shares information for leaders, and boasts a plethora of features to provide C2 capabilities. These tools are customizable and optimized based on the individual needs of the installation and also focus on updating and communicating data in real time to give commanders a constant picture of their installations, environment, assets and personnel.
That information is also viewable to whatever Air Force major command oversees the installation, thereby enabling it to view detailed aspects of each of its installations in real time.
“Kessel Run’s products are operational and impacting our warfighters abilities today,” said Col. Brian Beachkofski, Kessel Run commander. “Using DevSecOps (development, security, operations) we were able to iterate on C2IMERA in real time, to meet the operational needs of a user. This showcases just how fast we can deliver software solutions warfighters love.”
By Richard Blumenstein, Kessel Run Public Affairs