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PEO Soldier Holds Relinquishment of Charter Ceremony for PM Soldier Maneuver and Precision Targeting

Sunday, July 31st, 2022

FORT BELVOIR, VA – Project Manager, Soldier Maneuver and Precision Targeting (PM SMPT), executed a relinquishment of charter ceremony on Fort Belvoir, July 14.

In his final act as Project Manager for SMPT, Col. Douglas Copeland, turned over the organizational charter to Brig. Gen. Christopher Schneider, Program Executive Officer (PEO) Soldier, signifying the disestablishment of the project management office, after more than 20 years of providing Soldiers with capabilities designed to enhance lethality, mobility and survivability.

Initially established as Product Manager Sensors and Lasers in 2002, the SMPT team developed and delivered night vision devices, thermal weapon sights, Soldier borne sensors, aiming lasers and precision targeting systems. In 2009, and commensurate with increased responsibilities due to wartime requirements, the team was converted to a Colonel-led project management office and re-designated Project Manager Soldier Sensors and Lasers. In 2019, the team was renamed Project Manager Soldier Maneuver and Precision Targeting and continued to deliver critical technology to U.S. forces.

“I was incredibly lucky to get to join the team that we’re celebrating today. This PM team is filled with incredible professionals. We have military, civilians and contractors who are literally the best at their craft and experts in their field. It’s my hope that I was able to provide the team with the right resources, a steady approach and clarity-in vision and intent along the way,” said Copeland.

During his time as project manager, SMPT accomplished many things, including equipping the Army with the Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binocular beginning just 12 months after requirement approval. Copeland thanked the SMPT team for allowing him to be part of their successes and credited them for their ability to adapt and overcome obstacles presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This team did a lot of incredible things, even despite the pandemic. It forced us to disperse and work from home, but that didn’t stop you. This team maintained a high performing and close-knit culture even while teleworking. That says something about the men and women on this team. We never missed a fielding. There’s a global shortage of subcomponents and all sorts of challenges that we had to work through, and this team made it through on its own initiative. You did it, not me. I look forward to seeing the members of this team continue to do great things for the Army,” said Copeland.

Personnel assigned to SMPT will continue to serve after re-organizing within Project Managers Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) and Soldier Lethality. Copeland will remain with PEO Soldier serving as the Assistant Program Executive Officer, Soldier.

“If you want to get a master class in watching somebody command a formation day in and day out, that’s what Doug has done from day one. This is tough work and I’m incredibly proud of him. I know the team is proud of him and there’s no doubt wherever his future takes him, people are going to be lucky to have him in their formation,” said Schneider.

Story by Jason Amadi, PEO Soldier

Posted in Army, Guest Post, PEO-Soldier | 1 Comment »

Army’s Mission Command Convergence Efforts Laying Coundation for Tactical Data Fabric

Sunday, July 31st, 2022

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (July 20, 2022) – The Army’s effort to converge mission command applications onto a “single pane of glass” reached another key milestone last month as the next increment of Command Post Computing Environment (CPCE) software achieved Milestone B approval.

CPCE Increment 2, or Inc 2, marks the second significant convergence of warfighting functions into CPCE and will collapse fires and intel apps onto the software framework. Inc 2 also integrates mission planning and airspace control tools, and initial tactical data fabric (TDF) capabilities.

Milestone B approval designates the start of the engineering and manufacturing development phase and sets the conditions for operational test and evaluation and ultimately, a full deployment decision.

Programs of record with ongoing convergence efforts onto the CPCE framework as part of Inc 2 include the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System, or AFATDS, which provides automated fire-support command, control and communications; intel apps including All Source II, Information Collection, Intel Support to Targeting and Weather Operational Effects; integrated mission planning and airspace control tools including the Aviation Mission Planning System and Tactical Airspace Integration System; ENFIRE, a reconnaissance and surveying toolset, which provides Army engineers the means to facilitate rapid collection and dissemination of terrain information; and Cyber Situational Understanding, also known as Cyber SU.

“Collapsing these mission command applications provides an opportunity for commanders to envision the holistic battlefield from one source,” said Lt. Col. Travis Rudge, product manager for Tactical Mission Command. “The Army is working across its network and intel partners, ground and aviation platform offices, Corps of Engineers and other stakeholders to make this convergence a reality.”

The implementation plan for Inc 2 identifies the CPCE TDF as its priority effort in concert with logistics status and sustainment-running estimate capabilities. The remaining operational needs – including role-based access controls, terrain analysis and application automation, among others – are being analyzed by the Army’s capability development and requirements community. Once delivered, these remaining operational needs will improve interoperability, common look and feel, and cross-cutting capabilities across the Mounted Computing Environment and Mobile Handheld Computing Environment, leading to additional improvements in usability and training.

Additional enhancements planned for Inc 2 include critical cybersecurity measures to enable Tactical PKI implementation and certificate management, integrate a password management tool and encrypt data at rest.

The initial CPCE TDF delivered in Inc 2 will begin bridging enterprise and tactical data sources, and simplify and accelerate the sensor-to-shooter kill chain. The Army is taking a hybrid approach for its data fabric architecture, integrating ARCYBER’s lower echelon analytics platform, or LEAP, and components of the U.S. Army C5ISR Center’s Rainmaker capability to help provide improved data access, management and synchronization. Advancements from CPCE Inc 1 to Inc 2 software have set the stage for cloud-enabled mission command. Modification of the software will allow CPCE to access the power of the cloud infrastructure, removing dependencies of the application to legacy hardware while increasing scalability.

“CPCE Increment 2 is our contribution to the Army Data Plan and JADC2, helping our deployed units sense, make sense and act on data,” said Col. Matt Paul, project manager for Mission Command. “It allows commanders to be data centric, treating data as an asset to make better data-driven decisions.”

Coupled with CPCE Inc 2 software, Tactical Server Infrastructure version 3, or TSIv3, hardware will reduce the hardware footprint with smaller and more powerful servers and deliver increased computing resource requirements in support of Program of Record convergence.

Developmental Security Operations, or DevSecOps, continues to drive program development based on real-world feedback from Soldiers. Last month, technical leads from Project Manager Mission Command (PM MC) met with ARCYBER, U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) and 25th Infantry Division (25ID) leadership to coordinate TDF design needs and potential USARPAC experimentation support plans. PM MC personnel assisted USARPAC and 25ID in developing network visibility use cases and data collection parameters through LEAP to gain better insight based on mission needs.

Additional DevSecOps partners include USAREUR-AF, XVIII Airborne Corps, I Corps and USASOC. Ongoing experimentation efforts in the INDOPACOM area of responsibility are informing future TDF implementation and CPCE enhancements.

A full deployment decision and the first unit equipped for CPCE Inc 2 are both scheduled for 2024.

By Justin Eimers, PEO C3T Public Affairs

Posted in Army, Comms, Guest Post | 1 Comment »

Low-Cost Tech Shaping Modern Battlefield, SOCOM Commander Says?

Thursday, July 28th, 2022

ASPEN, Colo. — In his 38 years as a soldier, across theaters ranging from the Middle East to Europe, the commander of Special Operations Command says he never had to look up. But those days are ending.

“I never had to look up because the U.S. always maintained air superiority,” Army Gen. Richard D. Clarke said during a discussion Friday at the Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, Colorado. “We won’t always have that luxury,” he added.

Low-cost quadcopters and larger unmanned aerial vehicles are disrupting the status quo as militaries and insurgents increasingly rely on them, the general said.

“When Russia is running out of them for Ukraine, and they’re going to Iran to go buy more, [that] should cause us all a bit of concern because you can see how valuable that they can be in the future fight,” he said.

U.S. and partner forces have largely focused on ways to defeat enemy drones after takeoff, but Clarke said there is also a need for interagency discussions on ways to disrupt supply chains to prevent them from taking off.

But first, there must be a discussion on norms and authorities for their use, he said. With a “very low” cost of entry for some of the small unmanned systems, the general said some countries may want to use drones to move patients or supplies. Medical transport vehicles are protected under the Geneva Conventions.

Chemical, Biological Weapons

Clarke said the Defense Department has charged Socom with looking at another threat that is inexpensive to produce and use — chemical and biological weapons.

ISIS used chlorine and mustard gases in Iraq and Syria, he said. Russia has used chemical weapons against its political allies — on its own soil and elsewhere, Clarke added.

“The fact that someone in the basement in Mosul [Iraq] with a few lab sets can do this,” proved that it’s a simple process to create these weapons, the general said. Chemical and biological weapons are a terrorist weapon system, he said, and ISIS and al-Qaida will continue to use them because they instill fear.

“As we go into the future, we have to be prepared for that eventuality … and look for methods to continue to combat it,” Clarke said.

Cyber Threats

Though U.S. officials have said government and other critical systems are receiving daily cyberattacks, the general said he’s equally concerned with the way adversaries are using cyber to exploit the information space.

Malign actors are spreading misinformation and disinformation online, and these have had an impact on elections, he said.

Misinformation is false or misleading information — a mistaken breaking news announcement, for example. Disinformation is meant to intentionally deceive the recipient.

Clarke said cyber gives adversaries a quick route to spread false information that can damage the U.S. cause.

“The message, if you look at the internet and what is happening from the African countries, its U.S. sanctions against Russia are causing food shortages in Africa,” the general said. “So we’re being blamed for people in Africa not getting to eat. … We have to look at what is on the internet and get the truth out about what is happening. And I think we have to be able to do that as a government a little bit faster than what we’re doing today.”

By Claudette Roulo, DOD News

Posted in Army, CBRNE, CEMA, Disruptive Tech, Guest Post, Information Warfare, SOF | Comments Off on Low-Cost Tech Shaping Modern Battlefield, SOCOM Commander Says?

PEO Soldier Welcomes New Leader

Tuesday, July 26th, 2022

Fort Belvoir, VA –

PEO Soldier held a change of charter ceremony as Brig. Gen. Christopher Schneider assumed responsibility as the organization’s leader from Maj. Gen. Anthony Potts, at the National Museum of the United States Army, at Fort Belvoir on June 21st.

Soldiers, Department of the Army civilians and family members and friends of the ceremony participants filled Veterans Hall for the event, presided over by Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (ASA ALT), Mr. Douglas Bush.

PEO Soldier delivers 127 programs, 253 products and integrated capabilities to Soldiers across the world, including weapons systems, body armor, helmets, sensors, lasers and uniforms. Its mission is to “rapidly deliver agile and adaptive, leading edge Soldier capabilities in order to provide combat overmatch today and be more lethal tomorrow.”

Much of the ceremony highlighted the achievements of Potts as Program Executive Officer and the scope of the work performed by the many directorates under his command for nearly four and a half years.

Bush cited how more than six million items were fielded to Soldiers since Potts’ tenure began in January 2018 – 114,000 items for 53 months – to include protective equipment, armor, helmets, combat and service uniforms, cold weather gear and flame-resistant clothing.

“An awesome level of achievement,” said Bush, who awarded Potts the Distinguished Service Medal as part of the ceremony.

Specifically, Bush praised Potts for overseeing the ongoing Rapid Fielding Initiative, which supplied tens of thousands of Soldiers this year with clothing and gear before they were sent to Europe. He applauded Potts’ multi-year efforts in the design, development, testing, evaluation and rollout of the Army Green Service Uniform (AGSU).

Bush also commended Potts for overseeing the quick fielding and delivery of the Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binocular (ENVG-B), which he described as, “the highest performing night vision device ever.”

He noted the Next Generation Squad Weapon and the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) as programs PEO Soldier has brought to fruition through Potts’ leadership, successfully synchronizing efforts with Army Futures Command and Cross Functional Teams (CFTs) to increase the capabilities of Soldiers on the battlefield.

During his remarks, Potts was quick to credit others for PEO Soldier’s accomplishments, thanking by name dozens of mentors, Army leaders and current and former staff from the organization.

“Our three priorities at PEO Soldier are to deliver capability, take care of people and develop a culture of innovation,” he said. “This is a team that sees the possibility of the future and asks the question, ‘what if,’ and then they go after it.”

Potts singled out as successes the Modular Handgun System and Sub Compact Weapon as popular programs that delivered improved pistols and machine guns to Soldiers, and the Soldier Enhancement Program, which “enabled us to accelerate modernized clothing and equipment to our force.”

Our Soldiers are “grateful to the men and women that design, build, test and deliver the capability they need to have overmatch today,” remarked Potts.

The day after PEO Soldier’s change of charter, Potts assumed the charter as Program Executive Officer for Command, Control and Communications – Tactical (PEO C3T), during a ceremony at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.

Schneider assumes command of an organization with a $2.3 billion budget, comprised of 1,300 personnel, four project management offices, eight product management offices and one project director office.

Schneider is familiar with many of these offices. He previously served in several positions within PEO Soldier, to include Project Manager for Soldier Sensors and Lasers and Project Manager for the Integrated Visual Augmentation System. He returns to PEO Soldier after his most recent assignment as Deputy for Acquisition and Systems Management, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics and Technology).

Bush said Schneider’s “top level knowledge of acquisition, coupled with his valuable experience will enable him to continue this PEO’s tradition of strong, effective leadership.”

Schneider said he was “excited and grateful” to return to the PEO Soldier workforce.

“It’s my greatest professional honor and privilege to serve for a third and final time amongst your ranks,” Schneider said. “Your work is sacred. Every ounce matters. Every bullet counts.”

By Frederick Shear PEO Soldier

Posted in Army, Guest Post, PEO-Soldier | 2 Comments »

U.S., Netherlands Sign Future Rotorcraft Concept Analysis Arrangement

Thursday, July 21st, 2022

GILZE-RIJEN AIRFORCE BASE, Netherlands – Senior leaders from the United States Army and the Netherlands Ministry of Defence signed a Future Rotorcraft Concept Analysis Project Arrangement today, pledging to work together to ensure interoperability between the two nations’ future rotorcraft aviation forces.

Under the arrangement signed by Douglas Bush, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, and Maj. Gen. André Steur, National Capability Director for the Netherlands Ministry of Defense, the two nations will share information about their future rotorcraft requirements and programs. Through this joint analysis, the U.S. and Netherlands will be able to assess the benefits, risks and overall feasibility of rotorcraft cooperation between the two allies. This arrangement is in addition to already existing partnerships the Netherlands has with the U.S. Army to collaborate on the detection and decontamination efforts of Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and high yield Explosives and Weapons Systems Effectiveness and Operation Research.

Objectives of this project arrangement include:

• Identifying opportunities to reduce future rotorcraft program cost, schedule and performance risk.

• Enabling and improving rotorcraft interoperability and integration between the armed forces.

• Assessing the feasibility of and identifying and assessing risks associated with pursuing future cooperation in the research, development, test and evaluation, production, sustainment, and follow-on development of future rotorcraft.

• Providing the two nations with information to use in their respective national decision-making processes.

• Promoting future rotorcraft cooperative research, development, testing and evaluation.

• Developing plans for cooperation in future phases of the U.S. Department of Defense Future Vertical Lift program.

“I’m glad to be signing this important arrangement with our steadfast Dutch NATO allies. This arrangement further strengthens our defense relationship, specifically when it comes to the future of our air capabilities,” Bush said. “Technological cooperation through arrangements like this improves our ability to collectively modernize and increase interoperability ensuring we can train and fight alongside our allies and partners more effectively and efficiently.”

The U.S. and Netherlands have a long history of partnership and cooperation, and the FRCA project arrangement is an important step in expanding that relationship into the next generation of vertical lift capability and employment in future coalition operations.

“The signing of this project arrangement is yet another example of the enduring partnership between our countries,” Steur said. “Finding interoperability in a networked coalition, plus exploring and analyzing new concepts for the employment of coalition air power, is key for the future fight. By working together on this program, we ensure a solid and common base for further development of our future rotorcraft capabilities.”

The U.S. Army is modernizing Army Aviation with transformational speed, range and lethality to achieve decision dominance for the Joint Force in Multi-Domain Operations. The two nations will assess collaboration opportunities on the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft and the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft, the U.S. Army’s aviation modernization priorities, as well as Future Unmanned Aerial Systems, Air Launched Effects, and Modular Open Systems Architecture, among other DoD programs.

The U.S. Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Defense Exports and Cooperation is responsible for negotiating international armaments cooperation arrangements like this one. Leveraging foreign technologies, capabilities and investment supports U.S. Army readiness, modernization and interoperability goals.

Posted in Army, Aviation, Press Release | Comments Off on U.S., Netherlands Sign Future Rotorcraft Concept Analysis Arrangement

Army Partners with Massachusetts General Hospital to Test New Tourniquet Monitor

Thursday, July 21st, 2022

AUSTIN, Texas — The Army partnered with medical experts from the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, to test out a new tourniquet monitor designed to improve accuracy in tourniquet application.

The device underwent field scenario testing during the Army’s recent Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment, or AEWE, held February 25 to March 7, 2022 at Fort Benning, Georgia, hosted by the Army Maneuver Capability Development and Integration Directorate’s Maneuver Battle Lab.

“The Wellman Center has a rich history of problem-driven science and engineering for DoD needs with success in translating technologies out to the warfighter,” said Dr. Conor Evans, the principal investigator on the Tourniquet Integrated Monitor project, also known as the TiMON.

The TiMON is a small, portable electronic device that enables real-time monitoring and evaluation of emergency tourniquet application.

The device is designed to work with any standard military windlass-based emergency tourniquet. The TiMON enhances a Soldier’s ability to control traumatic bleeding by providing intuitive visual feedback on the amount of pressure applied by the tourniquet, as well as a timer for tracking the tourniquet’s application duration.

As an additional indicator of effective tourniquet administration, variations of the device can track vitals such as limb tissue oxygenation.

Military personnel can utilize the TiMON to practice proper bleeding control methods and application of an emergency tourniquet in the field. The device, which was designed for use by dismounted infantry Soldiers, can be carried in a rucksack or attached to standard-issue emergency tourniquets prior to operations.

“AEWE was a great experience that allowed us to see our research project being utilized in a real-world setting by actual Soldiers,” said Dr. John Nguyen, who led the TiMON team’s first experience with AEWE. “We take each Soldier’s input very seriously, and our collaborative participation in AEWE helped to underline the importance of bleed control and triage under austere environments.”

While military personnel’s use of emergency tourniquets has helped to drastically reduce the incidence of combat hemorrhage deaths due to traumatic limb injuries, even trained personnel can struggle to judge effective tourniquet administration. This is especially true when service members are working under duress or in less-than-ideal settings, such as when visual and pulsatile feedback are obscured.

Over-tightening a tourniquet can result in tissue necrosis, while under-tightening a tourniquet might result in continuous bleeding. Long-term tourniquet use can result in additional ailments such as compartment syndrome and limb amputation. Furthermore, depending on dynamic physiological changes following trauma, a properly applied tourniquet may need to be evaluated over time and progressively modified.

The TiMON was created to address these challenges by giving precise and actionable feedback on applied emergency tourniquet pressure and duration without the need for a completely new emergency tourniquet design.

“Our TiMON clip attaches to existing combat tourniquets, which was a direct request from the DoD so that they could continue to use their preferred combat tourniquets,” said Evans. “Our work on the TiMON is largely independent from that of other devices currently on the market, and was specifically developed with application to the military in mind, making it fairly unique.”

The TiMON is now undergoing advanced prototype testing. It is fully functional, and the Wellman Center team is working to improve the technology and usability based on feedback from their participation in AEWE 2022. The DoD is funding the TiMON project, which is overseen by the Partners Human Research and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine through the Uniformed Services University for Health Sciences. The TiMON project started in response to a request from retired Col. Michael Davis, then the head of the Combat Casualty Care Research Program, and was funded by the Transforming Technology for the Warfighter grant.

The Wellman Center for Photomedicine is currently iterating a new TiMON design that integrates elements recommended by Soldiers from their previous involvement in AEWE.

“After AEWE 2021, the main feedback was that the device should be made smaller. When applying the tourniquet, the device could take up real estate on the tourniquet and require the Soldier to place straps over the device, which could cause difficulty during application,” said TiMON research engineer Anna Wiatrowski.

“For AEWE 2022, the main goals in updating the device were to create a smaller device overall, incorporate a new pressure indicator and improve timer to track tourniquet wear,” Wiatrowski said.

“We had the incredible fortune to participate in both AEWE 2021 and 2022, as well as have the opportunity to carry out a civilian study in parallel,” said Evans. “The feedback we received from both AEWE events was extraordinary, and we see multiple routes forward for development. We sincerely thank the Army, the AEWE organizers and all the AEWE participants for these amazing opportunities.”

By Gloriann M. Martin, Army Futures Command

Posted in Army, Guest Post, Medical | 1 Comment »

ERDC Constantly Improving World-Class Computational Capabilities

Wednesday, July 20th, 2022

VICKSBURG, Miss. – The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) is taking care of its employees and stakeholders by perfecting the tools they use, such as the Research and Development Environment (RDE) network. Over the years, the RDE has grown into a suite of tools, services and applications that allows engineers and scientists a high-speed network for performing world-class research for the warfighter and civil works customers.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has always used Corpsnet, which is an enterprise system that is used by most USACE districts and divisions, but that isn’t specifically designed for research and development. About twenty years ago, the RDE was developed after ERDC leadership realized the need for a network with more capabilities, and today it is under the purview of the ERDC Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO). Robert Walker, the deputy chief information officer, and the rest of the OCIO team are constantly asking themselves: how do we make it better?

“Every year, if we aren’t improving, then we are not keeping up with industry,” Walker said. “If we want to develop world-class products, we need world-class resources. If we want to attract world-class talent, then we have to give them world-class computational capabilities.”

During the RDE town hall earlier this year, the OCIO team showcased new offerings, which included productivity and time-management tools, cloud-hosting services and the ERDC DevSecOps platform 2.0. DevSecOps, which is short for Development, Security, and Operations, is a suite of tools that allows ERDC software developers to collaborate with cybersecurity and operations teams from the start of the project instead of waiting toward the end.

“Instead of waiting until a project is almost complete, security is able to scan the software from day one so that the developers can find potential security problems early and prepare it for operations much sooner in the process,” said Walker. “This way, when you are ready to officially deploy your product, it’s more prepared for operations from day one.”

Another significant advancement over the years has been the Cloud Computing Environment (CCE), which allows users to request server resources any day of the week or time of the day. The CCE allows users to specify server configurations and storage allocation, instead of being responsible for personal servers or network attached storage (NAS) devices under their desks. Some of the benefits to using the CCE is the baked in security, redundancy, and scalability.

Allyson Windham, the computing services lead on the OCIO team, was one of the driving forces behind getting the CCE running after a policy was released from the DOD saying that servers needed to be in an approved data center.

“Prior to the CCE, folks would purchase servers, put them under their desk, and run their workloads,” said Windham. “A large part of my time when I joined the OCIO team was finding these type of configurations and moving them to the DOD-approved CCE.”

At the RDE town hall, the team also introduced a new capability of cloud platform services on the Azure Information Level 4 (IL4) DOD servers. The capability provides a means for researchers to access the variety of tools that are needed for computational analysis at a much lower cost. The scientists and engineers are only charged for the time spent using the tool, which is much more affective from a financial standpoint.

“ERDC could never afford to purchase, install and manage every computational platform offered by commercial partners,” says Walker. “By acquiring Azure IL4 space, and bringing it directly to our ERDC researchers’ desktops, they can now access all the computational platforms that industry has to offer.”

The enhanced capabilities of the RDE have enabled ERDC to utilize digital twin technology to support the rebuilding of Tyndall Air Force Base. When Hurricane Michael came ashore in 2018 as a category 5 hurricane, it left Tyndall Air Force Base completely destroyed. A partnership was formed to repair the base, and ERDC’s Lance Marrano, a lead researcher in Installations of the Future (IotF), was placed there as a science and technology advisor to assist with navigating technological innovations during the complex reconstruction process.

After listening to the wishes of base leadership, Marrano decided that a digital twin ? a digital replica of physical assets, processes, people, and places — of the base was needed to provide decision-makers with quick and easy access to up-to-date data and analyses during the process of this massive construction project.

“That’s what digital twin technology is about, in as realistic and virtual world as possible, recreating the base, the buildings, the roads, the runways, the utilities, and saying ‘now what does that enable us to do?’” said Marrano.

Marrano worked with ERDC’s Information Technology Laboratory to establish an RDE network segment at Tyndall as a home for the Digital Twin prototype. “Without having the Defense Research and Engineering Network (DREN) connection and the RDE services, the digital twin of Tyndall Airforce Base would not have been executed,” he said.

“If we don’t have the right environment or tools to explore these new innovations, then we simply can’t,” he continued. “It is vital that we have capabilities that allow us to experiment, prototype and improve without worrying about putting the mission at risk – it allows us to push the envelope.”

The diligence of the OCIO team has helped position ERDC as a viable competitor against any organization for quality IT computational resources. The staff is constantly learning and training to provide core capabilities and assistance to ERDC engineers and researchers, which ultimately impacts the ERDC mission: supporting the warfighter and the nation.

“We try to keep up with industry so that we can offer our developers and researchers the best tools to help make their job easier – we are really customer focused,” said Windham. “It is challenging, but the reward is offering tools that help different domains; from the warfighter to the environmentalists.”

Claiborne Cooksey, ERDC Public Affairs

Posted in Army, Guest Post | Comments Off on ERDC Constantly Improving World-Class Computational Capabilities

US, Moroccan Special Forces Team Up For Inaugural Cyber Training

Tuesday, July 19th, 2022

TIFNIT, Morocco – U.S. Army Soldiers with 3rd Special Forces Group (SFG) Tactical Information Support Center, Expeditionary Cyber Team 2, and Royal Moroccan Special Operations Forces (SOF) teamed up to conduct prototype cyber effects training during African Lion 22, June 26, 2022.

African Lion 22, U.S. Africa Command’s largest, premier, joint, annual exercise hosted by Morocco, Ghana, Senegal and Tunisia, June 6 – 30, is a critical opportunity for members of the joint team to build and test their strategic readiness to deploy, fight and win in a complex, multi-domain environment. The cyber training collaboration was the first of its kind and sought to discover how low equity cyber solutions can expand options for key decision makers at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels.

The cyber effects training included hands-on cyber lab demonstrations using commercial tools and comparing them to less accessible high-tech devices. The lead 3rd SFG trainer described the hands-on training as an ‘opportunity to take cyber security to the field and into the mind of each Service Member in a combat situation.’

3rd SFG endeavors to learn, iterate, and eventually offer flexible cyber options at scale while maximizing the indigenous approach through partner forces.

“By actually shifting the focus of training to the modern combat environment, which is now becoming rapidly digital, you create a more potent, lethal force, moving into the future,” stated a member of 3rd SFG.

Building an understanding of multi-domain digital activities would allow U.S. and partner forces to work with more sustainable equipment and better understand digital threats to their missions.

U.S. Africa Command is ready to provide the necessary resources to advance mutual interests and respond to crisis in Africa because of successfully forged and maintained partnerships and demonstrated operational success.

African Lion 22 is a joint all-domain, multi-component, and multinational exercise, employing a full array of mission capabilities with the goal to strengthen interoperability among participants and set the theater for strategic access. More than 7,500 participants from 28 nations and NATO train together with a focus on enhancing readiness for U.S. and partner nation forces.

Story by Charli Turner, U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa

Photo by SFC Katie Theusch, U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa

Posted in Army, CEMA, Forces Focus, Guest Post, Information Warfare, SOF, Training | Comments Off on US, Moroccan Special Forces Team Up For Inaugural Cyber Training