CHIPS Articles: A Trident Warrior 08 Journal

11 June

We intend to provide periodic updates during TW08 execution to keep you abreast of status and to solicit any real-time feedback to better meet our FORCEnet experimentation needs.

As a reminder, we began TW08 with the concept development conference in November 2006. We designed the experiment to support fleet priorities, systems command technical support and Naval NETWAR FORCEnet Enterprise (NNFE) requirements. We solicited technology nominations and then selected experimentation candidates from a broad range of government and industry sources.

We then began the detailed process of objective development, process diagram design, certification/accreditation, risk reduction lab-based testing, data collection and experiment design. This now brings us to the actual execution of the experiments. We start the main experimentation efforts on Monday [June 16]. We plan to execute about 100 separate experiments each day.

As a quick summary of the experimentation process: we will execute from June 9 until July 25 in the Southern California and Hawaiian operations areas. We will install, test and report on over 110 separate technologies or processes which have been installed in more than 40 separate commands including 19 U.S. and coalition ships.

We will issue a preliminary "quicklook" message immediately following the transit phase ending June 27, and then will send a supplement message following July operations. The Military Utility Assessment and final report will be ready in October.

13 June

Today, Commander, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command Rear Adm. Mike Bachmann, who is also the NNFE chief operating officer, kicked off the distinguished visitor brief for an audience that included the commander of Amphibious Squadron 7 (CPR-7), commanding officers (CO) of USS Bonhomme Richard (BHR) (LHD 6) and CNS Almirante Riveros (FF 18), and representatives from the Navy Tactical Exploitation of National Capabilities (TENCAP) program and Office of the Chief of Naval Operations N6.

Of interest was a discussion on TW "leave behinds" with Capt. Neil Parrott, CO of the BHR. He petitioned for several of the installs, particularly the Navy Enterprise Records Management Solution, to remain. Unfortunately, ERMS and several other high interest technologies are installed on an experimental network and will have to be removed upon FINEX (exercise conclusion).

Commander of CPR-7, Commodore Rodney Clark, commented that perhaps the best leave behind benefit of TW was not in a particular technology but the extensive system grooming conducted by the TW install team.

16 June

Today, we turned the experimentation level up to high. As the BHR and the USS Milius (MIL) (DDG 69) rounded Point Loma we were already testing more than 50 technologies in every one of the 12 FORCEnet TW08 focus areas.

From an experiment battle rhythm perspective, each day we track events designed to measure and analyze data on each TW08 technology. Each evening we review the events of that day and adjust the next day's events to maximize the experimentation opportunities. As an example, yesterday we tracked over 300 separate events.

A technology that we are testing early is Hostile Forces Integrated Targeting System. HITS is designed to provide precision geolocation for targeting, utilizing air, surface and subsurface platforms by receiving and correlating signals from multiple security enclaves.

Today, we conducted over 40 geolocation trials against static shore-based and mobile maritime target platforms. HITS equipped sensors aboard BHR, MIL, an EP-3 aircraft and a submerged fast attack submarine utilized emissions in the ultra high frequency (UHF), very high frequency (VHF) and HF spectrums. Preliminary results indicated all geolocation trials were successful.

17 June

The networks on the BHR and MIL have stayed fairly stable and have not degraded any of our testing so far. We did, however, suffer a technical glitch testing the Floating Area Network. FAN is designed to provide a high-speed inter-strike group data network.

Because of installation restrictions we only could install FAN on BHR, MIL and USS Comstock (COM) (LSD 45), and the only opportunity to have all three in line-of-sight was this afternoon. Unfortunately, when the ships began the specific maneuvers, one of the critical FAN antennas aboard BHR failed. We were able to complete several distance and off-set tests, but the ability to obtain and then retain the network was not completed.

18 June

A quick addendum to last night's SITREP. Following the failure of the FAN antenna, the FAN technicians pulled apart the box and performed emergency surgery while the BHR, MIL and COM began their scheduled UNREP (underway replenishment).

Once advised the FAN antenna was working, CPR-7 re-tasked the ships to maneuver to the original FAN test formation following the UNREP. We accomplished an additional two hours of FAN testing and completed that experiment thanks to OUTSTANDING support from CPR-7, BHR, MIL and COM. Bravo Zulu and many thanks to all involved.

During last Friday's distinguished visitor brief, Capt. Parrot was particularly interested in the TW08 technology, ERMS. I would like to give a quick update. ERMS is enterprise software developed by the Department of the Navy Director of Records office to automate workflow functions for just about anything that requires routing within a ship. Today, ERMS was used to successfully create, chop, produce, and track through the chop chain, the BHR's operations summary report all the way from initial draft to final transmission as a naval message. We've received multiple requests from ship personnel to expedite this technology to the fleet.

19 June

TW08 coalition experimentation has participation from seven nations: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, France, Chile and the Republic of Korea. Australian participation is centered on HMAS Anzac (FFH 150), en route to Hawaii. Canadian units include HMCS Ottawa (FFH 341), HMCS Regina (FFH 334), Maritime Forces Pacific and Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt, British Columbia.

New Zealand units include the New Zealand Maritime Operations Center and Joint Force Headquarters Wellington, HMNZS Te Kaha (F77) and virtual ships Waka and Kiwi. The United Kingdom is manning the virtual ship Daring in Portsmouth. The French Navy's virtual ship is participating from Toulon. The Chilean ship, CNS Almirante Riveros, and the Republic of Korea ship, KNS Munmu the Great (DDH 976), are also participating.

All units and nodes have established communications and network services utilizing the Combined Enterprise Regional Information Exchange System (CENTRIXS) community of interest, called Cooperative Maritime Forces Pacific (CMFP). CENTRIXS and Collaboration at Sea (CaS) accounts are using Sametime Version 8 core chat services with the Persistent Chat plug-in.

The following is selected TW08 technology with coalition impact:

Spatially Aware Wireless Networking (SPAWN) is a low cost, lightweight, phased array antenna. It was built by SPAWAR Systems Center San Diego and is sponsored by the Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States alliance, AUSCANNZUKUS, for command, control, communications and computers (C4). We are using a 802.11 radio, but the antenna can potentially be used with several other radios. The results have been extremely positive. This evening, we passed full motion video across a network connection in excess of 2.5 megabits per second at a range of 12 nautical miles.

20 June

In previous reports, the focus has mainly centered on the at-sea portions of TW 08; however, tonight's report highlights a few examples of TW08 ashore experimentation, in particular, experiments that directly support FORCEnet capabilities at 3rd, 2nd, 7th and Pacific Fleet.

At 3rd Fleet, we are experimenting with Aqua Quiet Interlude Processing System, sponsored by Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems. AquaQuIPS is a real-time, automated data fusion engine that receives national, theater and tactical sensors data and produces composite tracks into a clear and accurate maritime picture.

An "apples to apples" comparison between AquaQuIPS data and 3rd Fleet's MOC data is nearly impossible because of different sensor inputs, different start times, and non-use of electronic intelligence by the 3rd Fleet MOC. However, AquaQuIPS tracks generally had many more hits per unit time than the 3rd Fleet MOC Global Command and Control System - Maritime for tracks detected by both systems.

At 2nd Fleet, we have installed and are testing Command Post of the Future. CPOF is a U.S. Army program of record currently deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is also used by U.S. Marine Corps forces in theater. The primary server (with clients) is located at 2nd Fleet so that Maritime Headquarters with Maritime Operations Center (MHQ w/MOC) personnel can observe CPOF operations.

To support at-sea testing, CPOF is installed in BHR and MIL to assess the communications capabilities of a ground force and tactical ship. The primary goal of TW08 is to assess CPOF's ability to operate in a low bandwidth afloat environment. Thus far, we have found that during periods of high communications disconnect rates CPOF has recovered well with a graceful rebuild, as the clients and servers re-established communications.

At 7th Fleet, we have installed, and will leave behind, an experimental asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch connecting the 7th Fleet piers in Yokosuka, Japan, to the Regional Network Operations and Security Center West via a high-speed network. This will provide a 50 megabits per second dedicated point-to-point circuit and will provide 7th Fleet's flagship, USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19), with greatly increased bandwidth when pierside.

At Pacific Fleet we are experimenting with two cross domain enablers, High Assurance Platform (HAP) and Global Command and Control System-Integrated Intelligence and Imagery (GCCSI3). HAP provides the capability to simultaneously display three separate security enclaves on a single workstation. We were able to launch Common Operational Picture (COP), chat and a Web browser on three domains, Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System (JWICS), SIPRNET and CENTRIXS CMFP, with little to no degradation in performance.

GCCS-I3 is designed to provide transparent COP and imagery sharing across multiple domains. We demonstrated that GCCSI3 reduced the number of servers while maintaining separation; however, we also determined significant effort is required to correctly integrate GCCS Track Management System data fields.

21 June

Although our TW08 installed systems are onboard to do experimental technical research, there are two examples of providing real-time support to the BHR Surface Action Group (SAG) during this transit.

The first is Raven 1100 Intelligent Agent Security Manager sponsored by the Navy's Networks, Information Assurance and Enterprise Services Program Office, PMW 160, who reports to the PEO C4I. IASM provides enterprise-wide network threat management, composite security analysis and centralized control for network security operations. It operates as a single-point of interaction with the ship's network and interface structure for shipboard program of record systems in response to DoD Instruction 8500.2 IA implementation requirements.

Operationally, IASM provides network administrators with an intelligent security monitoring and assessment capability that displays possible intrusions or unauthorized use of networks instantly. IASM also provides detailed information about the incidents.

During the past three nights, the CPR-7 and BHR network managers utilized IASM to detect shipboard violations in the following areas: DoD blacklisted Internet access from a ship's computer system; e-mails with a virus-infected attachment leaving the ship; malevolent embedded ActiveX within a Shockwave flash file; detection of unencrypted passwords used for non-DoD Web site access; connecting to an online game server; spyware and malware; surfing to Web sites with inappropriate content; and bypassing the ship's proxy servers to surf the Web undetected.

Today, another example [of IASM capability] resulted from the lack of Internet connectivity aboard the COM due to SHF antenna blockage. SPAWN and FAN were utilized by CPR-7, COM and BHR to exchange large documents and files. The transfers varied from Word and PowerPoint documents to a 350-megabyte SHF technical manual.

22 June

Tonight, there are three network related experiments I want to highlight. The first is the PMW 160-sponsored Integrated Shipboard Network System Next Generation Technology (ISNS NGT). As you know, the ISNS is the shipboard local area network and the heartbeat of network operations. Though the current architecture has gone through many improvements and upgrades, the latest technology, ISNS NGT, will offer consolidated services through blade servers in a virtual environment, while saving space, weight and power requirements.

The new architecture is the first evolution in consolidating command and control systems, as well as many other shipboard operational networks and the shipboard LAN.

During TW08, we are testing a shore-based installation at the Pacific Fleet MOC and a ship-based installation aboard the BHR. The improved capabilities focus primarily on enhanced network management, computer network defense and information assurance and security.

On the BHR there are three suites: two SIPRNET and a NIPRNET. The 29 virtual servers on NIPRNET will replace about five racks of hardware; the 40 virtual servers on SIPRNET will replace about eight racks. By resource pooling, not one of the 69 applications hosted have experienced any degradation or limitation. Using virtual servers maximizes processor usage and RAM utilization while reducing the hardware footprint.

Another PMW 160 experimental endeavor is focused on meeting the mandates of DoD Directive 3000.5, which states that integrated civilian and military efforts are key to successful stability operations … "the DoD shall be prepared to work closely with relevant U.S. Departments and Agencies, global and regional international organizations, U.S. and foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) …"

In response to this mandate, the domain name servers at Pacific Region Network Operations Center and aboard BHR were modified to allow any laptop, military or NGO, access to any Internet Web site. This allows NGOs access to unclassified Web browsing, chat and instant messaging via some sites that are not normally available to a shipboard network.

This NGO network was installed without any significant problems and has been effectively functioning from day one. Not only have the multiple users been able to read e-mail normally blocked by the NOC, the TW deputy director successfully connected his personal Apple computer — after the proper security scans were performed. The observer logs and survey have all recorded satisfaction in the ease of use and ability to access Web mail.

Lastly, aboard the BHR, PMW 160 is experimenting with the ability to provide roaming capability to send and receive e-mail via a BlackBerry device. We have installed multiple wireless access points on the bridge and 02 level. These were accredited for use based on 802.11i capability and Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 certification. We also installed a Black-Berry Enterprise Server. BlackBerry devices use cryptographic kernel technology that is FIPS 140-2-validated.

We have distributed these devices to several members of the BHR crew including the CO and executive officer. The initial feedback has been outstanding. In fact, earlier this evening the XO, Capt. John Funk said, as he held up his BlackBerry, "On behalf of the U.S. Navy, I thank you."

23 June

As of close of business today we have completed the experiment testing aboard Bonhomme Richard and at the ashore locations. We have exceeded all of our expectations on the level of detail and the amounts of raw data we have collected. We now begin perhaps the most difficult phase of Trident Warrior, sifting through the vast amount of data and performing relevant analysis.

I would also like to explain the data collection and analysis (DCA) element in more detail. The TW08 DCA team is led by the Naval Postgraduate School, but includes experts from a wide range of organizations, including Naval Surface Warfare Center Corona Division, SPAWAR Systems Center San Diego, Pacific Science and Engineering Group, Inc., Air Force Research Lab, Office of Naval Research, the Center for Naval Analyses and Naval Reserve Program 38, for a total of nearly 60 personnel participating.

The data collection planning we have done for TW08 is the most complete and focused data effort we have done in any previous Trident Warrior. There are nearly 250 specific survey and observer instruments, all made accessible via a Web browser.

Observer forms for every experiment event have been produced. The entire effort of more than 100 technologies and over 2,000 individual events is managed using the Web-based Trident Warrior FORCEnet Innovation and Research Enterprise. FIRE provides the source for analysis and provides an archive to all past Trident Warrior information.

We will be releasing the TW08 quicklook message within the next two weeks followed by the final report in 90 days.