HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. -- The Air Force is employing a dynamic strategy focused on “intermediate stable states” to bridge the gap between immediate operational demands and the imperative for long-term force modernization.
Dr. Bryan Tipton, Chief of Architecture and Systems Engineering for the Department of the Air Force’s Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications and Battle Management highlighted the Edge Connect tactical communications platform as a prime example of this agile approach to modernization. Edge Connect delivers critical beyond-line-of-sight data connectivity, enhancing command and control for warfighters in the field.
Edge Connect’s limitations as the answer to all envisioned data connectivity modernization objectives were recognized early in its development, according to Tipton.
“We’re maintaining Edge Connect until the future state is in hand and ready to deliver – and not just on paper,” Tipton said. “Edge Connect is being actively used and places a tangible capability in the hands of warfighters today, while we’re simultaneously working toward the development of more advanced solutions.”
Edge Connect, which was prototyped by the Chief Architect’s Office and subsequently absorbed into C3BM upon the PEO’s 2022 standup, was designed to support the department’s modernization roadmap for strengthening digital infrastructure and minimizing stove-piped networks. The realization of Edge Connect as a fielded capability began, however, with prototyping.
“We were experimenting, people were trying Edge Connect out and getting excited about it – it was pretty cool,” Tipton said. “Advanced Battle Management System Digital Infrastructure, however, was going further with it and increasing this functionality by expanding on its features. They were engaged in long-range planning for the problem that Edge Connect was scratching the surface of. So, this put a decision on the table: do we ditch Edge Connect now, because we’re pursuing the long-term plan via ABMS Digital Infrastructure?”
The answer proved to be a fairly self-evidencing, “absolutely not,” Tipton said.
Instead, Edge Connect was merged into the ABMS plan and became “ABMS DI Major Release 0,” – so much so, in fact, that Edge Connect is identified on the ABMS DI delivery roadmap as the intermediate delivery to the warfighter, until such time as it is replaced by Major Release 1.
In short order, Edge Connect’s adoption and use increased. C3BM’s Operational Response Team, which is responsible for rapid prototyping and experimentation, assumed a crucial role in its broader fielding and support.
“With ABMS DI still one to two years out on the horizon, we expanded Edge Connect as a software capability and Col. Leslie Snodgrass, our ORT chief, and his team out at Nellis essentially got into the business of supporting everybody who wanted to have Edge Connect,” Tipton said. “Even though Edge Connect was understood to not be the ultimate data connectivity solution – because it was working in the immediate sense – the ORT temporarily ran a makeshift network operation shop for this delivering capability.
“There’s a general strategy in software design,” Tipton said. “If you know the direction you need to go in, but you don’t know all the details yet, you can’t wait until you’re ready to sit down and write out a requirements document, because you’ll spend too much time thinking about the problem, and you’ll never get to the right answer fast enough.”
Rapid prototyping and iterating on details with the customer are the way to address this strategy.
Tipton emphasized that the “intermediate stable state” strategy allows the DAF to address critical capability gaps without hindering the progress of longer-term modernization initiatives. By embracing solutions that are “80-percent complete” and designed for a defined lifespan, the Air Force can deliver immediate value while paving the way for future technological advancements.
In the instance of Edge Connect, the “intermediate stable state” will have lasted from 2022 until 2026, and while ABMS DI is rolling out now and gradually replacing the Edge Connect kits with upgrades, Tipton’s vignette illustrates how the DAF is enabling warfighters with technical solutions rooted in the here and now of today’s technologies and combat challenges in ways that are not mutually exclusive with the longer-term ambition of force modernization oriented toward the threats and capabilities of tomorrow.
“Our Architecture and Systems Engineering team is focused on ensuring that we can effectively address any challenge, whether it’s a near-term contingency or a future strategic competition,” Tipton said. “That means that our modernization plans must account for the evolving threat landscape and ensure that we maintain a decisive advantage at all times.”
In this way, the DAF is taking a conscientious approach to the competing interests behind “fight tonight,” and “force modernization,” by finding solutions that maximize lethality now, without jeopardizing it later.