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John M. Gilligan, U.S. Air Force

The U.S. Air Force has made tremendous strides in leveraging advances in information technology to improve its combat effectiveness. Today, precision targeting is the norm. Access to critical intelligence, mission status and resource availability information from around the globe is taken for granted. Airmen are using Internet "chat" to order parts and coordinate missions. Sophisticated information technologies embedded in air and space vehicles provide unprecedented and persistent situational awareness over areas of interest. On a recent visit to some of the U.S. bases in the Middle East, I was struck by the myriad of uses of information technology that have changed the face of modern warfare. The future holds the promise of more amazing benefits.

Which emerging technology will have the biggest impact on your organization in the future?

The U.S. Air Force has made tremendous strides in leveraging advances in information technology to improve its combat effectiveness. Today, precision targeting is the norm. Access to critical intelligence, mission status and resource availability information from around the globe is taken for granted. Airmen are using Internet “chat” to order parts and coordinate missions. Sophisticated information technologies embedded in air and space vehicles provide unprecedented and persistent situational awareness over areas of interest. On a recent visit to some of the U.S. bases in the Middle East, I was struck by the myriad of uses of information technology that have changed the face of modern warfare. The future holds the promise of more amazing benefits.

In particular, a continued rapid evolution of Air Force operations will increasingly leverage the World Wide Web and related Web-centric tools and technologies. This evolution will continue to change how the United States wages war and how the Air Force supports military commitments around the world.

Use of the Web and related technologies has many likely consequences. At present, the Air Force is rapidly expanding network connectivity to its airborne platforms. Bringing its manned and unmanned aircraft into the network and leveraging the Joint Tactical Radio System and other advanced technologies permit some aircraft to receive targeting or situational awareness information from command and control centers or from ground-based forces in real time. In the future, all airborne forces will be able to know where all friendly forces are by tapping into the network as they enter an area of operations. Strike aircraft will access the Internet-protocol-based network to acquire real-time information from sensors, including those on satellites, unmanned air vehicles and other strike aircraft, to improve situational awareness. E-mail or instant messaging will be used to communicate with command centers. In short, not only will platforms have voice connectivity at all times but onboard forces also will be able to leverage Web technology to get the data they need when and how they need it.

Air battle planning and command and control for coalition operations are currently performed in an air operations center—a building complex filled with computers and many experienced military experts. From this location, air operations are planned and coordinated and execution is monitored. In the future, by leveraging the network, the air operations center will not be a physical place but instead the set of individuals and supporting systems linked by the Web to support air battle planning and air operations command and control. Physical proximity will be eliminated as a criterion. Battle planners will “telecommute” to the battle.

In this future environment, ground forces will access the Web-based network to obtain real-time satellite and aircraft sensor data or imagery, enabling the ground forces to see not only around the corner or over the hill but also the thermal or electro-optical characteristics of items of interest. Weapons that provide imagery and position information up to the point of impact and publish it to the network will permit immediate assessment of strike effectiveness.

The Air Force Portal currently provides a common window so airmen can tap into the network to access various work-related and leisure services. The portal permits access to self-service capabilities and data from anywhere on the globe. In the near future, based on user preferences and profiles, data will be pushed across the network to users on a range of devices—from handheld, small screen devices that might have telephone or personal digital assistant features to larger screen devices that also can be used to watch NFL football games.

In the future that I envision, aircraft will use the network to inform maintenance personnel of an anomaly automatically so that diagnostics can begin and parts ordered even before the plane has landed. Maintenance personnel working on aircraft on the flight line will use handheld devices and eyepiece displays to access the network to check availability and order parts. They will use the network to access technical manuals that have integrated video and voice features. Maintenance technicians will link from the technical manuals into knowledge collaboration forums to seek advice from maintenance experts worldwide.

In this Web-enabled environment, user identity information will pass across the network, and rigorous access controls will ensure that information is shared with authorized users. Protection of the network from disruption or improper use will ensure that the capabilities are available when needed.

As I look forward to 2010, I foresee that the expansion of the Web and related network-enabled technologies will introduce tremendous improvements in military operations and support environments. The Air Force will leverage these technologies as it embraces the vision of “One Air Force, One Network” in support of U.S. Defense Department network-centric operations.