U.S. Marines Testing Cyber Warfare Technologies on the Front Lines

U.S. Marines are testing skill sets integrated with technology in an effort to succeed in a combined conventional warfare/cyber warfare setting, employing devices such as integrated head-mounted displays and sensors on the battlefield and avoiding information overload.

Marines from II Marine Expeditionary Force took to the Office of Naval Research’s (ONR's) Tactical Cyber Range during a recent Bold Alligator exercise to emulate adversary communications hidden in a noisy, dense electromagnetic spectrum, testing ONR’s networking, communications, sensors, unmanned systems and augmented reality technology, according to a Navy news release. Signals intelligence Marines tested reality glasses that simultaneously streamed data, letting them conduct cyber operations, while also maintaining situational awareness of their physical surroundings.

“Our goal for the Tactical Cyber Range is to extend cyberspace training to the radio frequency (RF) physical environment to better integrate information related capabilities with traditional fires to support mission objectives at the tactical edge,” Maj. Christian Fitzpatrick, USMC, ONR tactical cyber special projects officer, said in the release.

The effort is part of the Marine Corps’ Information Enterprise Implementation Planning Guidance for the command, control, communication and computer (C4) community set in July 2013 that requires the development technologies to train cyber personnel in realistic operational environments.

“The augmented reality glasses allowed me to perform and prioritize multiple tasks while conducting our missions,” according to Sgt. Erik Matson, USMC, a cyberspace operator. “I can envision every Marine wearing this technology on the battlefield of the future.”