Air Force experiments to expedite kill chain, improve battle management

The 705th Combat Training Squadron recently hosted the second virtual Tactical Operations Center-Light experiment iteration in their Distributed Mission Operations Center at Kirtland Air Force Base. 
 
“Twenty-first century large-scale warfare requires our forces to adapt quickly on the move,” said Col. Frank Klimas, 505th Command and Control Wing, Detachment 1 commander, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. 
 
The TOC-L event was designed to continue U.S. Air Force development of future battle management concepts intended to expedite kill chains and improve distributed control. 
 
Air battle managers and tactical air control party Airmen traveled to Kirtland AFB from across Air Combat Command, Pacific Air Forces, and U.S. Air Forces in Europe to participate in the experiment. 

A TOC-L is purposed lightweight, scalable battle management system that enables tactical C2 elements to relocate quickly, establish advanced datalinks, connect to a variety of sensors via a resilient communication structure, and successfully operate in a denied, degraded, or contested operational environment. 
 
“TOC-L aims to adapt our current systems to new tactics needed for the high-end fight, and the DMOC provides a great environment to test those out,” Klimas said. 

The event was the second experiment executed at the DMOC and focused on building and capturing tactics, techniques, and procedures, or TTPs, of the USAFE inspired Agile Control Integration Team while concentrating on integrating additional TOC-L mission sets. 
 
"As the Air Force continues to evolve the TOC-L concept, it's important to have a venue like the DMOC to bring different career fields together and stress test our ideas for different variations of a TOC-L crew,” said Maj. Carl Plonk, 605th Test and Evaluation Squadron, TOC-L experiment director, Hurlburt Field, Florida. “We've made a lot of progress in the first two iterations, and we're looking forward to integrating into Virtual Flag: Battle Management where we can apply added levels of complexity to see how our techniques hold up." 

Plonk continued, “It's eye-opening to see how these two career fields innovate to overcome mission challenges with limited traditional resources. We've asked the team to think creatively with this experiment because quite frankly, this experiment and others like it are changing the way we will conduct battle management in the future." 
 
The event expanded TACP capabilities based C2 element integration, which included distributed partnering with Air Support Operations Squadrons across the country. Additionally, the experiment saw joint partner involvement with U.S. Marine Corps air controllers from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, providing operational assessment support to bolster concept development. 
 
“Joint inclusion in this experiment further cements the Air Force’s desire to be dialed into theater integration needs from the start,” said Col. Adam Shelton, 505th Test and Training Group commander, Hurlburt Field, Florida. “Efforts like the Advanced Battle Management System are challenging our service paradigms on battle management to decouple personnel from sensors and our Marine Corps teammates with their approach to combined arms warfare are the best suited to inform these efforts.” 
 
The team plans to integrate the concepts and lessons learned from recent experiments into Virtual Flag: Battle Management in August. 

“Integrating Airmen from across these two command and control career fields to further develop these concepts is both exciting and necessary,” said Maj. Dustin Nedolast, 505th Command and Control Wing, Detachment 1, TOC-L experiment director, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. “Collaborative experimentation is key to continually building on the lessons learned throughout these iterations while staying focused on expediting a functional system for the joint force in the future.” 
 
The 705th CTS reports to the 505th Combat Training Group, Nellis AFB, Nevada, and the 505th Command and Control Wing, headquartered at Hurlburt Field, Florida.