Computer system helps to modernize fire support

Sea Power, Sep 2003 by Keeter, Hunter C

U.S. Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force Share in Army-led Networking Program

The U.S. Navy is bringing the same sophisticated computer power to its fire support of troops ashore that it has to its air tasking orders and other battle management efforts. At least a dozen Navy ships, including the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, are to be equipped with the AFATDS (advanced field artillery tactical data system), a system that helps coordinate naval gunfire, field artillery, and air power in support of troops ashore. Experts say the automated fire support system will cut the sensor-to-shooter time line and enable military gunners to rain more accurate fire on the enemy.

AFATDS replaces the slide rules, grease pencils, and acetate sheets that were mainstays of tire support mission planning just a few months ago. Most of the Navy's AFATDS systems will be installed aboard amphibious assault ships such as the USS Bon Homme Richard and USS Iwo Jima.

Marine Capt. Michael P. Helton, AFATDS project officer with Marine Corps Systems Command, said, "If you were to have walked into [a ship's combat information center] two years ago, what you would have seen is a huge map with magic marker drawings on sheets of acetate and personnel with slide rules doing the math. There may have been a computer in the corner, maybe not. If it was in the corner, it probably wasn't in use. It was very busy and very hard to get information; tracking units was more difficult; and it required a lot of human intervention. There was a lot of room for human error. AFATDS digitizes the maps and allows them to be shared with other systems so that you can see not only the fire support, but also the maneuver."

AFATDS, currently built by Raytheon, is a computer system that helps the planning, coordinating, and controlling of artillery fires from a variety of sources, including naval guns and aircraft. The computer eases the task of coordinating and prioritizing targets, and helps commanders assign weapons to targets. The idea behind AFATDS is to ensure that tactical units select the right weapon and the ideal munition for each target.

The Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force are acquiring versions of AFATDS-an Army-led acquisition program-for integration aboard ships, in air operations centers, and in the field. The Marine Corps has purchased 619 AFATDS computer sets.

The Marine Corps, as part of the Army's $1.1 billion AFATDS acquisition, to date has allotted $32.9 million to the system through fiscal year 2007, according to the fiscal year 2003 budget. According to the Marine Corps System Command, which is the organization responsible for acquiring AFATDS, "each [AFATDS] set cost about $70,000. Additional funds were used for software development, fleet support, and training."

Both the Marine Corps and the Army used AFATDS during Operation Enduring Freedom, in Afghanistan, and during Operation Iraqi Freedom. For example, the Marines' 2nd Air and Naval Gunfire Liaison Company based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., was attaehed to the Army's 3rd Infantry Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

During the war in Iraq, fire missions employing AFATDS required fewer than six minutes from target detection to delivering ordnance, according to reports from field artillery units. Earlier technologies and non-digital fire coordination planning may have required more than 20 minutes to carry out, according to the Army AFATDS program office.

For the Navy and Marine Corps, AFATDS is an important part of command and control while at sea, especially in light of Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark's strategic vision called Sea Power 21. Sea Power 21 outlines naval contributions to joint warfare and emphasizes concepts like "sea basing," wherein operations and campaigns are managed from aboard ships, and forces flow ashore to accomplish goals.

With sea basing, military forces "want to have the majority of our support and command and control out there in the ocean," said Marine Corps Lt. Col. Eric G. Hansen, liaison officer to the Army's Communications-Electronics Command, which manages the AFATDS program.

At sea, AFATDS is part of the naval information and command network that depends upon wireless communications links to manage operations far from ships or shore bases. The Department of Defense (DOD) is developing for all the military services a set of standards for a globally interconnected, information-sharing capability called the global information grid, which according to DOD's information systems agency encompasses all "computing systems and services, and software ... necessary to achieve information superiority" and interfaces between U.S. military forces and those of allied nations.

HUNTER C. KEETER

Associate Editor