It's MAJIIC

Sea Power, Aug 2005 by Kreisher, Otto

Joint Forces Command data access system enables tactical commanders to 'Google' for fresh intelligence

Faster Access

A new system promises to break through bureaucratic barriers that can keep intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information beyond the reach of tactical-level commanders.

* Commanders would have access to "raw" intelligence data.

* The system will be designed to provide single-query access to "intel" from all sources.

* Emphasis is on making data available at every level of command.

A Marine regimental commander in the middle of a fast-moving attack needs accurate information on the enemy forces ahead of him, and he needs it now. He knows there are a lot of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) assets monitoring the area. But if he has to go through the normal intelligence processing system for the information, it could be too late.

If only that commander could sit down at a secure computer, do a Google-like search and quickly download all the available ISR data on the area in front of his troops without any of the processing delays.

The Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) is working on a system that could give future warfighters exactly that capability. The system is called MAJIIC, the Multi-sensor Aerospace-Ground Joint ISR Interoperability Coalition architecture.

"We're all about making ISR data available to the warfighter, at every level of command," said Stanley Stefansky, the operational manager for the MAJIIC Advanced Concepts Technology Demonstration at JFCOM. "But the emphasis is on the lower levels, brigades and possibly battalions," if the bandwidth is available.

"The goal is to increase the warfighter's battlefield awareness," by increasing ISR support to time-sensitive operations, Stefansky said.

"It's all about a single-point query to get at all of the ISR information that's available based on location, time and status of the ISR," said Navy Capt. Allan Nadolski, director for intelligence at JFCOM.

The need for accurate and timely intelligence, and the difficulty in getting it, has been one of the constants in war throughout history.

In the 1991 Persian Gulf War, even the top commander, Army Gen. Norman H. Schwarzkopf, complained about the lack of timely intelligence on the Iraqi forces. And despite the vast array of ISR satellites, manned aircraft and unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) available in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, tactical commanders often were in the dark on the location and strength of the Iraqi Army or Saddam Hussein's "Fedayeen" fighters because they could not get access to the intelligence data when they needed it.

MAJIIC promises to break through the bureaucratic barriers that have kept valuable ISR information from the tactical-level commanders who need it. It would do that, Stefansky said, by giving those commanders access to "raw" ISR data that has been collected by sensors but has not been examined or exploited by the intelligence analysts, which normally would be necessary before the information could be seen by the warfighters.

The system is to be "netcentric by design," he said. "It provides single-query access to a multitude of ISR data," and would work both jointly among U.S. forces, and within a coalition.

MAJIIC also would eliminate the need for the warfighters to go to different websites to find needed information and assimilate it themselves, Nadolski said at the recent C4ISR Integration Conference in Washington. "It really is all about pulling all the information together first, getting it on a secure or classified network and then being able to query that all at one time."

The system is intended to handle intelligence data from airborne ISR platforms, such as the U-2 and E-8 Joint STARS (Surveillance Target Attack Radar System) aircraft and the Global Hawk and Predator UAVs, Stefansky said. The data could be in the form of electrooptical or infrared imagery, radar-generated ground moving target indicator information, synthetic aperture radar data and full-motion video, he said. It also may be able to provide some electronic intelligence information.

MAJIIC would take the data from different sensors and translate it into a common format through the use of "extensible markup language" - the system more commonly known as "XML" that enables the seamless exchange of data between different applications and operating systems - and common interfaces that allow it to be discoverable on the network, Stefansky said.

The warfighter could construct a query using a location - latitude and longitude or geographic fixture, such as a city - a specific time period and the type of sensors, he said.

For example, the request could be for "all Predator video of this specific area at this specific time," Stefansky said.

The MAJIIC Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) was initiated in October 2003, with Raytheon as the prime contractor and EchoStorm Inc., a small company based in Norfolk, Va., the principal subcontractor, Stefansky said. The concept was tested in August 2004 as a "horizontal fusion initiative technical demonstration" during the Navy's annual Quantum Leap Il exercise to test innovations in information technology.