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Empire Challenge 10 Suffolk efforts kick off

Empire Challenge 2010, an annual intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance demonstration, kicks off at various locations in the U.S. and other countries, including USJFCOM's Suffolk, Va. campus where Joint Systems Integration Center personnel are assessing C2 systems interoperability with ISR systems while also supporting the demonstration's main efforts at Fort Huachuca, Ariz.

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By Army Sgt. Josh LeCappelain
USJFCOM Public Affairs

(SUFFOLK, Va. - July 29, 2010) -- An annual intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) demonstration led by U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) focusing on getting critical intelligence to the warfighter kicked off this week at several locations in the U.S. and other countries.

Empire Challenge 2010 (EC 10) showcases emerging capabilities and provides lessons learned to improve joint and combined intelligence support to operations.

At USJFCOM's Suffolk campus, members of the Joint Systems Integration Center (JSIC) are assessing command and control (C2) systems interoperability with ISR systems while also supporting the demonstration's main efforts at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., said Air Force Maj. Dan Shinohara, JSIC's C2-ISR interoperability assessment project lead.

JSIC's goal is to improve joint warfighters' ability to plan and execute operations by driving resolution of C2 interoperability problems and providing unbiased evaluations of existing and emerging C2 capabilities, added Shinohara.

JSIC's effort in EC 10 is part of its Joint Systems Baseline Assessment 2010 (JSBA 10), a Joint Staff Joint Intelligence Interoperability Board series of technical and operational interoperability assessments of current and transitional C2 and intelligence systems.

C2 ISR interoperability assessments will tie into EC 10, utilizing infrastructures at JSIC, USJFCOM's Joint Intelligence Laboratory here and at Huachuca.

"Everything we do here utilizes Empire Challenge ISR data and it flows through C2 systems," Shinohara said. "It's that fusion between the two focus areas that is important going forward."

There are three objectives for JSIC during this portion of JSBA 10, according to Shinohara. It allows intelligence analysts to work closely and quickly with C2 systems, implement the Predatar tipping system (not to be confused with the Predator unmanned aerial system), which cue them to potential risks and threats that might be missed, and manage coalition collection systems and concept organizations.

"If we're in a coalition environment and we need eyes on a target now, there are systems out there that allow us to see if there are assets available to get visual on what we need to see. C2 of collection management allows us to utilize our ISR assets more efficiently and integrate operations with our coalition partners," Shinohara said. "It's something we need to prepare for, especially in Afghanistan."

JSIC's Virtual Environment of Systems of System Testing is one of EC 10's modeling and simulation capabilities. It is a completely virtual brigade combat team (BCT) running parallel to a live BCT on the ground in Arizona.

"Both BCTs are feeding information into C2, with all taken imagery being fed into a distributive common ground/surface station," Shinohara said. "This makes ISR discoverable by coalition and U.S. task forces transparent and easy to share. It's hard to differentiate a difference between what the live and virtual BCTs are seeing."

Multinational liaison officers will be on hand in Suffolk, with everyone operating on a network designed specifically for EC 10 to perform similarly to the 43-nation network in use by the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

Members of USJFCOM's Intelligence Directorate (J2)/Joint Intelligence Operations Center (JIOC) are working at Huachuca, where they will evaluate multiple ISR capabilities during EC 10.

EC 10 runs until Aug. 13, with participants and stakeholders from the Joint Staff, combat support agencies, the services, coalition partners, academia and industry.