It’s what we at the Pentagon’s Office of Force Transformation call a tiered-systems approach, which is a different lens to look at the issue of persistence on the battlefield. It’s a new initiative for us and one I intend to expound on over the next year. Though the term might at first seem innocuous, its organizational and operational implications could be quite significant. That’s why it interests OFT, and that’s why we think this concept is ripe for operational experimentation.

Tiered systems is all about using network-centric concepts of collaboration and information sharing to create fluid information stacks—instead of rigid pipelines—that form, dissipate and reform based on specific geographic missions and any given commander’s intent. Too often, the bulk of our ISR assets and sensors are collecting data, which when vacuumed up is whisked away from the local area, for study and analysis. What we lose in these transactions is time. Moreover, space assets rarely engage with airborne ISR platforms. Data from ground- and sea-based sensors is rarely shared beyond its local coterie of users.

Under a tiered-systems approach, the best attributes of each asset are marshaled to achieve persistence, proximity and penetration. No longer will systems have to be individually tasked for missions. For example, if a regional commander plans to interdict suspected weapons of mass destruction shipments or equipment used in their manufacture, space assets’ wide view of a region would be linked to ISR platforms attuned to catch signals or other evidence from the most proximate location of a specific target and then provide alerts so the commander’s team can effectively penetrate any countermeasures employed.

In simple terms, a tiered-systems approach means applying the most advantageous combination of assets to work the problem. It will also help alleviate some of the operational burden from our overworked inventory of high-demand, but low-density assets.

This is a different approach for DOD. It’s an area that challenges existing organizational arrangements by breaking the existing order in terms of how we manage space assets and assign tasks for ISR platforms. It breaks the vise grip of control that the mavens of space or ISR have over the diffusion of information and knowledge and how it is distributed and shared with regional commanders. This tiered-systems approach uses new linkages and networking to empower the entire field of military reconnaissance to aid in finding a target or vital information. This is a good thing.

But to fully understand this approach we have to experiment with it and use it on real missions by real forces. One area of experimentation that could prove fruitful is Maritime Domain Awareness. The mission is complex, geographically challenging and relies on the cooperation of multiple types of platforms, assets, sensors and organizations.

Operational experiments help in quickly gaining an understanding of what works and what doesn’t. But it’s hard to marshal R&D funds for something like this because it is not an acquisition program. This is why regional commanders increasingly require ways to perform such experimentation on their own accord. Tiered systems could be a catalyst for such change.

Terry J. Pudas is acting director of the Office of Force Transformation.

purchase reprint

link to this page