Interoperability of Army Aviation Platforms in NCO Environment

The digitized battlefield is fundamental to the Army Enterprise Strategy. It offers significant advantages to the warfighter by enabling battlefield synchronization, shorter decision cycles, reduce fratricide and a common operating picture of the battlefield. Digital communication networks will interconnect command posts at all levels, provide for interoperation of diverse weapon systems, provide for interoperation between multi-force, and establish the infrastructure for interoperation between multi-national force all of which are essential to the synchronization of the high tempo operations envisioned for the 21st century. Timely distribution of battle damage assessment, graphical displays of the deployment of forces and digital maps will significantly reduce the decision cycle for commanders and significantly increase the effectiveness of the combat units. Digital communications between elements at all levels will provide a common operating picture of the battlefield in terms of friendly and enemy force composition and location. The Army has embarked on a transformation of how it does business. The future Army vision is being implemented for ground systems in the Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, thereby moving the Army into a Network Centric Operation (NCO) environment from a platform centric environment. An intermediate step in this direction is the Tactical Internet (TI), which utilizes currently fielded communication data nets and the Variable Message Format (VMF) message set. The TI was primarily developed for the ground forces and has just recently integrated Army Aviation into its implementation. As a result, the currently fielded Army Aviation systems have limited data link communication with joint forces (e.g. SINCGARS, Havequick). The next step is to expand network centric connectivity to a joint service and international level. This paper documents the results of the Manned/Unmanned Common Architecture Program (MCAP) Contracted Research and Development (CRAD) interoperability study conducted for Aviation Applied Technology Directorate, U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center. The paper provides the current and future requirements for several Army rotorcrafts to be interoperable in the Army’s future NCO environment. The paper also provides top-level concepts on how these platforms operate within this established environment.