By Ann Roosevelt
In the recently concluded exercise Druid’s Dance, U.S. and U.K. troops could train together over a live virtual training network, though separated by thousands of miles.
“The goal with this is we want to deliver a persistent capability,” Steve Kostoff, U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) communications exercise planner, told Defense Daily. “We’re extending the joint national training capability to our allies.”
For U.S. forces, the mantra, “train as you fight,” is key, but the glaring hole in this training is the inability to train with coalition partners, as training became more technical and computer-based simulations generated and transmitted precluded allies due to security and access reasons.
” It is critical…we train to work together on battlefield–when we get on the battlefield, it’s too late,” he said.
There are other problems, to include procedures and even accents.
To try and resolve these issues and include coalition partners in joint training, which is a U.S. Joint Forces Command responsibility, the U. S. secretary of defense and his Australian counterpart decided to bring Australia into the joint training enterprise as much as possible and able to access as much as possible.
The goal was to make it work in time for the U.S.-Australian exercise Talisman Sabre in June 2007, Kostoff said. Australia had access to the U.S. training network and the resources on it.
DoD leadership wants to be able to train with its closest allies and then work from there, he said. United Kingdom officials closely observed Talisman Sabre, and were interested in following up–which resulted in the Druid’s Dance exercise.
Druid’s Dance was the debut of a new capability.
“It took a lot of work to get their systems talking to ours,” from the JFCOM Joint Warfighting Center, to England, he said. “Once that’s done, follow on events are easier.”
The first thing is connect the networks, “and do so in a way in all things allowed to be shared with allies, we can share…make sure the right data can be shared pass on our network and make it into their network in a usable fashion and in a timely fashion, simulating operations in real time,” he said.
Typically, when JFCOM does an exercise such as Druid’s Dance, planning begins many months ahead, and a sequence of testing cycles ramp up to the full exercise so everything works the way it is supposed to.
“When troops get out on the training area…[the simulations] have to work smoothly,” Kostoff said. “If they don’t it breaks the willing suspension of belief–the illusion that it’s realistic.”
The National Networks Association authority for DoD stipulated JFCOM must do three exercises with the United Kingdom, he said. Once that is done, and permission given, the connection could be persistent.
In the United States, the power of computer networks allows dispersed training, so people are virtually in the same training area.
Building a permanent network involves all DoD training resources, such as aircraft simulations from the Air Force, ship simulations from the Navy, Army platform simulations and instrumented training ranges.
“You can send simulation data, so you can have Army troops on the ground in the desert at Ft. Irwin, [ Calif.] that have air support, a virtual airplane with a pilot sitting in a simulator in Virginia, but the power of simulation can see, talk over radios and drop virtual bombs, as though everyone is in the same area,” he said.
The realism is there. It is an exercise multiplier because more training is achieved for fewer dollars, he said.
With a persistent network with all of these assets hooked in, “the idea is that all the services, trainers or combatant commands can schedule training as they see fit because the network is always available.
“If we extend this capability to the U.K. and Australia, network connections to …analogous nets on their side, they can participate in same way, use our resources and add theirs,” he said.
JFCOM sponsors the first few exercises but eventually the combatant commanders will use the capability and deal directly with coalition partners.
To date, two such exercises have been done with Australia, with a third to come next month. In the next couple of months a persistent link is likely to be set up, he said.
A second exercise will be held with the United Kingdom in July and another in October.
“We’re in talks with Canadians at this time,” Kostoff said. Officials there have expressed a desire to do the same as the United Kingdom and Australia, though an exercise or time has yet to be determined. Resolution is likely to come in the next couple of weeks.
Beyond that the next area of interest is NATO, he said. JFCOM Commander, Marine Gen. James Mattis also commands NATO’s Allied Command Transformation.
Some discussion about joint training networking has taken place and will likely develop further over the next year. The 26-member alliance will perhaps offer more technical challenges, Kostoff said.