Design and experiment of a collaborative planning service for netcentric international brigade command

Complex operational environments require improved tactical mission command capabilities with a high level of interoperability among coalition control and command (C2) systems. This paper focuses on two areas of interest: decision support based on automated planning and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) for rapid service development. Previous experiments were performed bilaterally by US, France and Germany to focus on collaborative mission planning using Web Services (WSs). The results reported herein were obtained from a unified experiment performed by US, France and Germany involving a common scenario. The operational benefit from the experimentation has been to improve mutual understanding among allied forces, to dynamically plan for assistance among ground support troops (logistics, MEDE-VAC, and other areas) as well as to improve their coordination. The effort addressed system design, and integration within an experimental framework. It enabled the evolution of the CERDEC Mission Command Gateway (MCG) architecture as well as a constraint based planner ORTAC, developed by French DGA and Sagem. It takes into account near real-time multimodal Situation Awareness and readiness status from tactical edge units. The trilateral experiment, entitled From Data to Decision included Net-Centric manned and unmanned assets from all three nations (France - Germany - US) operating as a cohesive coalition force while preserving command and support relationships as required through their respective chains of command.