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PRETTYMAN
Considering the demands placed on Naval Battle Group defense by the density and speed of poten-
tial air attacks, the coordination of antiair warfare ships and aircraft - now possible through the
AEGIS Combat System - becomes essential to the full exploitation of a Battle Group's capability for
survival.
INTRODUCTION
Table 1
Throughout the history of naval warfare, changes
in offensive tactics and weaponry have required cor- BENEFITS OF THE BGAA WC PROGRAM
responding changes in defensive tactics and technol-
Coordinated Battle Control
ogy. To employ new weapons or to counter new
Large-screen Battle Group tactical display
threats, techniques of coordinating military opera-
Coordination by information exchange
tions must change to keep pace with equipment capa-
Aircraft! missile coordination
bilities. New coordination techniques are essential to
Automated force response
survival of Naval Battle Groups in the combat envi-
ronment of the 1980's, an environment characterized
Accurate Real-Time Data Exchange
by a potential for large numbers of rapidly evolving,
Continuous automatic gridlock capability
simultaneous missile attacks. The development of
Improved data for non-AEGIS combatants
such an antiair warfare coordination capability is
AEGIS data sharing
treated in this article.
Participating Units
Gridlock to AEGIS
Respond to force doctrine
Phase III Future - Advanced weapon employment
Accept engagement orders
Report engagement status
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Data Links
Figure 1 - The three-phase development plan for the Improvements needed to achieve full coordination of Battle Group
Battle Group Antiair warfare coordination program provides antiair warfare are defined by the functional requirements listed
for systematic growth in capabilities. The near-term goal is here. Upgrading is required for implementation in all elements of
improvement of command capability by providing aids to the Battle Group and of essential supporting systems, including
information exchange. Longer-range goals are provision of control units of the AEGIS combat System, participating Battle
improved data links as well as more sophisticated coor- Group units, and the data links that serve the Battle Group.
dination techniques for future weaponry.
Coordination
1. Rep orting responsibility - the logic used to summary
decide what track s are reported , b y whom, to Outer battle
whom , how often, and how precisely; Inner battle
AAW Self defense
2. Correlation-the process used by each ship or management Disposition of own forces
aircraft to determine whether a track it holds is Disposition of enemy forces
or is not the same as a track reported by AAW system
configu ration Detection characteristics
another; Weapon characteristics
and performance
3. Gridlocking-the process of aligning track data Operating doctrine
reported from others within a Battle Group
with track data acquired from a ship' s own
radars to account for all navigation and radar Station location planning
Intercept zones
alignment variations. Specific Attack geometry
Remote designation
decision aids Kill evaluation
Engagement planning
Development of gridlocking is being pursued by Surface maneuvering
Estimated time of arrival of units
APL as a precursor to the other track-sharing opera-
tions and thus as a precursor to any upgrading in co- Figure 4 - Displays are made available to the Commander
ordinated antiair warfare. Gridlocking is fundamen- according to a tiered information structure that allows
selection of displays to give him complete knowledge of
tal to the effective utilization of Battle Group weap- the tactical situation , antiair warfare (AAW) system
ons to ensure the unambiguous exchange of targeting capabilities and status, and access to specific decision
data within the Battle Group. 2 aids for key problems.
L __ _
Data Link Requirements • Command displays and decision aids to support
Data links transport the essential information and the Antiair Warfare Commander;
decisions throughout the Battle Group. The • Procedures and tactics to success fully carry out
BGAA we Program makes unique demands on data the assigned mission of the Battle Group.
links in terms of data rates , message standards , elec- The antiair warfare coordination problem tran-
tronic countermeasures performance , update rates, scends the scope of AEGIS alone. Consideration must
and access ibility of the link to the participants. These be given to the interaction of other new antiair war-
requirements, which have been the subject of exten- fare capabilities, such a s the AN/ SPS-48E radar, part
sive development, are a part of the BGAA we of the TERRIER New Threat Upgrade Program (see
activities at APL. Data-link improvement is closely "New Threat Upgrade Program," by T. R. Betzer in
coupled with other tactical communications improve- this issue). The BGAAWe Program, consequently, is
ment programs such as the Joint Tactical Informa- developing into a broad-based Fleet modernization
tion Distribution System (JTIDS), 3 which strives for program that provides the requisite command sup-
compatible Army, Air Force, and Navy data linking port , intercommunication, and interoperability of
and application of the AEGIS radar-to-missile data ships and aircraft for most effective employment of
link to other tactical needs. the Fleet's modern radars and weapons.
SUMMARY
The BGAAWe Program grew out of the effort to
apply a comprehensive new shipboard weapons
system, AEGIS, to the coordination of antiair war-
fare. The advanced capabilities of AEGIS combat and
command control sys tems make it readily applicable REFERENCES and NOTES
to this endeavor. Coordinating antiair warfare in- JThe Naval Tactica l Data System (NTDS) empl oys compu ters, di splays, and
volves numerous challenges. These include: digital da ta link s, whi ch functi on to sha re track a nd iden ti ficat ion tasks
amo ng Bat tle Group elemen ts.
• Enhancing the abilit y of all ships and aircraft in 2Gr idl ock is the process of acc urately registering remote data into a ship's
own coordinat e system. It removes or minimizes naviga tion radar a lign-
a BGAA we system to gridlock , correlate , and ment errors a nd translates data di fferences between coordinate reference
accept tactical direction; systems. See " Bat tle Gro up G rid lock Demonst ration," by J. T. Miller and
• Improved, hig h-performance communications E. w. G. Dav id , in th is iss ue.
3JT IDS, in its cur rent definit io n, is a da ta link that provides s ubstantia l im-
to maintain essential connecti vity despite coun- provements in performance a nd data capaci ty over existing links. It is in-
termeasures; ten ded to a ugment the curren t aval Tactical Da ta System links.