CAC2S is envisioned as a scalable, modular and flexible
communications system with an open-architecture design that can be
deployed via humvee within 24 hours of receiving a movement order. It
is also supposed to be transportable by helicopters, airplanes, amphibious
ships and landing craft.
The new equipment, carried on Humvees with trailers, will significantly
increase battlefield mobility and reduce the physical size and logistical footprint
of the MACCS.
At present, C2 functions such as airspace management, close air support,
and air defense operations are performed using a variety of equipment, little
of which is the same, with each component requiring specific training and
maintenance. CAC2S will provide high commonality, which is expected to result
in efficiencies and cost savings in training and logistics support.
The main capability of CAC2S will be implemented in the Tactical Air Command
Center (TACC), the Direct Air Support Center (DASC), and the Tactical Air
Operations Center (TAOC), which fall under a Marine Air Control Group at the
Marine Air Wing. The TACC manages the wing’s air assets. The DASC communicates
with aircraft and coordinates air assault, close air support, battlefield
air interdiction, and other air operations in support of Marines on the ground.
The TAOC performs air surveillance and controls air-to-air fighter and air defense
operations.
CAC2S will have three Humvee-based components: the Processing and
Display Subsystem (PDS), the Communications Subsystem (CS), and the
Sensor Data Subsystem (SDS). The three combine to create one complete air
C2 system.
The Marine Corps restructured the CAC2S program in May 2009 to reduce
technical risk. It adopted a revised acquisition strategy, implementation of
which is in two phases.
As Navy Capt. Pat Costello, the CAC2S program manager within the Marine
Corps’ Program Executive Office for Land Systems explained, “The first phase
is to leverage two existing systems – the Combat Operations Center [COC] developed
for Marine ground forces C2, and the MRQ-12 Humvee-mounted communications
vehicle. We are developing the software and other modifications
to them that are required for the COC, already produced by General Dynamics
C4 Systems, to become CAC2S’s PDS and for the MRQ-12 to become its CS. We
want to put an initial baseline capability into the hands of operational Marines
as early as possible.”
Development of the SDS, which faced some fairly significant technical
challenges, was deferred to Phase II. The SDS will integrate inputs from the
various sensors that the Marine Corps uses, to include the planned Ground/
Air Task-Oriented Radar (G/ATOR), as well as from tactical data links and other
sources.
CAC2S photo of Phase 1 testing amid the mountainous terrain of Yuma, Ariz. A request for proposals (RFP) for Phase 2 of CAC2S was released to industry on 23 August 2010, with future increments of the program expected to include equipment for the Marine Air Traffic Control Detachment, Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion, airborne node capabilities and unmanned aerial systems.
Costello said the CAC2S program during Phase I is working primarily with
three government field activities: the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC)
Crane (Ind.), the NSWC Dahlgren (Va.), and the Marine Corps Tactical Systems
Support Activity (MCTSSA) at Camp Pendleton, Calif., the service’s command,
control, communications, computers, and intelligence (C4I) integration center.
A Systems Integration Lab for CAC2S Phase I has been ongoing at Dahlgren.
The Phase I equipment completed its Critical Design Review in May 2010
and began development testing in July. It will culminate with an Operational
Assessment, leading to a Milestone C low-rate initial production decision in
November 2010 and Initial Operational Test & Evaluation (IOT&E) in March
2011, Costello said. “After we successfully complete IOT&E, we will go back to
the Milestone Decision Authority for a Full Deployment Decision. And then we
will field 20 Phase I units,” he said.
The CAC2S program was set to release a request for proposals to industry
by September 2010 for SDS technology demonstrations. Several one-year contracts
will be awarded in the fall. “At the end of that year,” Costello said, “we will
conduct a live demonstration at MCTSSA of the competing companies’ Phase II
prototype systems. That will drive risk out of the program and help us better
quantify the work to be done to achieve the full capability. Then we will downselect
to a single vendor’s Phase II SDS solution with which to move forward to
integrate with the Phase I system to meet our full set of requirements.”
“The vision for Aviation C2,” according to USMC Concepts & Programs 2009,
“is the development of a system that contains expeditionary multi-functional
nodes able to perform the full array of aviation C2 functions throughout the
range of military operations. Our system must seamlessly integrate with all
existing and future Marine Corps C2 systems.”
The SDS will fuse sensor inputs from expeditionary radars, as well as realtime
and near real-time data from ground force C2 centers, weapon systems,
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and planned F-35B Joint Strike Fighters,
into a common operational picture of the battlespace.
Closer coordination of the Marine Corps’ ground and air C2 centers made
possible in the future by the modern new equipment will allow speedy responses
to changing battlefield conditions. Those responses could involve
providing artillery fire, dispatching a UAV, launching or redirecting helicopters
or fighter aircraft, dispatching a UAV to provide surveillance, sending in helicopters
for medical evacuation of casualties, or using some combination of
air and ground assets.
CAC2S is scheduled to achieve an initial operational capability (IOC) for the
Phase I system in fiscal year 2011 and for the full Phase I and II capability in
fiscal year 2015, Costello said.
The Marine Corps plans to acquire a total of 50 complete systems in four
scaled configurations for the air wing level on down – particularly at the
TACC, DASC, and TAOC. Each configuration is made up of a mix of the SDS,
PDS, and CS building block components. Some configurations are smaller
than others. For example, Costello said, the very large TACC will have 168
console operators.