Lockheed Martin said it demonstrated it can integrate digital command and control capabilities into the Pentagon’s Joint Fires Network during Valiant Shield, an exercise in Hawaii this month.
The Joint Fires Network is a U.S. Indo-Pacific Command initiative to improve coordination between commanders and network any sensor from any platform to feed targeting guidance to any weapon system. Valiant Shield is focused on integrating forces across domains with thousands of U.S. military personnel participating along with 200 ships, aircraft and ground vehicles.
The JFN demonstration during Valiant Shield “integrated technologies with third-party capabilities as part of an enterprise architecture,” Lockheed said in a June 20 statement.
“The exercise showcased the seamless integration of Lockheed Martin’s advanced command and control functions, employing Operational Planning to coordinate real-time decision-making across the theater of operations, with all the Services and operational domains,” it said. “This approach enhanced the agility and responsiveness of joint operations, using live real-time data, and producing joint tasking orders in an operationally relevant environment.”
Lockheed’s digital C2 system combines its fielded battle management, command and control software with other technologies from industry, the company notes.
To participate in Valiant Shield, the company said it made improvements to its C2 Planning Software that included “streamlining operator workflows by making machine interactions intuitive, enabling real-time monitoring, and facilitating seamless integration with other technologies.”
The company also trained operators on high-fidelity mission simulators prior to the exercise to learn how to use the C2 planning system.
Lockheed has now participated in seven exercises to continue to work on refining its digital C2 capabilities, it said.
For example, the company participated in Northern Edge, an experiment in the Indo-Pacific theater that demonstrated synchronization of technology that could feed into the Pentagon’s connect-everything-everywhere campaign called Joint All-Domain Command and Control, or JADC2.
The company plans to continue to bring technology to exercises and demonstrations in the Indo-Pacific to help build joint, networked capability.
Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.
