Enhancing Battlespace Awareness for Tactical Ground Forces

There are many needs for enhanced battlespace awareness (BA) starting with the current ground warfighters' need for enhanced BA in the tactical environment and next from higher headquarters guidance and doctrine. Ground forces need improved BA to answer many tactical questions on the battlefield. Guidance from the President of the United States, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and Joint Staff direct unified command responsibilities for military space, force transformation, and the evolution to more net-centric operations within military forces. In response to these needs, the Air Force is investing in new and transformational space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. It is following a Command and amp; Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and amp; Reconnaissance (C4ISR) Flight Plan to build greater connectivity with Department of Defense networks. It is also following the path to greater net-centric warfare capabilities through the development of an initial ISR common relevant operational picture (CROP). However, as the Air Force makes these changes and investments in enhancing BA, AFSPC should take a more active role and increase its focus on the entire process of delivering space-based ISR capabilities to the warfighter. This includes championing military space-based ISR issues and increasing Air Force and Army cooperation and integration for the ground warfighter. In addition, the Air Force should take the initiative to use existing, demonstrated technologies to build a better ISR CROP that starts the evolution within the entire intelligence community to the next generation of the tasking, processing, exploiting, and disseminating (TPED) process.