Gaps, Deficiencies, and the C4ISR Solution

By MICHAEL ANDERSON and BRUCE WINTERSTINE

Cdr. Michael Anderson is the C4ISR project manager for the Coast Guard's Integrated Deepwater System (IDS); Bruce Winterstine is the C4ISR associate program manager for Integrated Coast Guard System (ICGS).

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thomas H. Collins recently described how, prior to the events of 9/11, the Coast Guard's 20-year Integrated Deepwater System (IDS) recapitalization program promised a gradual, planned, and programmed roadmap for the Coast Guard's transformation well into the 21st century. "Then the future arrived on September 11, 2001," the commandant said. "That changed everything."

Just as the Coast Guard's leading role in safeguarding U.S. maritime homeland security has led to a greatly increased tempo of operations in the nation's ports, waterways, and coastal areas--and in the open ocean--so too does the imperative for more modern and capable assets drive a growing appreciation for the importance of the Deepwater program to the Coast Guard's near- and long-term effectiveness. The modernization of the service's C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) systems is a critical element in the Deepwater acquisition strategy.

Speaking to members of a military fraternal organization in Washington, D.C., in November, Collins said, "We must modernize our ships, boats, and aircraft, as well as our C4ISR systems that link them together. The need for our Integrated Deepwater System has been important for quite some time. It is now urgent."

Mindful of this urgency, the men and women on the Coast Guard-industry team who are responsible for the design, development, and acquisition of Deepwater's integrated C4ISR system recognize that its future capabilities will be vital both to the safeguarding of U.S. maritime homeland security and to the performance of the Coast Guard's numerous other missions.

Combat-Proven C2 Cutters

Contrary to some misconceptions, Deepwater's assets--upgraded patrol boats, helicopters, aircraft, cutters, operations centers (OPCENs), and C4ISR systems--will operate across the entire U.S. maritime domain. Later in this decade, for example, a new Deepwater National Security Cutter or Offshore Patrol Cutter may be deployed hundreds of miles at sea to intercept and board a "high-interest" merchant ship far from U.S. shores. Later--capitalizing on the inherent mobility, endurance, and utility of naval forces--this same multimission cutter, outfitted with modern C4ISR systems, could be redeployed to serve as a command-and-control platform in a major U.S. port (as was demonstrated in New York City and nearly 20 other major U.S. ports on the East and West Coasts during the days, weeks, and months following 9/11).

As President Bush said during a visit to the Famous-class medium-endurance cutter USCGC Tahoma a year ago, "When it comes to securing our homeland, and helping people along the coast, the Coast Guard has a vital and significant mission."

In this sense, the delivery of a robust, modern Deepwater C4ISR system is of critical importance not just to the future of the Coast Guard, but also to U.S. national security in general.

Operational Necessity

The operational requirement for a seamless C4ISR system appropriate to the Coast Guard's 21st-century network-centric operations has been recognized for many years.

In comparison to the world's other naval forces, the average age of its cutters, 28 years, finds the Coast Guard ranked as the 37th oldest fleet in the world. Only two other naval fleets--those of Mexico and the Philippines--are older than the Coast Guard's. Most of its cutters are based on designs dating to the 1960s. Some, like the 60-year-old workhorse medium-endurance cutter USCGC Storis (still on station in Kodiak, Alaska), saw action during World War II! The situation is the same in Coast Guard aviation. It is not unusual to find Coast Guard aircraft older than the men and women who fly them.

This aging inventory of patrol boats, aircraft, helicopters, cutters, and C4ISR systems has generated growing concerns over the Coast Guard's ability to perform all of its assigned missions. The already difficult "capabilities gap" has been exacerbated not only by the growing demand for Coast Guard services in almost all of its other mission areas but also by the necessary profusion of high-priority homeland-security taskings since 9/11. A "new normalcy" --characterized by an unusually high tempo of operations--evolved during the past year's war on terrorism.

During fiscal year 2000, the Coast Guard recorded 35,350 law-enforcement boardings. That number climbed to 37,162 boardings during fiscal year 2002. The continuing annual increases in the demand for Coast Guard services is not expected to reverse during the foreseeable future.

In addition, the growing technology gap reflects the difficulties in upgrading equipment and platforms that are, in some cases, more than 30 years old. The lack of effective radar systems hinders sensing, detection, and tracking of maritime vessels. Similarly, a paucity of electro-optical sensors (e.g., infrared systems) to provide long-range night vision hinders all mobile assets operating at night and/or in inclement weather.

A logistics gap also is developing as older legacy platforms reach the end of their anticipated service lives; the resultant increase in maintenance and repair costs often comes at the expense of operational availability. Collectively, all of these gaps impose a very heavy burden on the Coast Guard's greatest asset, its people, and result in continuing degradations of their quality of life and workplace.

A Worrisome Mix

The current mix of largely obsolete C4ISR systems also creates a worrisome communications and "situational-awareness" gap--an intolerable condition during homeland-security, national-defense, search-and-rescue, and/or law-enforcement missions. The Coast Guard's present inventory of patrol boats, cutters, aircraft, helicopters, and shoreside operation centers do not share a common C4ISR architecture for surveillance, sensors, and communications equipment. This deficiency makes it difficult, and at times impossible, to allow critical, secure, time-sensitive data and other information to be communicated between and among all Coast Guard units and shore facilities involved in a particular mission. Communications with a growing list of interagency operators is similarly affected. In short, breakdowns in connectivity interfere with, delay, and even prevent mission execution.

The Coast Guard's past "platform-centric" approach for major acquisition programs generally resulted in a one-for-one replacement of cutters and aircraft over many years. This asset-specific focus generated inherent C4ISR limitations in the Coast Guard's fleet-wide ability to execute its usual sequence of core tasks: surveil, detect, classify, identify, and prosecute.

Existing system-centric C4ISR technology "refresh" efforts were limited in scope and funding, falling short of realizing the enterprise architecture that the Coast Guard so clearly needs. This lack of a common C4ISR architecture created a situation where narrowly focused programmatic technology solutions did not integrate well and suboptimized the broad application of information systems. Deepwater's robust C4ISR systems will rectify these shortcomings and add important new capabilities critical to the successful execution of "port-centric" MHLS (maritime homeland security) operations.

Near-Term Remedies

The Coast Guard has attempted to remedy gaps in its command-and-control systems in the near term. The Coast Guard Command and Control Engineering Center (C2CEN), for example, has developed a number of interim systems to upgrade legacy assets by providing proven, functional command-and-control (C2) systems--all in close coordination with the IDS program.

The Coast Guard's ongoing Command Center Recapitalization Project recognizes that operational commanders must have a robust C2 system to provide access to a Common Operational Picture (COP), near-real-time data, a secure communications channel, and the means to communicate with the Coast Guard's counterparts in the Department of Defense (DOD).

DOD's Global Command and Control System (GCCS) will serve as the Coast Guard's near-term means to integrate information and data received from disparate sources. The Coast Guard expects to complete fielding GCCS-J later this year in all of its area, district, and section command centers to meet homeland-security mission requirements. The GCCS system also will improve the service's C2 capabilities at lower-tier commands.

As part of the continuing effort to take the "search" out of search-and-rescue missions, Admiral Collins announced, in September 2002, the award of a $611 million contract to the General Dynamics Corporation for the production, deployment, and support of "Rescue 21," the name given to the much-needed modernization of the National Distress and Response System. Rescue 21 will be the nation's primary maritime "911" system in the coastal waters of the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and Puerto Rico, and in and along the nation's navigable rivers and lakes.

The Rescue 21 system was coordnated fully with the Coast Guard's Integrated Deepwater System acquisition team for more than three years, and the requirement for full interoperability is incorporated into the IDS C4ISR architecture--the Coast Guard's master plan for the future.

Under the current plan, IDS will begin deploying the Coast Guard Common Command and Control (CG-C2) in 2005. CG-C2 will serve, in essence, as an IDS C2 enterprise deployed to all IDS assets supporting all of the service's command echelons--execution, tactical, operational, and strategic. The same CG-C2 application supports cutter OPCEN watchstanders, mission controllers in maritime patrol aircraft (MPAs), and command duty officers at Coast Guard district command centers.

The foundation of the CG-C2 system is the Defense Information Infrastructure Common Operating Environment (DII COE). Application segments, which will provide specific IDS functionality, include mission planning and decision tools, and automation aids. DII COE will ensure joint interoperability and enable the IDS program, and the Coast Guard, to maximize the use of commercial-off-the-shelf technology (COTS) and commercial nondevelopment items (CANDI).

As a connected node in Deepwater's Information Technology-21 (IT-21) enterprise, watchstanders will be provided full access to SIPRNET (Secure Internet Protocol Router Network), CGDN+ (Coast Guard Data Network Plus), and the Internet. This capability, integrated with CG-C2 and communications, will allow a watchstander to be connected in real time to both onboard fleet and shore-based information stores and databases.

Work already has started in earnest on an enterprise C4ISR architecture that takes into account the needs of both legacy and new assets--in the air and on the ground, and across agency boundaries--to improve information sharing, display, and storage.

The Integrated Solution

The Integrated Deepwater System will build and expand on recent Coast Guard command-and-control efforts to provide a far more effective "system-of-systems" solution for 21st-century C4ISR requirements. For the first time in its history, the Coast Guard is looking beyond individual assets and classes of assets to address the overall C4ISR requirements of all of its operational forces and shore stations. The Deepwater C4ISR team has adopted an information technology strategy of planned evolution.

Prior to the Deepwater contract award last June to the ICGS (Integrated Coast Guard Systems) joint venture formed by the Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin Corporations, industry was provided broad C4ISR requirements based on the capabilities-based Deepwater acquisition strategy. These requirements covered such areas as: (1) surveillance, detection, and monitoring; (2) internal information exchange; (3) external information exchange; and (4) maintaining situational awareness.

During the next five years, all Coast Guard shore commands and legacy surface and air platforms will receive Deepwater C4ISR system upgrades. Concurrently, IDS will continue the Coast Guard's low-risk transition to more capable platforms equipped with new and improved C4ISR systems designed to conform to the network-centric Deepwater architecture. The IDS C4ISR system-of-systems solution design provides a single, integrated enterprise across the IDS that will be implemented through the deployment of individual assets.

Progressively and cumulatively, the IDS C4ISR system will provide numerous capability improvements that cut across all Coast Guard mission sets:

* A single C2 system supporting a Command and Control Enterprise;

* Common command-and-control systems fully integrated with all sensors, communications, and legacy interfaces--tactical data from all assets and intelligence will be integrated into a Common Operating Picture;

* Interoperability within IDS and with other CG assets, with DOD and other national sources, with commercial and private vessels, and with law-enforcement agencies--meeting the goal of a seamless "24/7" exchange of data among assets through a full spectrum of communication links;

* Maritime Domain Awareness and the ability to target actual threats through the generation of actionable, timely, and integrated intelligence information; and

* An embedded technical "refresh" capability to avoid future system obsolescence.

The common C4ISR architecture and software across all assets will reduce operational costs, improve mission effectiveness, and accommodate future technological improvements.

Linkage and Leverage

Two years ago, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark and then-Coast Guard Commandant Adm. James M. Loy agreed to build a National Fleet that will combine Navy and Coast Guard forces to maximize their effectiveness across all naval and maritime missions.

A key aspect of the IDS team's approach to the design and development of future Coast Guard assets and systems is to harmonize its efforts with the Navy through a close linkage to one of its current acquisition efforts--the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). In April 2002, Rear Adm. Patrick M. Stillman, the Coast Guard's IDS program executive officer (PEO), and Rear Adm. Charles S. Hamilton, the Navy's Surface Strike PEO, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish a working group to identify the specific common technologies, systems, and processes critical to both the Navy's future LCS and the Coast Guard's Deepwater National Security Cutter, Medium Endurance Cutter, and patrol boat developments.

The linkage, institutionalized through regular meetings and information exchanges at all levels of each PEO's staff, ensures that each service will derive the maximum benefits possible through a cooperative organizational, business, and technical approach in areas of common interest. A number of the Coast Guard's assigned missions have the possibility of high commonality with LCS mission areas--maritime law-enforcement missions, for example, as well as the inspection of foreign vessels, maritime-intercept operations, and maritime homeland security missions. This linkage does not suggest a duplication of effort; rather, it reflects the wisdom of close cooperation and, where appropriate, collaboration to achieve common benefits as each acquisition program matures.

This Coast Guard-Navy linkage also extends to the work of Deepwater's C4ISR Integrated Product Team (IPT). The Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) has been a key participant since 1997--recognizing the requirement for Deepwater C4ISR systems to satisfy Navy perform-ance specifications as well as DOD's overarching common standards. The Office of Naval Research is another important Navy member of Deepwater's C4ISR IPT. The Coast Guard's fleet customers--officer and enlisted representatives from operational commands on the "waterfront"--also are engaged to ensure that their important perspectives and user inputs are incorporated.

Sea Power 21, announced by Admiral Clark last year, describes how the Navy will organize, integrate its effort, and transform itself to face the 21st century's national-security challenges. The vision's key concepts (Sea Strike, Sea Shield, and Sea Basing) will be enabled by an all-encompassing effort called ForceNet--the integration of operational commanders, sensors, networks, command and control, platforms, and weapons into a fully netted combat force.

Sea Power 21's reliance on an open-architecture C4ISR system resonates deeply with Deepwater's C4ISR project team. Close Coast Guard-Navy cooperation will provide exceptional opportunities for the Coast Guard to leverage its programs with the Navy's ongoing C4ISR developments. This approach will benefit the Coast Guard, the Navy, the Department of Homeland Security--and U.S. taxpayers.

A Critical Enabler

Today's homeland-security requirements drive an even greater need for expanded connectivity across a broad range of federal, state, and local agencies. The Deepwater C4ISR architecture will provide the information backbone for the Coast Guard's many missions, but the importance of addressing crucial homeland security requirements now is emphasized to all members of the acquisition team.

The new U.S. National Strategy for Homeland Security, approved last July, places a premium on keeping all appropriate agencies, law-enforcement officials, and military units well-informed on vulnerabilities, intelligence, possible threats, and counterterrorist operations.

The Coast Guard's Maritime Homeland Security Strategy is built on the main pillars of preventing terrorist attacks, reducing U.S. vulnerabilities to attack, and recovering from those attacks that might occur. It seeks to provide needed security improvements while preserving U.S. prosperity by minimizing disruptions of or delays in seaborne commerce and global trade.

Consistent with the new U.S. national security strategy, the Coast Guard's MHLS strategy is preemptive in nature. Layered surface and air operations seek to deter, detect, disrupt, or destroy terrorist threats across the maritime domain and to ensure the protection of the maritime infrastructure within U.S. borders. Implementation of this strategy requires that the Coast Guard improve and expand its C4ISR capabilities across all areas of maritime domain operations.

Coast Guard MHLS operations will allow the United States to "push its borders" many hundreds of miles out to sea with a time-proven layered defense critical to Maritime Domain Awareness--a comprehensive understanding of what is happening within the U.S. maritime domain and entailing precise knowledge of the movement of vessels, cargo, and people.

Ideally, potential threats will be identified and neutralized long before they jeopardize the U.S. homeland. Threaded throughout the Coast Guard's strategy is the explicit requirement for robust C4ISR capabilities as the sine qua non for success.

Deepwater's C4ISR system is a critical enabler for Maritime Domain Awareness--its provision for the rapid, secure, and networked dissemination of data and information will allow Coast Guard operational commanders to make informed decisions and, should the need arise, to employ all of the forces at their disposal in the most productive manner possible to target actual threats.

Deepwater's entire C4ISR system is now planned for development in four incremental stages over the first 10 years of the 20-year IDS program. New systems will be incorporated in new-construction assets approximately every four years (and be backfitted to older platforms). This system-of-systems approach will provide one C4ISR design for multiple assets--assuring interoperability as well as commonality across the fleet.

A Unique Partnership

The Integrated Deepwater System has pioneered new approaches both to the acquisition process and to the government-industry teaming concept. The partnership forged between the Deepwater C4ISR project team and its ICGS counterparts at Lockheed Martin and Northrop-Grumman is yielding important dividends for IDS command-and-control systems--including the use of cutting-edge integrated planning and a performance-based system-of-systems acquisition strategy with a service-wide focus.

On the industry side, Lockheed Martin's Naval Electronics and Surveillance Systems offers decades of experience developing C4ISR systems for the U.S. Navy and other navies throughout the world. The synergy of this partnership, in terms of the sheer technical knowledge and programmatic advice available, is extraordinary.

In December, Lockheed Martin broke ground for a state-of-the-art facility at its Moorestown, N.J., site that will be used to develop, test, and integrate the assets and systems being produced to support the Deepwater program. The $9.4 million facility will be located in close proximity to Lockheed Martin's Theater Network Integration Center and Naval Systems Computing Center. "Deepwater is the first line of defense in our homeland's defense," said Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.). The new facility will figure significantly in the development of Deepwater's superset C4ISR systems.

The partnership forged between the Coast Guard and the Northrop Grumman-Lockheed Martin ICGS joint venture has created a truly new business relationship. All members of the partnership face the need, almost every day, to step back from specific issues relating to a single asset to assess its relationship to the C4ISR system of systems. Should a trade-off be needed, the decisions made are based on maximizing the benefit to the overall system. A candid, honest partnership provides the most effective means to make such difficult decisions.

The partnership's goal for Deepwater's C4ISR systems reflects the same end in mind common to all projects in the Deepwater program: to ensure that the C4ISR project enables the Coast Guard to meet its multimission requirements for the next half century by optimizing operational effectiveness while minimizing total ownership costs.

Significant challenges remain to accomplish this goal--including the imperative to stay the course to field new systems framed with a system-of-systems perspective. But, mindful of the urgency and importance of the Coast Guard's service to the nation today, the Deepwater Coast Guard-industry team is determined to succeed. *