Behind the scenes of the US Air Force’s second test of its game-changing battle management system
Valerie Insinna
JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. — It’s Sept. 2, the day before the U.S. Air Force’s second test of its new developmental battle management system. Tomorrow, troops will attempt to defend the American homeland against a simulated cruise missile attack using air- and ground-launched missiles as well as a high-velocity bullet.
But the success of the experiment ultimately rides on a makeshift control center set up at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, which Defense News and several other media outlets were invited to see on Wednesday. The control center displays a digital picture of the battlefield that seems to give an almost omniscient view of both American and adversarial capabilities.
In the movies, this is how command-and-control systems work: Troops toil on modern computers with stylish-looking graphic interfaces that, with a click of a button, pull up real-time maps of Russian missile sites or live data on the availability of fighter jets at U.S. Air Force bases in Alaska.
https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2020/09/04/behind-the-scenes-of-the-us-air-forces-second-test-of-its-game-changing-battle-management-system/
