U.S. Air Force Maj. Nathan Rings, 25th Air Support Operations Squadron assistant director of operations,right, briefs U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. David Wolfe, Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) command chief, left, and U.S. Air Force Gen. Ken Wilsbach, PACAF commander, on 25th ASOS joint all-domain command and control capabilities (JADC2) at Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii, April 23, 2021.

U.S. Air Force Maj. Nathan Rings, 25th Air Support Operations Squadron assistant director of operations,right, briefs U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. David Wolfe, Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) command chief, left, and U.S. Air Force Gen. Ken Wilsbach, PACAF commander, on 25th ASOS joint all-domain command and control capabilities (JADC2) at Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii, April 23, 2021. Tech. Sgt. Nick Wilson/U.S. Air Force

Air Force 'Needs to Do More' to Address JADC2 Concerns, GAO Says

The service has made insufficient progress since a 2020 review of its portion of the military-wide tactical network, the Government Accountability Office wrote.

The Air Force has made progress on its planning efforts for the Department of Defense’s initiative to combine information from disparate military domains into one cohesive network, but has not yet delivered any capabilities and is still identifying its future abilities, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office that was released on Friday. 

The Pentagon’s ongoing Joint All-Domain Command and Control—or JADC2—effort seeks to streamline interoperability and communication between DOD’s various military assets across air, land, sea and cyberspace. DOD released its JADC2 implementation plan in March 2022, saying at the time that it was “a warfighting necessity” that would allow military personnel “to ‘sense,’ ‘make sense’ and ‘act’ on information across the battle-space quickly using automation, artificial intelligence, predictive analytics and machine learning to deliver informed solutions via a resilient and robust network environment.”

The Air Force’s contribution to JADC2 is the Advanced Battle Management System—or ABMS—which GAO described as “a secure communications network that allows commanders and warfighters to share meaningful data from the field faster.” 

GAO’s review of ABMS was requested in a House Armed Services Committee report accompanying the fiscal year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, as well as by the House Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee, which asked the agency “to provide a review of ABMS and how it will contribute to DOD’s broader goals for JADC2.”

A previous GAO report, released in April 2020, found that the Air Force “started ABMS development without key elements of a business case, such as a cost estimate to inform budget requests,” and recommended that the military branch “develop acquisition and planning documents.”

The latest GAO report—which reviewed the Air Force’s progress since the 2020 evaluation—noted that the military branch has taken a variety of steps in the intervening years to more effectively develop its planning efforts, including creating “a consortium of companies to assist in developing requirements for a network” and establishing “a new leadership structure for ABMS.” 

GAO called these efforts “positive steps toward developing ABMS,” but added that the Air Force “has not delivered any capabilities to date and is in the process of identifying future capabilities and when they will be delivered.”

“The Air Force is continuing to evolve and further define key aspects of its ABMS acquisition strategies and management structure, but details on future acquisition efforts are in development,” the report said. The service "needs to do more to fully address" GAO's 2020 recommendations, the report said.

In addition to examining the Air Force’s ABMS effort, GAO noted that DOD is still “in the process of identifying capabilities and challenges” related to its JADC2 implementation. And the agency said that more insights into the Pentagon’s broad initiative will be provided to lawmakers later this year. 

GAO noted that a House report accompanying the fiscal year 2023 NDAA included a provision for DOD to report on “the scope, cost and schedule of the overall JADC2 effort,” and that the department is “in the early stages of determining those elements.”

The report said that DOD will provide Congress with an update “between January and March 2023 that addresses progress to date with the JADC2 Campaign Plan and efforts to develop an investment strategy based on near-, mid- [and] long-term JADC2 goals.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.