DOD Aiming to Deliver Initial JADC2 Capability in Six Months

The Department of Defense is working to deliver an initial Joint All-Domain Command and Control capability within the coming months.

JADC2 is the concept of connecting the military services’ sensors, nodes and platforms into a single network. The DOD will continue adding new capabilities once a minimal viable product is ready, Signal Magazine reported.

U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Dennis Crall, director for command, control, communications and computers on the Joint Staff, said the initial capability will include a fundamental platform, identity control access management, zero trust cyber security and data transport capabilities.

“We find ourselves now in the first phase of the implementation plan. This is where it becomes very real. This is the opening gambit of our formal delivery schedule, and it’s already begun,” Crall, a 2021 Wash100 winner, said during AFCEA’s TechNet Augusta conference.

Signal Magazine reported that DOD officials spent the last six months developing the fundamental documentation needed to realize JADC2.

In June, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, a 2021 Wash100 winner, approved the Pentagon’s JADC2 strategy, marking the official launch of an effort that the military services had already invested in heavily.

FedScoop reported that the strategy emphasizes the use of artificial intelligence and data-sharing capabilities on the battlefield.

Once fully implemented, JADC2 is expected to allow even a fighter jet to coordinate with infantrymen using a global data-sharing network.

Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner, commander of the Joint Forces Headquarters-DOD Information Network, said the DOD identified capabilities that can be delivered in six months.

If the delivery schedule is not met, the department will need to review its acquisition strategy and the JADC2 initiative as a whole, Skinner added.