In late spring, Lockheed Martin opened its Digital Engagement Center (DEC) in Brussels, the first of its kind outside of the U.S. The center caters to a wide variety of needs, such as operational analysis and wargaming, with a focus on the mission outcome rather than the platforms that conduct the mission.
This move to a mission-centric focus represents a fundamental shift in approach to military planning at many levels as threat scenarios rapidly evolve and proliferate in the digital era. According to the U.S.-based defense group, meeting these challenges places increasing demand on the resilient networking of disparate sensors and platforms to harness their full value in a holistic manner.
Lockheed Martin sited its European DEC close to Brussels Airport, and adjacent to NATO headquarters. The location places it at the heart of military decision-making in Europe, facilitating engagement with not only the alliance’s armed forces and their leaders, but also the continent’s defense industry. It is connected to six other centers in the U.S., including the company’s major “Lighthouse” facility in Suffolk, Virginia.
Demonstrating operational vignettes in the DEC can rapidly highlight strengths and weaknesses. For instance, indicating where additional sensors and effectors are required to maximize the coverage and effectiveness of a networked air defense system. Factors such as terrain can be modeled so that areas of radar masking can be highlighted. The system can run analytical scenarios where individual systems can be altered iteratively to illustrate the effect of a change, say, in location or type of a sensor or effector.
The operational analysis tool can also be used to analyze and aid the development of the algorithms that reside in the network and its command and control operations. The DEC itself can be constantly updated with new technology.
The DEC can be rapidly configured—in a few hours to a few days, depending on the customer needs—to match individual requirements, and displays the simulations in an immersive graphic presentation that is easy to interpret. While Lockheed Martin’s products are prominent among Europe’s defense equipment, the center can be programmed to analyze any system, regardless of provider. Similarly, the DEC showcases the benefits of interoperability between services and between armed forces of different nations within an alliance such as NATO.
Advanced commercial technologies, such as artificial intelligence, edge computing and Lockheed Martin’s 5G.MIL networking solutions, are used in the creation of scenarios, along with a library of systems characteristics covering a range of NATO and potentially hostile platforms and systems. Artificial intelligence is particularly useful in the creation of content and the rapid running of various options within a given scenario.
Making Defense More Cost-Effective
Through these capabilities, Lockheed Martin says the DEC is a powerful tool for informing system acquisition and development, the creation of operational doctrine, the design of effective defensive environments, and the successful conduct of individual operations. It is of great value for determining how to meet new challenges, and also how to do so in a more cost-effective manner by “training” networks to match appropriate effectors to the threats without any loss of effectiveness.
One new challenge that has dominated the thoughts of military leaders and analysts in recent weeks is the emerging “sub-tactical” threat, as graphically evidenced by the audacious Spider’s Web operation conducted by Ukraine on June 1. Previously, military commanders had thought in terms of strategic (space and upper atmosphere), operational (long-range), and tactical (short-range, battlefield) tiers of threats, but the Ukrainian attack on Russian bomber bases using drones launched from close to the bases represents a new tier.
Gen. Phillip Breedlove, who was Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) between 2013 and 2016, recently opined that no country in the world was yet able to meet this sub-tactical threat, although Ukraine itself was probably the closest to it. An attack of this type poses significant difficulties in threat detection and the time available for defenses to engage due to the very short distances from launch to attack, further compounded by the use of swarming tactics.
The former SACEUR also noted that, while the challenges of the other tiers of the defensive layer cake are understood, the emerging sub-tactical layer required the rapid development of new systems and tactics. This is clearly something in which the DEC could play an important role.