http://www.af.mil/news/n20001207_1805.shtml

HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. (AFPN) -- The Electronic Systems Center's efforts to provide warfighters a greater edge in battle received a strong boost recently when the Joint Configuration Control Board at the Pentagon made the Theater Battle Management Core Systems the system of record for air battle command and control. The TBMCS combines three so-called legacy systems -- the contingency theater air planning system; the combat intelligence system; and the wing command and control system -- into one integrated command and control system.

A joint air operations center and its theater components will now have common and shared air operations and intelligence databases, as well as a common set of software tools for planning, executing and sustaining the air war campaign.

With this new system, air mission commanders, planners and warfighters can create, assimilate and manipulate data then quickly distribute those data to others through wide- and local-area networks, servers and workstations. This keeps those at all echelons in a theater environment connected and focused on a common picture.

"TBMCS is a giant leap forward for command and control," said Col. David Chaffee, director of the Combat Air Forces System Program Office here, which serves as the acquisition and development oversight agent for the system. "Joint and coalition air component commanders will now have much better, decision-quality data to prosecute the war."

"We're creating a system that can orchestrate an entire air battle," said Senior Master Sgt. Maurice LaBrie of the Aerospace Command and Control Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center. LaBrie serves as a liaison between the center at Langley Air Force Base, Va., and ESC's Combat Air Forces System Program Office, and has provided warfighter insight during TBMCS development.

This is absolutely critical to the warfighter, said Col. Nathan Titus, 609th Air Operations Group Commander, who used TBMCS extensively during a mid-November Central Command exercise called Internal Look 00.

"It's a very stable system, which is exactly what we need, because war doesn't stop while we shut down and reboot," Titus said.

The system got a real workout during the six-day exercise, he said.

"We had 800 people in the AOC, and we ran 80,000 messages a day through the system, and we flew three to four thousand sorties a day," Titus said. "So we definitely wrung it out pretty good, and it worked as advertised. I'd take it to war tomorrow."

LaBrie agreed Internal Look 00 provided a great test, but added TBMCS software has really been run through the gauntlet throughout its development.

"It's gone through more exhaustive testing than any other software probably ever has," he said. "If this software doesn't work, people can die, so we've been very thorough."

According to Titus, the system affords significantly improved compatibility with joint and allied systems. Army and Marine ground forces will now be able to submit and track air support requests until a target is destroyed. This type of integration between the joint air operations center and its components will allow land forces to participate in planning and executing an air war.

This is a significant enhancement widely expected to increase the effectiveness of joint warfare. The new system will also allow more detailed planning and allow it to be done faster and with fewer resources.

Fielding of TBMCS is already under way and is expected to be complete in all air operations centers by next spring, according to officials.