One of the key concepts being aired during JEFX is the Theater Battle Operations Net-centric Environment (TBONE), a concept sprung from the Air Force’s C2 Battlelab. Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, the battlelab’s Maj. Pat McAtee called the project a “new engine” for the CAOC—developed in conjunction with a software upgrade for the Theater Battle Management Core Systems version 1.1.4. TBONE is a program that moves “at the speed of warfare,” said McAtee, noting that a total of 20 applications are being melded into one under the TBONE effort. The goal is build a “continuous air tasking cycle” by shifting the CAOC weapon system to a Web-based, PC-capable application environment that uses portal technologies in a more flexible and versatile net-centric environment. The present-day CAOC suffers from difficulties in utilizing ISR data to assess actions and operations—essentially erecting a roadblock preventing expansion of effects-based warfare.
A three-month continuing resolution that ended in December inflicted less pain on the Department of the Air Force than it had expected, as procurement and construction continue in the new year. The federal government operated under a stopgap spending measure that stretched from the beginning of the fiscal year on…