Global cyberspace center delivers 'Warfighter's Edge'

  • Published
  • By Capt. Larry van der Oord
  • Global Cyberspace Integration Center Public Affairs
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (AFPN) --  A two-year effort for the Air Force Global Cyberspace Integration Center and the U.S. Air Force Academy's Institute for Information Technology Applications culminated Oct. 31 when the Warfighter's Edge, or WEdge, was initially released to the field.

WEdge, a base-level command and control tool designed to automate mission briefings for aircrews, is now fully operational and ready for distribution across all combat Air Force units.

The original WEdge concept began as an initiative of the Command and Control, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Battlelab in 2005. Recognizing the utility of the system, Air Combat Command officials designated WEdge an Air Force system of record in 2006 and provided funding to fully develop the program. WEdge has since been undergoing certification and accreditation for use on Air Force networks.

Historically, aircrews used chalkboards or whiteboards to brief missions. In recent years, many units created digital, interactive briefing systems known as Briefing Room Interactive, or BRI. However, BRI systems were cumbersome and not deployable for combat because they relied on home station infrastructure and computer-savvy people to operate them.

"WEdge was designed to require minimal training and to be easy to use," said Pat McAtee, GCIC WEdge program manager. "The presentation layer of the program uses Microsoft Power Point and leverages the knowledge and expertise many users already have."

When a user identifies a mission, code behind the WEdge presentation layer sends a signal to retrieve the most current information available for that specific mission. WEdge then organizes the information and delivers it to the user in a tailored, real-time format.

"WEdge automates data to deliver the most relevant information in a user-friendly manner," said Mr. McAtee. "It also allows aircrew to train like they will fight, because the system is easily deployable for combat operations."

WEdge uses the mission planning central or MPC Web site on the Air Force Portal as the net-centric repository of unclassified information. From here, users can download and upload briefs, files and program updates. Developers have also created a similar capability for classified networks, as well as an enterprise service to transfer data from the MPC databases to the classified databases.

"WEdge's small team enabled efficiencies that larger organizations would not have been able to achieve," said Mr. McAtee. "This initiative serves as a model for rapid development of critical warfighter needs."

WEdge developers are already busy building an extension to the WEdge application that will brief leadership of an Air Force base's combat status by integrating data sources within an Air Force Installation Control Center. This upgraded version is designated WEdge-ICC, and it includes a much broader briefing capability.

WEdge-ICC will automate the creation and update of senior staff briefings and connect to various information sources to automatically populate briefing slides with the current status of forces and equipment.

WEdge-ICC will be demonstrated in Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment 2008 and will deliver battle staff briefings to warfighters using instances of real-world data wherever possible.

"By using existing experimental venues, WEdge was able to attain warfighter assessment to channel development with minimal cost," said Mr. McAtee. "We will continue this model with WEdge-ICC."

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