Battlelab turns ideas into innovation

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. David Donato
  • Air Intelligence Agency Public Affairs
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  Anyone who has ever done business with the Air Force Information Warfare Battlelab here knows the people of that organization recognize a good idea when they see one.

Just ask retired Master Sgt. Chuck Doig.

Nearly four years ago the senior noncommissioned officer submitted an idea to the battlelab to convert a Rockeye cluster bomb canister into a new leaflet delivery system. That idea was subsequently developed into what is now known by warfighters as the PDU-5/B leaflet bomb.

The PDU-5/B, which was successfully used in Iraq and Afghanistan, is one of several notable information warfare initiatives the battlelab has helped develop in recent years.

Since its inception in 1997, the battlelab has collected hundreds of new concepts and ideas from government, industry and academia. The goal of the battlelab is to transform these concepts into modern capabilities for the warfighter.

“Our mission is to rapidly find and harvest creative ideas for improving operations for the warfighter,” said Col. Robert Stiegel, AFIWB commander. “We find them and then evaluate their utility and demonstrate their military potential.

The AFIWB is among seven battlelabs in the Air Force created to give military leaders a quicker, alternative method to deliver new technologies to the field. Capabilities that used to take up to 20 years through the normal acquisition cycle are now being prototyped and demonstrated by the battlelabs in less than 18 months.

“The labs are structured to look at transformational ideas, try them out and get them to the troops as quickly as possible,” the colonel said. “It’s a way of going around that potentially long acquisition process.”

To accomplish its mission, the battlelab uses a diverse force consisting of about 25 people with backgrounds in aircrew, space, engineering, communications, computers, mathematics, acquisitions and intelligence.

This small cadre staffs three directorates working network warfare, influence and electronic warfare operations.

The network warfare operations directorate is responsible for network attack, network defense and network warfare support initiatives. The influence operations directorate oversees projects involving psychological operations, military deception, operations security, counterintelligence and public affairs. The electronic warfare operations directorate includes electronic attack, electronic protect and electronic warfare support initiatives.

“These directorates are the backbone of the organization,” said Dr. Gary Barmore, AFIWB technical director. “They are staffed with some of the best officers and enlisted people in the Air Force. They continuously work together across the different disciplines to accomplish successful demonstrations of truly innovative solutions for the warfighter.”

From concept to employment, these three directorates oversee the entire AFIWB process.

The process begins with a broad agency announcement through which people can submit their ideas.

“The (announcement) is essentially an advertisement,” Colonel Stiegel said. “It tells people that we have money to buy creative, innovative solutions.”

Once the battlelab receives an idea, then a concept working group convenes to evaluate it. The working group consists of about 20 intelligence and information operations experts who scrutinizes the idea for validity, originality and creativity.

“The concept working group is trying to find out whether the idea is innovative, whether somebody else has already done it or whether it has worked or not,” Colonel Stiegel said. “We essentially want to get more information on whether the idea would be worth pursuing.”

If the idea has merit, then the battlelab project officers meet as an initiative selection group to review the concept one more time.

“They look at things like the cost and whether or not someone has had experience with it,” Dr. Barmore said. “This will help us determine which ones we want to send forward.”

The selection group is the final review before the idea is presented to leaders within the battlelab who will get together to decide which projects are worth funding.

“We’ll go forward to brief the idea to the other battlelabs so they know what we are doing,” Colonel Stiegel said. “Then we brief the Air Force Information Warfare Center and Air Intelligence Agency (leaders) who actually approve the spending.”

Once spending is approved, the battlelab is free to pursue a demonstration. These usually take from 12 to 18 months. When the demo is complete, battlelab officials compile an after-initiative report which is sent to Air Staff for the final decision on whether the Air Force will accept it.

To date, the battlelab has received more than 500 concepts and ideas. It has conducted 55 demonstrations and more than 20 systems have been transitioned to operational use. Another 10 have been picked up for further development.

Colonel Stiegel said the battlelab is always looking for new ideas.

“Any innovator out there should seriously consider submitting their idea, system or technology to the battlelab,” he said. “For a modest amount of effort, he or she may save lives or resources in either the (war on terrorism) or a future conflict.”