​Top 10 Mission Examples Build Platform Enabled from End to End Equipment Required to be Digitally Capable
 
Marine Corps executes mission Digital threads primarily as an integrated MAGTF, organized to support the Marine rifleman. The integration of the MAGTF and the successful execution of mission threads rely on the effective exchange of critical information; communication, whether in the form of electronic data or voice, is critical to the exchange of mission-essential information. An effective network infrastructure is required in order to achieve effective end-to-end communication.

The goal of MAGTF digital interoperability is to provide the required information to the right participants at the right time in order to ensure mission success, i.e., defeating the threat, while improving efficiency and effectiveness. This approach provides the additional advantage of responsible spectrum use, which becomes increasingly important as spectrum demands increase, as technology advances, and as our MAGTFs continually operate in more distributed and disaggregated operations. 

We continue to pursue integration and data exchange throughout various arenas: situational awareness; aircraft survivability; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance ISR; fire support; and logistics by conducting continuous and iterative analysis of ever-evolving information exchange requirements IERs and the technological tools needed to satisfy those requirements. Network design must be based on IERs so that the right information gets to the right Marine at the right time.

In order to be digitally interoperable, a platform must possess and integrate the following four things to be digitally interoperable:

Sensors take information from the environment and turns it into digital data; examples include ASE aircraft survivability equipment, targeting pods, and a Marine’s situational awareness.

Computer processors take the digital data from the sensors and translate and format it for display or transport; examples include overhead in existing platform mission computers, additional processor cards in both related or unrelated systems, and standalone processors.

An interface that allows the system user to interact with the translated and formatted data from the processor; examples include integrated Multi-Function Display, a handheld electronic tablet, and a laptop computer.

Radios and associated antennas transmit and receive the translated and formatted data. Each of these components is required to fulfill the information exchange requirements in a constant integrated loop. The absence of a single aforementioned component breaks the loop.

Current enhancement and future procurement is the result of continuous end-to-end live and virtual analysis, through multiple efforts, of both USMC mission thread IERs and USMC platform capability over a period of years that has identified capabilities and capability gaps combined with an extensive analysis of alternatives.
The MAGTF as a whole employs four tactical data links that are fielded widely enough across the MAGTF that minor enhancements to platforms can greatly improve capability.


1. Next-generation Command and control C2 architectures employ agile voice/digital communications pathways to provide resiliency, increase the speed and volume of data flow, and accelerate decision making.

2. Intelligence. In a future operating environment, a next-generation intelligence architecture is able to sense and make sense of the entire operational environment. 

3. Human decision-making will be supported by “big data” management and advanced analytics.

4. Fires. Capitalizing on a range of new weapons and sensors, next-generation fires are networked to leverage the benefits, while mitigating the limitations, of individual systems.

5. Manoeuvre. A next generation MAGTF expertly leverages maneuver across the five domains air, land, maritime, space, information/cyber/EMS electromagnetic spectrumof the future operating environment.

6. Force protection. In the next-generation MAGTF, all elements are aware of their multi-spectral signatures and actively conduct signature management. 

7. Integrated and layered approach, employing various active and passive, force protective measures/methods.

8. Logistics/sustainment. A next-generation MAGTF is capable of providing distributed forces logistics and sustainment support across a dynamic and fully contested battlespace through responsive, agile, and multimodal methods/approaches.

9. C2 systems are a key element in leveraging and integrating current investments and systems both fourth and next generation to connect the network seamlessly between air and ground 
 
10. Realising the potential of the MAGTF tactical grid, ultimately achieving sensor fusion across the MAGTF, similar to the individual aircrew experience in the F-35. 

​“CMV-22B Osprey Long-Range Tiltrotor Aircraft to Sustainably Outfit all the Big Deck Amphibious Ships”

Landing Helicopter Assault and Landing Helicopter Dock Platforms Need Greater Logistics Search and Rescue L-SAR Capability for Strike and Counter-Air Missions.

The current Navy L-SAR detachment aboard the LHD/LHA is only capable of relatively short-range recovery in secure areas, generally overwater “planeguard” duty. But soon the Navy will be fielding its own enhanced variant of the MV-22, the CMV-22.

A CMV-22 detachment will enhance the capability of both the Navy and the Marine Corps team. With CMV-22s aboard, the Navy could reclaim the long-range SAR mission. This is key if amphibs are going to routinely serve as strike platforms and perform a greater role in sea control. With the right equipment and personnel, this could provide a capability well up the SAR decision matrix, making  detachment valuable as a joint theater personnel recovery asset.

Using more F-35Bs means using more engines, including those the CMV-22 is uniquely suited to carry, not to mention the additional bombs and missiles a “lighting carrier” would need. This is in addition to the benefits of being able to conduct longer-range resupply in general, especially at the distances involved in the Indo-Pacific. The CMV has an 1150nm range, roughly 300nm greater than an MV.

That is not a small investment on the part of the Navy. Replacing the expeditionary MH-60S with CMV-22s would require 22 aircraft, assuming that the squadron and the ship keep similar deploy-to-dwell ratios. 

With additional Fleet Replacement Squadron, pipeline, and attrition aircraft, the ultimate requirement would be 25 to 30 CMV-22s to sustainably outfit all the big-deck amphibs. That said, the MH-60S is starting to come up on the point when recapitalization is necessary. With the CMV-22 already being purchased for Carrier Onboard Delivery, expanding that community to include the Gator Navy offers a huge increase in capability.

The Marine Corps is considering a new plan to arm the MV-22 Osprey fleet and is considering putting rockets, missiles or other forward-firing weapons on the tilt-rotor aircraft.

A more capable and heavily armed Osprey will be able to provide its own escort protection, a development the Corps has been pursuing for several years now from lessons learned in the field.

The Corps’ latest plans to put forward-firing weapons on the Osprey comes at a time when the Marines are rethinking their long-standing hopes for a reliable all-quadrant weapon system that can shoot in many directions.

Efforts to build and deploy an all-quadrant weapon have had some trouble in recent years.

In the long run, the additional guns on the Osprey would be a somewhat temporary stopgap measure while the Corps continues to develop a massive futuristic sea drone. The future expeditionary sea drone program is known as the MUX.

Over the next decade, the Corps wants to develop a serious-heatpacking expeditionary armed sea drone that can complement the long-range capabilities of newer aircraft like the F-35B/C, CH-53K and MV-22.

But it’s going to be years before the Corps can field that, so new modifications for the MV-22 could fill the void in the meantime.

We may find that initially, forward-firing weapons could bridge the escort gap until we get a new rotary wing or tilt-rotor attack platform, with comparable range and speed to the Osprey.

For now, the official Marine Corps requirement remains an all-quadrant weapons system, but Marine Corps officials are rethinking that.

Several years ago, the Ospreys were armed with the Defense Weapon System ― in essence an underbelly-mounted 7.62mm chain gun.

Officials at Naval Air Systems Command claim the chain gun does “not provide adequate all-quadrant capability due to restricted zones of fire to protect the aircraft.

The Defense Weapon System has gone through a slew of testing and has been operational with the Osprey. But past reports have been critical of the system’s overall quality and capability. After testing of the Defense Weapon System in 2015, the Corps found damage to the fuselage on several test aircraft.

The MV-22 is also armed with the GAU-21 .50-caliber machine gun or an on ramp GAU-18 7.62mm machine gun.

The Corps has looked at several options for forward-firing rockets and missiles to bridge the escort gap, including the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System, or APKWS, which turns 2.75-inch rockets into precision-guided munitions, and Hellfires.

But the Navy and Marine Corps have slowly been trying to phase out its Hellfires with the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile.

The fiscal year 2019 budget does invest heavily into the APKWS system, with a request of nearly $153 million for all types of rockets and $91 million of that slated for the APKWS guidance kits.

But the Corps is also looking at other forward-firing weapons beyond rockets and missiles.

Marine Corps fleet of MV-22 Osprey is being reduced from more than 70 distinct variants to about five so the service will increase commonality throughout the Osprey fleet. These efforts will boost readiness through simplifying the maintenance efforts on the planes, while also generating savings in dealing with parts suppliers and making operations easier on pilots and maintainers.

Since Osprey production began in 2004, the Marines have continued to insert reliability and capability improvements into the production line – which not only incurs a cost on the acquisition side, but has made maintenance, operations and logistics a headache. Even within squadrons, pilots and maintainers have had to work with different configurations that have wires and switches in different places, have different mission capabilities, and require different spare parts.

“The CMV-22 Osprey brings expanded capabilities not only to the Carrier Onboard Delivery (COD) mission but to the high-end fight. We are anxious to get it to the fleet and show off its immense capabilities and agile flexibility.” 

The CMV-22B is unique in the Osprey family with the ability to carry up to 6,000 pounds and cover more than 1,150 nautical miles. It is the only aircraft that can land on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier with the F-35C engine power module safely secured inside its fuselage and provide roll-on/roll-off delivery. Expanded sponsons increase fuel capacity and enable the CMV-22B to provide enhanced logistical capability anywhere in the world.

“This CMV-22 first delivery marks a new milestone with our U.S. Navy customer providing unmatched versatility in an aviation platform,.

The CMV-22 completed several milestones leading to the first reveal ceremony. The CMV-22B accomplished its first flight, the first developmental test model arrived at Naval Air Station to continue developmental testing. Over the last several months, the Navy and Marine Corps team has been working and training together at MCAS Miramar in preparation for CMV-22 deliveries.

“Navy maintainers and aircrew have embedded in multiple squadrons within Marine Aircraft Group (MAG) 16, with significant benefit to both Navy personnel and our squadrons. This integration has been so successful, and created such a tight-knit team, that we currently have members of the upcoming Navy squadron integrated into one of our forward-deployed units. “This clearly demonstrates the professionalism and dedication by all members of the “Blue and Green” team and bodes well for further integration of Navy and Fleet Marine Forces as we prepare to employ the CMV-22’s vast capabilities at home and abroad.”

The U.S. Navy selected the g V-22 Osprey to replace the C-2A Greyhound fleet for its carrier onboard delivery mission of transporting personnel and high-priority cargo from shore bases to aircraft carriers at sea. 

“There is nothing more important than delivering capabilities to the Fleet with speed,. The program and industry team have leveraged non-traditional approaches such as using existing MV-22 testing data to shrink the time in the CMV-22 acquisition cycle.   The speed to get to this delivery milestone is a testament to the rigor and energy they put into the acquisition strategy and risk reduction initiatives during test and design.”

The CMV-22B is a variant of the MV-22B and is the replacement for the C-2A Greyhound for the Carrier Onboard Delivery (COD) mission. The aircraft will be used to transport personnel, mail, supplies and high-priority cargo from shore bases to aircraft carriers at sea.

To meet the operational needs of the Navy, the test program proactively sought risk reduction opportunities leveraging the MV-22B for shipboard and high gross weight testing. In addition, the integrated test team is focused on delta testing, differences between the MV-22B and CMV-22B, shortening the overall test program. Finally, the Navy stood up a Naval Aviation Training Support Group, enabling the CMV-22 to utilize the infrastructure at Marine Medium Tiltrotor Training Squadron (VMMT) 204. These, combined with other “speed to the fleet” initiatives, allow for initial deployment just 18 months from first flight.

“The CMV-22B will enable the Navy to supply the carrier strike groups with what they need to project sea power, anytime, anyplace,” said Kelly.

The CMV-22B will be capable of transporting up to 6,000 pounds of cargo and/or personnel over a 1,150 nautical mile range. This expanded range is due to the addition of two new 60 gallon tanks installed in the wing for an additional 120 gallons of fuel and the forward sponson tanks were redesigned for additional capacity.

The CMV-22B variant has a beyond line-of-sight high frequency radio, a public address system for passengers, and an improved lighting system for cargo loading. The aircraft will also be capable of internally transporting the F-35C Lightning II engine power module.

PMA-275 manages the cradle to grave procurement, development, support, fielding and disposal of the tiltrotor program systems for the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force's Special Operations Forces and U.S. Navy. 

Navy V-22 program demonstrates 'speed to the fleet' with first delivery

“There is nothing more important than delivering capabilities to the Fleet with speed.  The program and industry team have leveraged non-traditional approaches such as using existing MV-22 testing data to shrink the time in the CMV-22 acquisition cycle.   The speed to get to this delivery milestone is a testament to the rigor and energy they put into the acquisition strategy and risk reduction initiatives during test and design.”

The CMV-22B is a variant of the MV-22B and is the replacement for the C-2A Greyhound for the Carrier Onboard Delivery (COD) mission. The aircraft will be used to transport personnel, mail, supplies and high-priority cargo from shore bases to aircraft carriers at sea.

To meet the operational needs of the Navy, the test program proactively sought risk reduction opportunities leveraging the MV-22B for shipboard and high gross weight testing. In addition, the integrated test team is focused on delta testing, differences between the MV-22B and CMV-22B, shortening the overall test program. Finally, the Navy stood up a Naval Aviation Training Support Group, , enabling the CMV-22 to utilize the infrastructure at Marine Medium Tiltrotor Training Squadron (VMMT) 204. These, combined with other “speed to the fleet” initiatives, allow for initial deployment just 18 months from first flight.

The aircraft is assigned to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (HX) 21, the squadron leading the developmental test efforts for the program. The first operational squadron, Fleet Logistics Multi-Mission Squadron (VRM) 30, is scheduled to receive the aircraft this summer.

“The CMV-22B will enable the Navy to supply the carrier strike groups with what they need to project sea power, anytime, anyplace..

The CMV-22B will be capable of transporting up to 6,000 pounds of cargo and/or personnel over a 1,150 nautical mile range. This expanded range is due to the addition of two new 60 gallon tanks installed in the wing for an additional 120 gallons of fuel and the forward sponson tanks were redesigned for additional capacity.

The CMV-22B variant has a beyond line-of-sight high frequency radio, a public address system for passengers, and an improved lighting system for cargo loading. The aircraft will also be capable of internally transporting the F-35C Lightning II engine power module.

Technology and weapons upgrades to the MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor will give Marines a better edge in the networked battlespace,.

“The Osprey’s mission revolves around one thing… the Marine on the ground. The purpose of the Osprey is to deliver troops, supplies and their equipment to an austere landing zone so they can conduct their mission,."

“The success of the Osprey relies on industry and the military working together to make this aircraft better and to make it an essential part” of the Marine air-ground task force.

The Marine Corps has fielded about 90 percent of its planned 360-aircraft buy, and the MV-22 program is slated to reach Full Operational Capability in 2020.

The Marine Corps’ Ospreys first saw combat in 2007 with VMM-263’s deployment to Iraq and since have continuously deployed. The aircraft continues to evolve, with ongoing updates and retrofits to replace obsolete tech, improve survivability and expand mission capabilities.

The MV-22 Osprey often operates in areas with austere landing zones, with low-visibility requiring crews to rely on instrumentation to land. Existing flight control software enables an automated approach to “put the aircraft in a hover at 30 feet.  But “the one drawback… is it is slower than a pilot. The system cannot fly the aircraft as fast as a trained pilot can.”

The Marine Corps continues to weigh its options for expanded defensive capabilities. The mini-gun “adds weight to the aircraft and reduces the number of troops’ seats,  and its unguided rounds are no match for the firepower from close-air support aircraft against enemy threats.

The MV-22’s ability to fly 900 miles with full, internal tanks – that’s three times the 200- to 300-mile range of helicopters – and its aerial refueling capability stretch the Osprey’s range and reach, “limited only by maintenance and crew day,. But long missions mean “longer amount of time that the grunts in the back sit back there, and they are devoid of information for what’s actually happening on the ground.”

“In some cases, the mission or the objective area or the whole point of them going there may have changed by the time we actually get to the objective area,. . Pilots often will update via radio or SATCOM, relaying information via the internal communications system to the platoon commander but not to each individual Marine in the back.

That might soon change. Some capabilities using high-power waveform enable a platoon “to move data from SATCOM into the back of the aircraft” using one of the Osprey’s two SATCOM antennas, Miersma said. With a standard military radio and SATCOM capability with the rear antenna, “we pull data down from a SATCOM network” using Adaptive Networking Wide-band Waveform (ANW2) and creating a small network that platoon Marines can use to distribute data using their MAGTABs, or Marine Air-Ground Tablets.

But slow data transfer rate and lower resolutions limit the information Marines can push or pull, he noted, and “as we are flying, somebody has to manually input that data into a system and transfer it, which would require heads-down time in the back of the aircraft to actually get that data uploaded and distributed.”

To help mission planning, the Marine Corps is equipping Ospreys with NOTM-Airborne Increment II, a “Networking on the Move” system that adds SATCOM antennas and a radome over the rear hatch. It’s essentially a secure version of in-flight Wi-Fi on commercial airlines. “We can launch the aircraft, with little to no information, proceed somewhere in general and then in flight conduct flight planning and figure out where we’re going to land,. “So that reduces the amount of time we are on the ground, having to gather the information in order to make the launch.”

Another promising digital interoperability technology is the MAGTF Agile Network Gateway Link (MANGL), which will link four main networks to transmit data from the aircraft’s sensors,. But “we don’t have a way to take information from one network and transfer it to a different type of network,.  A software reprogrammable payload would gather that data, translate it and push it over the networks for aircrew and Marines. Automated is the goal, “so instead of having people sucked into their apps and looking at their screens in the back of the aircraft, the goal is to have the sensors pull that information automatically and push it as required to the people that need it the most. “It would be automatically uploaded to tablets while they’re in flight.

“A Marine in the back could be staring at a MAGTAB looking at an objective area he is going to prior to him ever arriving,.  “It’s creating a situational awareness so when a Marine steps off the aircraft, he has an idea of where he’s going, and he knows immediately how to execute once the wheels hit the deck.”

But tech advancements run up against an old challenge: Weight. “As we develop these systems and we add them to the aircraft, like any other system on the plane, that takes up weight, and it takes away from the capability to carry other things, namely fuel or equipment and troops in the back.  “So a balance is really necessary, I think, when we are designing these systems and putting them on the aircraft to make sure they are giving us a benefit that outweighs that cost of weight.”