C4ISR –
For the second year, the Eisenhower School (ES) for National Security and Resource Strategy offered Command, Control, Computers Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) as an Industry Study (IS). The global pandemic outbreak of the Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) in March 2020, resulted in all classroom lessons and field studies shifting to a virtual environment on March 12, 2020, as a result of the Department of Defense (DOD) Stop Movement Order and state mandated stay-at-home self-isolation policies. The specific focus for academic year 2019–2020 was Medium Altitude/Long-Endurance and High Altitude/Long-Endurance (MALE/HALE) Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). The 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS) outlines the U.S. strategy to compete, deter, and win in a complex security environment that is defined by rapid technological changes, new threats, and the impact of an extended armed conflict on readiness. Further, the NDS asserts that "Maintaining the Department's technological advantage will require changes to industry culture, investment sources, and protection across the National Security Innovation Base." In response to the NDS, the DOD has focused its strategy on rebuilding a more lethal force that is ready to contend with near peer adversaries such as China and Russia. In the area of C4ISR, the 2020 DOD budget request includes $56.84 billion, a 6% increase over 2019. The 2020 budget prioritizes maintenance and research and development to improve the current systems and the development of new technologies.
The problem statement analyzed by the C4ISR IS included: What are the 5‒15 year C4ISR challenges perceived by the DOD stakeholders? What is the capability and capacity of the industry to sustain our C4ISR technology advantages and operate in contested environments? And how will acquisition processes adapt to multi-domain operational constructs including agile software development, user-focused design, and system integration? C4ISR is too large a topic to consider over the course of a single semester, the focus narrowed to meet DOD's C4ISR UAS requirements to operate in contested air and cyberspace in an affordable and resilient manner. The report considers the operational threats posed by the Great Power Competition, the Anti-Access and Area Denial (A2/AD) capabilities of China and Russia, and the threats they pose through the export of C4ISR UAS technologies by analyzing the strategic environment, products, market, innovation and policy, business environment, regulations, mobilization and supply chain, and industry security. The central thesis of this report is to adopt the National Military Strategy (NMS) focus on Great Power Competition (GPC), it is imperative the U.S. advance our UAS edge through investment, innovation, and policy reform. This report offers six key recommendations for the DOD to better align funding and policy to achieve the objectives of the National Security Strategy (NSS) and NDS and keep the edge against GPC.
Disclaimer: The Eisenhower School shifted to a virtual classroom on 12 Mar 2020. The adjustment hindered this TS/SCI industry study. Research and analysis were conducted using open source data. The C4ISR team acknowledges classified programs which promote Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in support of C4ISR are not addressed in this industry study.
Read the report →