Description
Organization: NAVAIR, PEO (W), PMA-281
Team Name: Precision Targeting Workstation Program Team
Related Acquisition Topic(s): Commercial Practices, Commercial and Non Developmental Items (CANDI), Evolutionary Acquisition, Financial Management, Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD), Specifications and Standards
Description:
PMA281 has baselined and is developing a precision targeting and imagery exploitation tool that is dramatically smaller, faster, cheaper, and easier to use and more capable than the Digital Imagery Workstation Suite (DIWS) used for Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) mission planning. Using Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) hardware and a large amount of COTS and Government-Off-the-Shelf (GOTS) software products and supported by extensive Fleet and other user involvement, the Precision Targeting Workstation (PTW) will provide dramatically improved capability to employ all precision weapons. It is also strongly linked to other Navy, National Reconnaissance (NRO) and Joint Service Programs, in order to meet Joint Interoperability requirements with other components being developed by the Navy, Air Force, and National communities.
In 1997, an emerging requirement was identified to generate up to 400 aimpoints per 24-hour period for precision guided munitions (PGMs), including TLAM, Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW), and Stand-off Land Attack Missile-Extended Range (SLAM-ER). PMA281?s DIWS was the only existing Service system that could support the precision and accuracy requirements. DIWS had been developed specifically to support TLAM requirements for aimpoint generation, but has also been used for other PGMs. DIWS is a subsystem of the Theater Mission Planning Center (TMPC) installed at the Cruise Missile Support Activities (CMSAs) located at the U.S. Atlantic Command, U.S. Pacific Command, and the United Kingdom Permanent Joint Headquarters. The afloat version of DIWS is installed on aircraft carriers (CV/CVNs) as a shared subsystem between the Afloat Planning System (APS), the afloat version of TMPC, and the Joint Service Imagery Processing System ? Navy (JSIPS-N). JSIPS-N, in a configuration without the DIWS, is also installed on amphibious assault ships (LHA/LHD) and command ships (LCC/AGF).
During Fleet Battle Experiment ? Bravo (FBE-B), PMA281 employed one TMPC and one APS/JSIPS-N DIWS to evaluate existing capabilities. Based on this analysis, it was shown that DIWS was able to meet the accuracy requirements for all identified PGMs and was able to meet the timeline for generation of single aimpoints. However, there were insufficient workstations to provide the required throughput of 400 aimpoints per 24-hour day.
Due to cost, deploying additional DIWS installations were not a viable option. DIWS with three workstations costs approximately $4.6 million per system. Each system can support a total of 6-8 workstations, with each additional workstation costing approximately $600,000. The DIWS provides ?high-end? performance and demands unique hardware and software designs in order to meet the requirements of TLAM primarily due to the large files sizes required for processing of imagery and related support data, and standard National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) products. These systems are also physically large and require extensive user training, as the associated tasks are very complex. The team recognized that to be effective in meeting the new requirement for non-TLAM PGMs, and reduced footprint for amphibious platforms, alternatives had to be developed. The team analyzed the accuracy requirements of all of the identified PGMs. Other PGMs had a less stringent accuracy requirement than TLAM, therefore a lower cost, easier to use system could be used to support those other PGMs. The team surveyed the user community within DoD and the commercial market-place to more clearly identify the user requirements for the desired system. The resulting requirements definition became the basis for technical evaluation of alternative systems.
As part of the user community review, the team identified existing systems that could potentially serve as the basis for the desired system and identified functionality within systems that could be migrated to the new system. The PTW, a subsystem of JSIPS-N, provides imagery and target folder services in support of TOMAHAWK and Navy TACAIR mission planning. As an established, installed system that already met a portion of the requirements, it was selected as the basis for future development to support aimpoint generation for non-TLAM PGMs. PTW Version 4.0, to be operational in 2001, was designated as the build that would incorporate the full set of requirements for PGM aimpoint generation.
The team recognized the need to apply a standards-based design approach to achieve interoperability while supporting existing intelligence processes and systems. Interfaces to existing and planned mission planning systems are emphasized. Integration of previously developed Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) and Government-Off-the-Shelf (GOTS) software components was emphasized over the development of new software. Use of general purpose computers and COTS hardware was specified in order to reduce cost and simplify maintenance.
Taking advantage of a long-term relationship with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the team recognized the benefits of a marriage between the established infrastructure and capabilities of JSIPS-N, and an aggressive NRO prototype development philosophy. The result is a cooperative program that leverages NRO research and development efforts many times the dollar value of the PTW program.
Funded as part of JSIPS-N, the PTW development uses a spiral development program characterized by very short cycle times between spirals, including rapid feedback to the developer from an end user interface maintained by the program office. Through this arrangement, the Navy and NRO achieve respective objectives by fielding innovative, state-of-the-art imagery exploitation systems that meet warfighter needs, while streamlining the acquisition process by minimizing the delay time between prototype development and operational deployment. A distinct advantage of this approach, including the standards-based development, is that even though the PTW is months away from delivery, certain prototype capabilities developed in early spirals can be deployed in critical situations. Software segmentation allows these services and applications to be installed independently of PTW. Indeed, several of these capabilities have been specifically requested by Air Force commands in support of current operations. Feedback from the operational use of these prototypes will be invaluable in improving products in later spirals. In addition to the primary PTW product line, a separate PTW+ prototyping effort has been established to support improved definition of detailed requirements and an improved user interface. Concepts that have been worked out on the PTW+ and agreed to by the user community are then moved into the main PTW product line.
The goal of significantly reducing hardware costs as compared to DIWS was achieved through a design that is based on general purpose computers and only uses COTS hardware components. The PTW 4.0 hardware suite consists of a Sun Enterprise Server with Windows-based PC clients. A PTW suite with 6 workstations costs approximately $175,000, in comparison to $7 million for an equivalent DIWS suite. The life-cycle cost is further reduced by the reduced complexity of the hardware, which is easier to maintain than DIWS. In addition, the system can be upgraded easily as industry improves the hardware components, unlike DIWS which requires significant redesign to upgrade hardware components. PTW training costs are also lower than for DIWS since it does not require the complex tasks required by TLAM. The lessons learned from the PTW effort are being fed back into the DIWS development. PMA281 has also initiated an effort to migrate DIWS to a similar client/server environment. This migration is possible due to recent advances in computer technology that will allow most functions to be executed in software instead of special purpose hardware and still meet overall performance requirements.
The PTW development effort will provid needed aimpoint generation capability at a significantly cheaper cost than can be provided by existing systems. The development effort has been structured to provide a more efficient and timely response to warfighter needs through extensive use of prototyping and spiral development, with continuous opportunities for warfighter feedback on the development. PTW is integrating commercially available technology, both hardware and software, and reusing Government developed software in order to leverage the experience. Finally, the PTW development is a model of a team effort, using cooperative development between agencies and with the user community.
