JADC2 Should Embrace Hardened 5G, Edge Computing.

• Author: Spalding, Robert
• Position: Viewpoint

Joint all-domain command and control, or JADC2, is the military's latest buzzy acronym and one of the stated priorities for the Defense Department. Yet it is a concept without a clear solution and is likely to languish without the infrastructure to ensure its success.

One of the biggest challenges for JADC2 is interoperability. Today, just in nuclear command and control, which is a subset of JADC2, there are more than 100 programs underway. Since these programs often involve technology that was not built to be interoperable, bridging information is a challenge. Data becomes trapped and unable to be used quickly to build a comprehensive picture for decision makers.

The question becomes, why not use the cloud? There, the focus is on data transport. If we could just get the data to the cloud, then we could solve many of the problems. But then that raises the question, which cloud? And inevitably, how do I move my data there?

There are many different clouds with different architectures, which makes managing information across disparate platforms difficult. And there is no easy way to onboard cloud service providers. The department attempted to do so through a competition called the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure initiative. Doomed from the start, the program envisioned a winner-take-all cloud service procurement scenario. If that is not a recipe for stagnant innovation, I'm not sure what is.

So, how does the military move data? There are numerous transport networks that are designed to carry the bits and bytes of JADC2 back to some all-knowing cloud--Starlink, OneWeb, Hughes Network Systems, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Iridium and on and on. Which will win? Probably all in some fashion since the pie is so big. And that's just the satellite providers. Don't forget the telecom service providers and fiberoptic companies, which also play a part in this orchestra.

What is consistent about these technologies? They represent separate networks that need a gateway and a location to on-ramp and off-ramp data between and among them.

The answer the tech industry seems to be offering is the cloud. The cloud, however, is not ubiquitous. The data centers that can be the gateways for moving, transferring and processing data are often large and centralized. This presents an incredible juicy target for would-be attackers.

Even if they were one single network, we still wouldn't have the bandwidth to move the bulk of the data to the cloud. Often, by the time...