Nuclear Planning and Execution System (NPES)

Abstract

United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) conducts global operations in partnership with other combatant commands, services and U.S. government agencies to deter and detect strategic attacks against the United States. USSTRATCOM is responsible for command of U.S. nuclear capabilities, space operations, global surveillance and reconnaissance, intelligence, communications, computers, global missile defense and combatting weapons of mass destruction. To enable completion of these missions, it is recapitalizing the Nuclear Planning and Execution System (NPES). NPES is a Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff system for nuclear operations and fulfillment of Nuclear Command and Control (NC2) responsibilities. NPES supports national strategic deterrence by providing a host of NC2 execution activities as well as contingency and crisis action planning capabilities to selected joint and combatant command staffs. NPES is operated by USSTRATCOM and other specified users performing missions to deter and dissuade threats, and, when directed, defeat adversaries. The NPES system has evolved from several single-purpose command and control systems over the past 30 years and has reached a point where it requires recapitalization to meet national and strategic objectives and to comply with future concepts of operation. Additionally, recapitalization is needed to improve cybersecurity, system effectiveness, and supportability. Recapitalization will also seek to lower the total cost of ownership and sustainment. The recapitalization program will use proven/mature software engineering, technologies, and design tenets to provide a modern, secure, interoperable and reliable Nuclear Command and Control (NC2) software capability. NPES will exploit AFLCMC/HBC agile software development economies of scale to enable developers to build and integrate software at the Top Secret level vice paying to build duplicate capabilities at other government or contractor facilities. Funds agile software development activities and a secure software development environment, located in existing space at Offutt AFB. Software development environment will meet classification/security regulations/criteria, which will promote competition. This is a Section 804 Alpha Phase rapid software prototyping effort. This effort includes decomposing system, functional and non-functional requirements in order to design, build, and field a new NPES application software baseline via agile, development operations (DevOps), and user-centered design principles. Further, the effort includes developing written artifacts to document system / software engineering elements appropriate for an Agile/DevOps software development effort. No FY 2022 funding requested; FY 2022 project efforts are detailed in PE 0608158F BA-08, Strategic Mission Planning and Execution System (SMPES). This program element may include necessary civilian pay expenses required to manage, execute, and deliver weapon system capability. The use of such programs funds would be in addition to the civilian pay expenses budgeted in program element 0605831F. In FY20 0.000M was expended for civilian pay expenses in this program element, and in FY21 0.000M is forecasted for civilian pay expenses in this program element. This program is in Budget Activity 7, Operational System Development because this budget activity includes development efforts to upgrade systems that have been fielded or have received approval for full rate production and anticipate production funding in the current or subsequent fiscal year.

Document Details

• Document Type: R2 Budgetary Justification
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2022
• Source ID: 0301112F_7_3600_PB_2022
• Service Agency Name: Air Force

Entities

Organizations

• United States Air Force

Tags

Communities of Interest

• C4I
• Counter WMD
• Cyber

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

• Agile Software Development
• Air Force
• Application Software
• Combatant Commanders
• Command And Control
• Command And Control Systems
• Control Systems
• Decision Support Systems
• Product Development
• Product Prototyping
• Software Development
• Software Prototyping
• Strategic Attack
• Test And Evaluation
• Unified Combatant Commands
• United States
• United States Strategic Command

Fields of Study

• Computer science
• Engineering

Readers

• Aerospace Engineering.
• Enterprise Information Systems Architecture and Joint Command Capability Interoperability Support.
• Naval Engineering and Maritime Security

Technology Areas

• Cyber
• Fully Networked C3
• Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control
• Space