Joint Experimentation
Abstract
The Joint Experimentation (JE) Program Element is the lynchpin resource underwriting a diverse portfolio of experiments and concept development activities addressing the needs of the joint warfighter. Projects typically confirm critical joint mission capability gaps; identify potential remedies; explore a range of Doctrine, Organizational, Training, Materiel, Leadership, Personnel, Facilities, and Policy (DOTMLPF-P) solutions; and establish the best path to solving security challenges. Experiments span a spectrum from early efforts to develop new joint operational concepts, to refinement of joint doctrine, to scenario-based examination of potential technology-based solutions. By defining emergent shortfalls and exploring force enhancement options, JE is essentially an early risk mitigation tool preceding implementation of doctrine changes, advanced prototype demonstrations and acquisition decision investments. Joint Combatant Commanders (COCOMs) and Services are the primary customers of projects funded by the JE Program, but these projects provide collateral benefits to a wider Defense Experimentation Enterprise including Agencies and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) as well as intra-government, international and Non-Government Organization (NGO) partners. The experiments funded by this program establish the path to resolve current joint warfighting deficiencies and lay the foundation for effective future joint forces. Director, Defense Research & Engineering (DDR&E) within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) provides oversight to ensure alignment with strategic guidance and emphasizes disciplined design and cost control of individual projects with meaningful results that can be assessed with metrics based on incremental force improvements. Flexibility is maintained in the JE Program to address emergent requirements identified by Combatant Commanders and necessary to resolve operational capability gaps that require time sensitive solutions for operational forces. Commander, U.S. Joint Forces Command and Director, Defense Research & Engineering work in concert to provide responsive support to experimentation customers and partners. The JE Program Element provides funding for the Department’s Joint Experimentation (JE) effort led by US Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM). The JE Enterprise includes the COCOMs, the military services, the National Guard, the Joint Staff, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), and several Defense Agencies. Intra-government agencies and coalition partners often participate in JCDE processes and projects. JE primarily serves the COCOMs and services, but important collateral benefits accrue to other members and partners in the extended experimentation community. For example, much of the joint content in military "Title 10" wargames can be traced to coordination within the JE Enterprise. JE experiments originate from an annual call for nominations, as well as an assessment of COCOM identified critical warfighting capability gaps articulated in the Integrated Priority Lists submitted to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS). JE nominations undergo preliminary analysis by USJFCOM to confirm topic suitability for experimentation and, where feasible, to associate closely related subjects for economy of effort. The resultant list is termed Warfighter Challenges (WFC) and constitutes the list of experimentation efforts eligible for design and execution. The JE enterprise ranks WFCs before preliminary experimentation plans are developed. In consultation with JE partners, USJFCOM formulates an annual program of experimentation intended to support the widest customer base, while addressing the highest priorities and yielding meaningful outcomes. JE experiments and activities examine potential solutions for COCOM operational needs through targeted DOTMLPF-P improvements. JE tackles joint capability issues demanding sophisticated analysis, innovative design and complex execution. JE addresses topics that would prove difficult for individual COCOMs and services to capture in the context of their immediate operational and force generation responsibilities. Experiments and efforts produce a range of outcomes inclusive of fundamental joint doctrine, inputs to major policy documents such as Guidance for Development of the Force (GDF) and Guidance for Employment of the Force (GEF). In partnership with the COCOMs and military services, JE mitigates operational risk by establishing procedural models to conduct emergent concepts like Irregular Warfare that are not yet instantiated in conventional force generation. JE examines joint concepts and develops exploratory concepts in an effort to describe how the Joint Force Commander will operate to meet current and future security challenges, and examines the joint capabilities required to execute the concepts. To support the continued transformation of the joint force even while it is engaged in operations around the world, joint concept development applies historical precedents, lessons learned from current operations, and studies the projected joint operational environment to advance the conceptual foundation for the future force. A relatively stable investment projection for the JE Program drives aggressive efforts to derive greater return on investment for the DoD in the face of increasing demand for projects from COCOMs and joint experimentation partners. Joint and Service experimentation are complementary efforts. Joint experimentation focuses on the needs of the Joint Force Commander, while Service experimentation enables the components the Joint Force Commander will employ. Complementing the experimentation efforts undertaken by USJFCOM (JCDE directorate), other COCOMs may conduct Limited Objective Experiments (LOEs) to address operational capability gaps and support identification of potential solutions for theater specific and functional joint warfighter needs, as part of the overall JCDE campaign. Within the process, the JCDE enterprise leverages Service wargame/experimentation to address joint challenges. All experimentation activities undertaken are coordinated within the JCDE enterprise to cover gaps and avoid unnecessary duplication, and the results are reported to the enterprise. The collaborative planning effort of the JCDE enterprise is intended to ensure joint context, concepts, and anticipated capabilities are effectively integrated into service experimentation as appropriate. A biennial report captures activities across the Defense Experimentation domain to inform Congress of program execution and project accomplishments. _________________________________ Description (JE Program): The JE Program delivers relevant, sufficient, and necessary DOTMLPF-P comprehensive solutions responding to specific needs of Joint Force Commander articulated Warfighter Challenges. Warfighter Challenges focus on solving DoD’s most important security challenges now and for the future: inform and are informed by strategic guidance; and address issues from the tactical to strategic levels of war. From the perspective of OSD engagement and oversight, emphasis will be focused on the following refinements to influence the JE business model. Refinements to the JE business model. Aiming to constantly improve return on investment, USJFCOM and OSD partners engage partners throughout the Department of Defense to join the experimentation process and to incorporate results in policy, doctrine, tactics, materiel, training and operational procedures. In pragmatic terms, this effort to distill ever greater benefit includes: - Tracing JE efforts to discriminate changes to joint capabilities. - Tying JE closer to Department operational analysis & Defense Planning Scenarios. - Periodically and deliberately rebalancing near-term critical capability adjustments and long-term capability conceptualization. - Positioning joint experimentation in a larger scheme of overarching capability development that begins with lessons learned and critical analysis, enjoins experimentation, and progresses through demonstration, acquisition, and training. - Designing experiments for more responsive deliverables through quicker starts, event-driven "go/no go" reviews, and incremental designs permitting faster "do-learn-decide" cycles for continued investment. Analytical Rigor. Increased emphasis has been placed on adherence to standards of analytical rigor in design, conduct, and exploitation of experiments. A significant part of this rigor is aligning the JE to warfare areas common to wider areas of Defense analyses. FY 10 and FY 11 experimentation efforts are organized into Lines of Joint Experimentation (LOJX), grouping prioritized war fighter challenges into areas of related or complementary work. This organizational construct facilitates DoD-wide understanding and tracking of planned joint experimentation activities and resulting products and outcomes by matching the Tier 1 Joint Capability Areas. JE work follows seven LOJXs, including: Battlespace Awareness (BA), Building Partnerships (BP), Command & Control (C2), Force Application (FA), Logistics (LOG), Net – Centric (NC) and Protection (P). In addition, in FY 08, USJFCOM employed Community Management and Support to establish the DoD-wide JE Enterprise. The Enterprise will continue to contribute to overall DoD JE results. Initiatives. - Contract Vehicle Initiative. USJFCOM completed an ambitious multi-year effort to redesign their contracted support vehicle for JE. Departing from the model of a single large contractor, USJFCOM’s awarding of a new contract structure including three prime vendors enables the command to compete bids for individual experiment support. Early results from FY09 indicate noteworthy decline in per event experimentation costs, increasing the enterprises ability to address backlogged requests (warfighter challenges) from enterprise customers. - Networked Coordination. Introduction of a Virtual Operations Center (VOC) to allow Enterprise-wide transparency and holds the potential for decreasing travel associated with customer service and enterprise-wide coordination. Increasing use of distributed experimentation design will allow geographically separated groups to join experiment projects from their home bases, again saving travel funds and increasing potential partner base. - Transition of the JCDE enterprise from an independent computer network to the USJFCOM computer network, and a consolidation of Information Technology support have potential to further decrease indirect cost within the enterprise. FY10-11 experimentation efforts seek to provide innovative joint solutions and joint interoperability standards to address capability shortfalls identified by Warfighter Challenges organized within the DoD Joint Capability Areas (JCA). This organizational construct facilitates DoD-wide understanding and tracking of planned joint experimentation activities and resulting products and outcomes by matching the Tier 1 Joint Capability Areas. The FY10, Warfighter Challenges mapped to seven JCAs: Battlespace Awareness, Building Partnerships, Command and Control, Force Application, Logistics, Net-Centric, and Protection. Force Support and Corporate Management and Support JCAs did not have FY10 Warfighter Challenges that could be mapped to the JCAs. The JE enterprise is capable and prepared to accept Warfighter Challenges from all nine JCA’s.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Project
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2011
- Source ID
- P808_0603828D8Z_3_0400_PB_2011
Related Documents
- Root: Joint Experimentation
- Child Accomplishment: Building Partnerships (BP)
- Child Accomplishment: Battlespace Awareness (BA)
- Child Accomplishment: Command and Control (C2)
- Child Accomplishment: Force Application (FA)
- Child Accomplishment: Logistics (Log)
- Child Accomplishment: Protection (P)
- Child Accomplishment: Joint Urban Operation (JUO) / Joint Irregular Warfare Center (JIWC)
- Child Accomplishment: Joint Futures Group
- Child Accomplishment: External Experimentation Support (EES)