Joint Experimentation

Abstract

Consistent with strategic guidance, the Joint Experimentation (JE) Program Element targets DOD’s highest priority experimental needs, defined by combatant commands and Services, and synchronizes development of relevant and actionable Doctrine, Organizational, Training, Materiel, Leadership, Personnel, Facilities, and Policy (DOTMLPF-P) solutions to enable trained, ready and adaptable joint and coalition forces and improve capabilities of current and future Joint Force Commanders. The program is governed through the JCD&E Executive Council, which is composed of generals, admirals, and members of the Senior Executive Service representing the combatant commands Services. The JE program is the key synchronizing program for a diverse portfolio of concept development and solution evaluation and validation focused on combatant command and Service problems defined in Integrated Priority Lists (IPL), Joint Urgent Operational Needs (JUON), and Warfighter Challenges (WFC). In addition to defining the problems, the combatant commands and Services prioritize the JE program of work and are active partners in the execution, oversight, and governance of the efforts. Partners also include a broad range of civilian agency, multinational, academic, and private sector partners. When appropriate, state and local governments participate in the development of solutions. Projects typically confirm critical joint mission capability gaps; identify potential remedies; explore a range of DOTMLPF-P solutions; and establish the best path to solving security challenges. The JE program is the Department’s primary program to explore the connecting ideas and processes that cannot be solved by buying a new tool or creating a new acquisition program. Experiments span a spectrum from early efforts to develop new joint operational concepts, to refinement of joint doctrine, to scenario-based examination of science and technology-based solutions, to validation of non-material solutions such as organization structure, new processes, improved training and education, and recommended policy changes. By defining emergent shortfalls and exploring force enhancement options, JE serves as an early risk mitigation tool that precedes implementation of doctrine changes, capability demonstrations, acquisition investment decisions, and policy changes. JE supports the development of projected mission critical capabilities through rigorous, objective assessment of enabling processes and technologies, identification of capability/system requirements and innovative employment of existing capabilities in the context of scenarios depicting current and projected Defense operations. Combatant commanders and Services are the primary customers of projects funded by the JE Program, but through a whole of government approach, projects also provide collateral benefits to a wider Defense Experimentation Enterprise including Agencies and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), 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 trained, ready and adaptive joint and coalition forces. The Assistant Secretary of Defense, Research & Engineering (ASD(R&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. The experimentation efforts in this program align directly to the Key Mission Areas (KMA) outlined in the February 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), the National Military Strategy, and the Secretary of Defense’s Efficiency Initiatives. Flexibility will be maintained in the JE Program to address emergent requirements identified by combatant commanders and Services and will be prioritized by the JCD&E Executive Council. The Joint Staff J7 executes the JE program and leads the JCD&E Enterprise. The Joint Staff J7 works with the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Research & Engineering (ASD(R&E)) to provide responsive support to customers and partners. The JE Program Element provides funding for the Department’s Joint Experimentation (JE) effort, carried out by the JCD&E Enterprise, governed by an Executive Board composed of admirals, generals and Senior Executive Service members, and led by a JCD&E Executive Agent. The JCD&E Enterprise includes the combatant commands, the military services, the National Guard Bureau, the Joint Staff, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), and several Defense agencies. Intra-government agencies and coalition partners often participate in JCD&E processes and projects. The JE program element focuses on producing validated concepts and solutions to combatant command and Service defined problems. Important collateral benefits accrue to other members and partners in the extended experimentation community; much of the joint content in military "Title 10" wargames can be traced to coordination within the JCD&E Enterprise. To ensure the program focuses on needs of the warfighters, joint experiments originate from an annual call for nominations from combatant commands and Services, and from assessment of combatant command identified critical warfighting capability gaps articulated in combatant command Integrated Priority Lists and Joint Urgent Needs documents submitted, to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS). JE nominations undergo preliminary analysis by the JCD&E Enterprise to confirm suitability for experimentation, alignment to strategic guidance and, where feasible, to associate closely related subjects for economy of effort. The resultant list is termed Warfighter Challenges (WFCs), and constitutes experimentation efforts eligible for design and execution. These efforts are prioritized and approved by the combatant command and Service members of the Executive Council. Experimentation plans are developed in consultation with JE partners, and consolidated into an annual program of joint experimentation, known as the JCD&E Campaign Plan. The Executive Council meets regularly to review and approve the progress of the efforts in the campaign plan. The JCD&E Campaign Plan allows the Department to synchronize experimentation efforts over multiple years to avoid duplication of effort and to create synergy among the defense experimentation entities. JE experiments and activities examine potential solutions for combatant command operational needs through targeted DOTMLPF-P improvements. JE tackles joint concept and capability issues demanding sophisticated analysis, innovative design and complex execution. JE addresses topics that would prove difficult for individual combatant commands 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 the Quadrennial Defense Review and the Defense Planning and Programming Guidance (DPPG). In partnership with the combatant commands and Services, JE mitigates operational risk by establishing procedural models to conduct emergent concepts like Irregular Warfare, Integrated Financial Operations and Joint Operational Access that are not yet instantiated in conventional force generation. The results are briefed to Functional Capability Boards who integrate solutions into their functional investment plans. JE examines joint concepts and develops exploratory concepts to describe how the Joint Force Commander will meet current and future security challenges, and explores joint capabilities required to execute those 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 Defense planning scenarios, then studies the projected joint operational environment to lay the conceptual foundation for the future force. After the current adjustment, 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 combatant commands and joint experimentation partners. Joint and Service experimentation are complementary efforts and require a unified approach. 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 efforts undertaken by the JCD&E Executive Agent (USJFCOM and/or successor organization), other combatant commands 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 JCD&E campaign. Within the process, the JCD&E enterprise leverages Service wargame/experimentation to address joint challenges. Experimentation activities are coordinated within the JCD&E enterprise to cover gaps and pursue efficiency, and the results are shared throughout the enterprise. The collaborative planning effort of the JCD&E enterprise is intended to ensure coherent and transparent application of JE funds, joint context, and concepts capabilities are integrated into Service experimentation as appropriate. A biennial report captures activities across the Defense Experimentation enterprise activities 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 are DOD’s most important security challenges now and in 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. The JE program is executed through a global business model that is governed by a 2-Star Executive Council, operates on a 1 year cycle, supported by integrating technologies to close geographic gaps, standardized through systems engineering discipline, and progresses through formal enterprise decision making. Lean principals are applied to enterprise, technical, and supporting processes to maximize program efficiency. The JE program continues to evolve with solution spirals included in experimentation efforts to drive affordable speed to capability. The JCD&E Enterprise strives to: •Trace JE efforts to discriminate changes to joint capabilities. •Tie JE closer to DoD operational analysis & Defense Planning Scenarios. •Provide specific input to joint training and joint capability development to ensure adaptable joint forces. •Position joint experimentation in a larger scheme of overarching capability development that begins with lessons learned and critical analysis, enjoins experimentation tools, and progresses through demonstration, acquisition, and training. •Design 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. Typical of this rigor is aligning the experimentation concepts to the Key Mission Areas specified in the Quadrennial Defense Review. FY 2011-2012 experimentation efforts seek to provide innovative joint solutions and joint interoperability standards to address capability shortfalls identified by Warfighter Challenges conforming to the DoD Joint Capability Areas (JCAs) employed by the Department to validate joint needs. The FY 2012 Warfighter Challenges mapped to six JCAs: Building Partnerships, Battlespace Awareness, Command and Control, Force Application, Logistics, and Net-Centric. No FY12 WFCs were submitted by the COCOMs or Services in the JCAs. The JE enterprise is capable and prepared to accept Warfighter Challenges from all nine JCA’s and accepts emergent requirements throughout the year. Initiatives. - Solution spin offs (spirals), are included in experiment design to identify affordable capability deliveries and increase speed to capability. - Lean six sigma principals have been implemented for metrics based efficiency assessments. Achieved 46 percent improvement in contracting process, 26% cycle time/17% cost reduction in enterprise process, and 31% reduction in experimentation conduct. - Integrated framework for Joint Experimentation. Transparent decision-making, systems engineering thinking, and application of Lean management principles have been integrated into a technical framework for lifecycle management of the joint experimentation program. JCD&E Enterprise members now submit WFCs with supporting technical information that promotes accelerated starts, spiral development and reduced costs and schedules for experimentation and concept development. - Improvements to Networked Coordination. Upgrade of the Virtual Operations Center (VOC) has enhanced Enterprise-wide participation during project planning and execution, decreasing travel associated with customer service and enterprise-wide coordination. Increasing use of distributed experimentation design will allow geographically separated groups to join experimental projects from their home bases, again saving travel funds and increasing the potential partner base. - Increased integration with the S&T community to address the science and technology element COCOM S&T Integrated Priority Lists in JE, and to both include Joint Capability Technology Demonstrations (JCTD) in, and inform JCTD efforts through, experimentation to Increase speed to capability.

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Document Type: Project
Publication Date: Oct 01, 2012
Source ID: P808_0603828D8Z_3_0400_PB_2012

Joint Experimentation

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