Driving data and EW at Bamboo Eagle 24-3

  • Published
  • By Capt. Benjamin Aronson
  • 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Florida --  EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Florida -- The 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing recently supported the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center’s second iteration of Bamboo Eagle, bringing Electromagnetic Warfare (EW) capability and expertise to the more than 3,000 joint-force service participants.

The purpose of Bamboo Eagle was to enhance the readiness of the Air Force through comprehensive, large-scale military operations and demonstrate its ability to operate in a contested and dynamic environment, facing advanced threats, while being prepared to deploy and operate from different locations on short notice under Agile Combat Employment (ACE) conditions.

“Unlike Red Flag, which only exposes operators to enemy tactics, techniques, and procedures, Bamboo Eagle exposes the entire blue kill chain to enemy threats, from the logistics airman loading pallets on a C-130 to the F-22 pilot engaging the enemy,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Christopher Niemi, U.S. Air Force Warfare Center Commander.

A critical component of that blue kill chain is the Electromagnetic Spectrum (EMS).

To test the Air Force’s ability to operate under ACE conditions, the 350th SWW provided a representative Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations Environment, challenging warfighters and strengthening the U.S.’ ability to deter aggression and safeguard national interests.

“We take for granted our ability to talk to the people we are responsible for supporting,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Christopher Bulla, 350th SWW director of plans, programs, and requirements. “The challenges associated with ACE, such as the infrastructure, distance and even time zone challenges, are something we need to think about in terms of how we operate so we can be effective if the worst day happens.”

The exercise included the wing’s ability to rapidly reprogram Mission Data Files (MDF) for platforms throughout the exercise. This focused on improving the onboard threat library to help aircrew recognize, identify, locate and counter new or unknown signals in the Spectrum.

Operating under ACE conditions added to the challenge of transmitting MDFs to and from the edge of battle and the engineers within the wing to reprogram.

“Bamboo Eagle was the opportunity to take a look at how well units can reach back to contact our wing during those conditions and our ability to push updates out to those forces in operationally relevant conditions,” said Bulla.

In addition to ACE challenges with data transmission, another data-focused effort was tested during the exercise to further refine and scale Crowd Sourced Flight Data (CSFD) processes.

CSFD refers to the data collected from Title 10 non-intelligence data offloaded from operational aircraft that can be reused to provide new and more lethal operational capability to warfighters. CSFD pulls data from multiple systems, which presents challenges due to different data formats associated with each platform.

The test was significant for its potential to enable combat-relevant timelines, because CSFD analysis, as it relates to EW-data, requires multiple data sources to drive rapid, high-confidence, and low-risk solutions.

“This is the first opportunity we’ve had to prove we are going to bring multi-source, multi-classification operational data into one spot; We haven’t done that before,” said Dylan Duplechain, 350th SWW chief engineer. “When we do that, we’ll be able to create new analysis tools, new data formats and processes to provide better capability to the warfighter.”

The data test provided the wing valuable feedback on its current processes and procedures. This feedback will be used to improve tactics, techniques, and procedures to transmit data with the goal of analyzing data faster, reducing ambiguities in the data and keeping pace with adversarial challenges in the Spectrum.

Throughout the exercise members from the 950th Spectrum Warfare Group, which plans to have its assumption of command later this fall, conducted assessments of Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (EMSO), including the effectiveness of aircraft EW systems, how effective the exercise replicated the threat environment in the Spectrum and the impacts of red and blue EW.

The assessments of the integration and use of EMSO in Bamboo Eagle 24-3 will be used by exercise planners and participants to improve their lethality in the Spectrum for future exercises and operations, allowing for greater ability to effectively employ weapon systems.

“Our processes need to be practiced in a wartime environment and Bamboo Eagle gives us that,” said Duplechain. “As we continue to support these exercises, we get to hone our skills and work directly with the warfighter as we would in a near-peer fight, making us faster and our force more lethal.”