There is a growing demand from the services and U.S. allies for more Bold Quest demonstrations, the joint-staff led coalition air combat assessments examining combat identification issues, an official said.
“There’s a demand out there for these events,” said John Miller, Bold Quest operational manager, Joint Staff J6 Deputy Director for Command and Control Integration (DD C2I), Joint Fires Division.
Bold Quest 13-1 was the 11th in the series that take place about every one and a half to two years, but now they are ramping up to do more events every year. Between the Bold Quest completed in June and June of 2014, there will be four more events, with the next coming in September, he said in an interview with Defense Daily.
Bold Quest examines identification friend or foe (IFF) issues in conjunction with the technologies, tactics, techniques and procedures relevant to air to air and air to ground sources of fires. The assessment aims to provide warfighters the tools to be more effective in engaging targets while minimizing the risk of fratricide.
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| Bold Quest 13-1 Display Photo: Cpl. Scott Tomaszycki |
Bold Quest 13.1 ran June 10-21, with participation from Germany, France, Italy, Norway and the United States. A half dozen nations were observing: Denmark, Finland, Japan, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
The events ranged over the mid-Atlantic, from the hub at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point and Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., to Tinker AFB, Okla., and Ft. Bragg, N.C.
Particularly, Bold Quest 13-1 assessed the Mark X11A IFF Mode 5 system and IFF-associated capabilities focusing on interoperability and integration in a coalition context, a sort of graduation test prior to the system’s operational test, Miller said.
Early results from the collected data show the interoperability was there, he said.
Charles Rattè, program analyst, Demonstrations, Joint Staff J6 DD C2I Joint Fires Division said they were able to collect the needed data in nine of the 10 days of the demonstration. Over the next six months there will be reviews and analysis, with coalition participation, culminating in a final report issued in January 2014.
For Bold Quest, the Joint Staff sets the 0conditions for participants to come and achieve their objectives, Miller said. Planning for each event typically starts a year to a year and a half out.
The office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and the services set a Joint Assessment Test Strategy (JATS), and under that come the events in the Joint Operational Test Approach (JODA). The Bold Quest JODA 13.1 was the first under the new JATS.
Bold Quest 13-1 for the first time examined air-to-air and surface-to-air issues, beyond previous combat ID demonstrations for close air support and issues more closely related to conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In September, the next iteration of Bold Quest will be conducted at various centers in Indiana.
Bold Quest 13-2 assessment issues will be “distinctly” different than previous demonstrations, Miller said. “For the first time we’re going to go through the process as much as we can with the coalition ground force, executing tactical movement on the ground, and trying to integrate combat operations at that level with some cyber effects.”
The test-fix-test approach right there at Bold Quest sites during scenarios pays large dividends, he said. For example, in the just completed June Bold Quest, the Italian air force brought a large transport aircraft, Miller said. They put fighter pilots in the back, and analysts and technicians sitting right next to them while they operated the system as they normally would in their jet. The analysts and techs could take notes and also get into the software right then and there to make fixes.
“It saves months of effort back home,” he said. A temporary fix can be made immediately, allowing tests the next day, with significant amounts of cost avoided.
In fiscal year 14, Miller said, they will partner with the Army in two events: in February at the Army Expeditionary Warrior experiment at Ft. Benning, Ga., and in May at Ft. Bliss, Texas and White Sands Missile Range, N.M., in the Network Integration Evaluation (NIE).
“In this era it sometimes seems strange to observers to see the frequency of these events and the schedule is increasing, while budgets globally are as restricted as they are,” Miller said. “It underscores the value participants and observers see in it.”
By collectively working on issues participants get more out of it than they could have by trying to construct—and pay for—these events individually at home, he said.
“By pooling resources, everyone gains, and we can do more of these with the same or less amounts of money that each individual nation has,” he said.
Long lead time planning for Bold Quest events is actually increasing, he said. Some planning for 2015 is already being done, and one nation is already working out its objectives for 2020. It’s all a desire to do some longer range planning and programming of test resources. It also reflects the shift in focus from near term to longer term, and reorganized resources.
And Bold Quest may grow yet more, as Miller said his office is fielding more and more inquiries from the services and U.S. allies as to what events might become part of the future Bold Quest events and how they could participate.