ARRC Journal June 2016 | Page 20

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The Development of the Headquarters ARRC Command and Control Concept to Deliver Distributed Command
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HEADQUARTERS ARRC COMMAND AND CONTROL CONCEPT TO DELIVER DISTRIBUTED COMMAND
Lieutenant Colonel Roddy Wilson & Major Russ Atherton, British Army
Introduction
In 2015 HQ ARRC deployed to the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia on Ex AR- RCADE FUSION 15( AF15). The deployment was preceded by a training year that tested the boundaries of the new distributed headquarters’ Command and Control concept and shaped the HQ for its role as the Enhanced NATO Response Force 17 Land Component Command HQ. This article will highlight the underpinning Command and Control principles and lessons learnt that allowed Ex AF15 to be successful in proving HQ ARRC’ s‘ operational agility’.
The Concept
The HQ ARRC Command and Control concept was developed to enable HQ ARRC to meet the Command and Control requirements of a number of competing roles( Joint Task Force, Land Component Command and Corps HQ); be more responsive; and to offer a range of scalable options against continually evolving threats. Early on in its development the underlying principles were established as:
• Responsiveness: The ability to deploy the appropriate Command and Control capability to theatre in the required timeline. A scalable command post concept with a distributed staff.
• Agility: The ability to position the HQs within the theatre in a timely fashion.
• Flexibility: The ability to reconfigure the Command and Control capability as required to reflect the changing circumstances and operational demand. This drives a scalable construct and an ability to reconfigure to meet roles as a Land Component Command, Joint Task Force or NATO Response Force Headquarters.
• Resilience: The ability to enable Command and Control for the duration of the operation in the most likely threat environments.
• Utility of Reach Back: The ability to enable Command and Control using appropriate information resources across more than one geographic location; one Headquarters separated by space but not time.
Delivery and Testing
The new HQ ARRC Command and Control Concept sees a graduated approach to the deployment of command posts into the area
An example of a distributed command network tested by the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps in 2015
of operations. These command posts are held at a readiness appropriate to the requirement to rapidly deploy and establish a presence; the higher readiness command posts being more focused towards achieving‘ understand’ and‘ coordination’ and the Initial Command Element and MAIN Command Posts focused on the ability to command. On deployment the command posts rely on NATO SECRET as the primary domain; however, as the command posts increase in size and technical capability, the domain is changed to MISSION SECRET which allows Non-NATO partners full access to mission information. The evolving Command and Control review followed the roadmap illustrated in Fig 1. Positioning a HQ within a theatre in a timely fashion, enabling a technical as well as an operational change of control presented the steepest challenge for both staff and enablers, highlighting that HQ ARRC is fortunate to have 1st( United Kingdom) Signals Brigade as an OPCOM unit delivering Combat Command Support and allowing the enablers to be closely integrated into the development, testing and delivery of the new Command and Control concept.
Brigade used a technical evaluation exercise( Exercise JAVELIN POINT) to assure both the Change of Control process and the technical Information and Communications Services 2 architecture required for HQ ARRC to deploy. As the Brigade’ s first real life look at distributed command, it was imperative to understand the constraints of the network, and how this would drive the dynamics within the HQ. To achieve this, evidence was generated to support the network and training requirements; the size of the bandwidth, the layers of resilience required and the importance of training as we will fight. Through the use of network monitoring tools 3, the Brigade was able to consider the impact of the Battle Rhythm on both Bandwidth and Latency when using Military Satellite Communications. Findings illustrated that when exercising the peak tipped’ 25 Mbps’ bandwidth requirements, and the quality of application performance degraded due to high latency issues. However, it was identified that with a well-rehearsed battle procedure( Initial Command Element, use of conferencing applications and pre-downloading of slides) the extant battle rhythm is viable, re-
DEPLOYEX. Prior to Ex
AF15,
a
DEPLOYEX
to
South Cerney Airfield( UK)
tested the deployment of
a Forward Coordination
Element followed by an
Initial Command Element 1,
including
a
Change
of
Control from Permanent
HQs to Initial Command
Element. This was a new
focus
for
the
Brigade;
the previous training focus
was on delivering a
complex and mature HQ;
Forward
Coordination
Element and Initial Command
Element are about
rapid effect. Prior to DE-
PLOYEX 1st( UK) Signals
Figure 1: Developing the ARRC Command and Control Concept
1 Prior to Forward Coordination Element, Operational Liaison and Recce Teams( OLRT) would be deployed. Following Initial Command Element, MAIN would deploy. During DEPLOYEX focus was on the deployment of Forward Coordination Element with a Change of Control to Initial Command Element. 2 For this paper the term also includes Communications and Information Systems( CIS). 3 See Fig 2.