The sound component of this piece is presented by the Air & Space Forces Association, commending and aiding our Airmen, Guardians, and their kin. Discover more at afa.org
AURORA, Colo.—The Air Force and Space Force are getting ready to initiate a series of drills, dubbed “Ringleader,” designed to assess the agencies’ capacity to incorporate the vast amounts of information gathered by ground, air, and space observation devices, utilizing it to pursue and confront adversary objectives.
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink revealed this initiative on Feb. 23 at AFA’s Warfare Symposium held here. Its primary purpose, he stated, is to subject the Department of the Air Force’s Battle Network—a unified system comprising sensors, processing mechanisms, and launchers—to scrutiny within a simulated setting.
“A crucial element of our aim is to blend sensor information across the entire Department of the War to supply tracks and targets,” Meink mentioned, referring to the Department of Defense by its alternate designation approved via executive directive. “Over the past few years, we’ve developed the essential software, hardware, and network framework. Now is the moment to evaluate them.”
The Ringleader program will extract real-time data from widespread satellite constellations, ground and air observation devices, and even civilian systems, employing it to test both functionalities and strategies, Meink informed reporters on Feb. 24. When asked whether this endeavor is intended to guide current efforts concerning how the department will integrate air and space sensors to pursue mobile objectives—a mission known as moving target indication, or MTI—Meink clarified that the undertaking is “significantly wider.”
For years, military services have been striving to fashion the capability and tactical ideas required to better link sensor systems and leverage that information to reduce the duration it takes to formulate prompt strategic choices. All such work is encompassed by the framework of Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control, or CJADC2. The DAF Battle Network, which evolved from the Advanced Battle Management System, serves as the Air Force and Space Force’s input to this endeavor.
Alongside the DAF Battle Network, the Air Force holds the forefront role for the Defense Department’s Joint Fires Network, also concentrated on sensor merging and sophisticated targeting across the entire Joint Force. The service officially assumed control of this initiative last autumn.
Meink pointed out that the department already carries out DAF Battle Network drills on a consistent basis, nevertheless, Ringleader represents a more concentrated endeavor throughout all commands, intending to fathom how to execute the mission en masse.
“It’s about how one collects all that information, blends it all rapidly and extensively,” he remarked. “It’s relatively simple to pursue one item. How does one accomplish this with speed and scope to conclude the beyond-the-horizon lethal sequences we frequently discuss. . . . We need to ensure that we can indeed complete that whole kill chain.”
Meink did not offer a schedule for the initial drill, however, a representative informed Air & Space Forces Magazine that Ringleader trials will commence sometime this year. The work will be financed, partially, by capital furnished in the previous year’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” additionally through earlier allocations, Meink stated.
The sound component of this piece is presented by the Air & Space Forces Association, commending and aiding our Airmen, Guardians, and their kin. Discover more at afa.org