News

C2ISR has potential for growth, huge cost savings

  • Published
  • By Jenny Gordon
  • 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
Looking to the future and expanding future software intelligence capabilities is a primary focus of the Robins Command & Control, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Division.

Currently, division leadership is looking at areas where there is not only room for consolidation, but opportunities for partnerships, specifically on increasing workload in the 402nd Software Maintenance Group.

"As we build more and more capability here in ISR, we think it puts Robins Air Force Base and SMXG in a good position to be very valuable," said Alan Mathis, C2ISR Division deputy chief.

Not to mention there's a huge cost savings potential involved for the Air Force.

For example, it's estimated the cost savings potential is more than 35 percent just in leveraging SMXG capabilities.

"ISR is a tremendous opportunity for 402nd SMXG to grow into current technology areas," said Brigid O'Hearn, 577th Software Maintenance Squadron director.

Based on the architecture of systems, SMXG is now doing things with new programming languages and more commercial off-the-shelf hardware, something very different from the test program sets and operational flight program work that is currently performed.

This includes work on the Forward Process Exploit Disseminate System and Remotely Piloted Aircraft Squadron Operations Center System.

On roles typically performed by contractors, O'Hearn explained that integrating various functions in one location will create synergy as well as cut costs.

"We really are in the beginning stages," she continued. "We've been in the ISR business for about four years now. A lot of our work has been in creating centralized integration labs - now we focus on developing expertise in the systems."

An example of cost savings is consolidating integration and test labs that provide support to the Air Force Distributed Common Ground System (AF DCGS), a weapon system that produces intelligence information collected by the U-2 and other ISR sensors. These labs are supported by the government but are located at various original equipment manufacturers that provide software to the AF DCGS weapon system. The idea is to consolidate these labs at Robins, bring that workload here, thereby centralizing capabilities in one location.

Growth potential for ISR software capabilities at Robins is an area that hasn't been fully tapped into. By taking advantage of 402nd SMXG's expertise and creating more partnerships, the move is a win-win for everyone.

A savings initiative under consideration by the C2ISR Division is to encourage software developers to write software from a local office in lower cost Middle Georgia versus other higher cost locales around the country. A simple goal the C2ISR Division has set is for 30 percent of software code to be written by developers within 20 miles of Robins AFB to achieve a 10 percent cost reduction in five years. "Every dollar saved is a dollar back to the program to do more capability. As you have capability, you're not as dependent on other people," noted Mathis. "Every decision we're making this year is based on reducing cost."

Joint STARS is another ISR platform that has great potential. Its program office has also been working to implement a transition plan for its E-8C software. One initiative is to combine capabilities to do more of the work at Robins versus at contractor facilities.

As part of its overall transition plan, there is significant savings to be realized. By the time the plan is in place, an estimated $10 million per year might be realized in savings to the government, according to Wanda Watts, Capabilities and Software Section Chief. This is over a 35 percent savings just by increasing 402 SMXG capabilities.

It is stressed that the idea is not to just take work away from defense contractors, as their expertise will always be needed, but rather creating partnerships to identify best value decisions where they make sense. The goal is to change the way business is currently conducted to accommodate the changing environment.

"The key is building the partnership and growing ISR capability," said Mathis. "As you build on that, it puts you in a position to do more. We think it makes good business sense."