Navigate through the "Fog of War"

Ever since armies have opposed one another in organized combat, there has been the very real, and very problematic phenomenon known as the ‘Fog of War’. When armies engage, the result is a tendency toward miscommunication, disorder, and confusion. The ensuing chaos serves only to frustrate the ability of commanders to know what’s going on in the field, where their forces are engaged, where the enemy is and what he’s doing. Communications break down. The Fog of War has been particularly frustrating even in modern times, and has defied, rather successfully, attempts to alleviate it; yet the advantage will always go to the army with superior communications, real-time intelligence, and the ability to direct forces without ambiguity. As with the development of many helpful technologies that began with war, so has it also been with telematics, which provide the ability to commanders to not only communicate with their troops, armored units, and aircraft, but direct them, gather intelligence, attack targets, and ultimately lift the veil of the Fog of War.

Soldiers in battle carry ruggedized notebook computers that facilitate 2-way communication with command, help direct fire, help command assess troop strength and deployment, and perform many other tasks including relay the soldier’s physical condition. Telematics in armored vehicles and aircraft perform similar functions and allow the deployment and effective use of unmanned vehicles. As the age of WWII-style battles fades into history and is replaced by irregular warfare techniques, constant real-time communication and remote direction of materiel becomes ever more important. One example of telematics systems on the battlefield is Blue Force Tracking.

Blue Force Tracking

Blue Force Tracking (BFT) is the US military term used to denote a command and control system that provides military commanders and forces with location information about friendly (and despite its name, also about hostile) military forces. In military symbolism, the color blue is typically used to designate friendly forces while red is used for enemies, and green or yellow are used for neutral forces.[1]

BFT systems consist of a computer, used to display location information, a satellite terminal, used to transmit location and other military data, a Global Positioning System receiver (to determine its own position), command-and-control software (to send and receive orders, and many other battlefield support functions), and mapping software that plots the BFT device on a map. The system displays the location of the host vehicle on the computer’s terrain-map display, along with the locations of other platforms (friendly in blue, and enemy in red) in their respective locations. BFT is also used to send and receive text and imagery messages, and BFT has a mechanism for reporting the locations of enemy forces and other battlefield conditions (for example, the location of mine fields, battlefield obstacles, bridges that are damaged, etc.). Users will include the United States Army, the United States Marines Corps, the United States Air Force and the United Kingdom. Recently, the United States Army, and the United States Marines Corps have reached agreement to standardize on a shared system, to be called “Joint Battle Command Platform”, which will be derived from the Army’s FBCB2 (Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below) system that was used by the United States Army, the United States Marines Corps, and the Army of the United Kingdom during heavy combat operations in Iraq in 2003.

The system continually transmits locations over the FBCB2 network. It then monitors the location and progress of friendly (and enemy) forces, and sends those specific coordinates to a central location called the Army Tactical Operations Center. There the data are consolidated into a common operational picture, or COP, and sent to numerous destinations, such as the headquarters element, other in-theater forces, or back out to other military units for situational awareness.