Do you drive in a vehicle that has blind-spot warning indicators, adaptive cruise control, or backup cameras? Do you wear a smart watch or use a smartphone that integrates your entertainment, scheduling, location sharing, and warns you when you’ve been exposed to loud noises that could harm your hearing? If so, then you likely understand the power of data integration and sensors in your environment working together to inform you of hazards. It is 2024 and the integration of technology and daily life is all around us. This type of “operating picture” presents you with key information to make timely and informed decisions about your health and safety and even the safety of your family or other loved ones. Our Joint Project Lead (JPL) for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Integration is working on a capability to make this type of informed decision-making possible for the joint force.
Earlier this fall, we introduced the JPL for CBRN Integration’s CBRN Support to Command and Control (CSC2). More than just a decision support program, CSC2 is advancing the technology needed to enhance awareness of potential CBRN hazards into existing IT systems across the services and will equip military decision-makers with the critical information they need to support the Warfighter.
For a mission to be successful, Warfighters and their commanders must have access to integrated critical information that allows them to make timely and sound decisions, often under pressure. Recognizing the importance of harnessing, analyzing, and sharing this data, the CSC2 program is developing software capabilities that integrate CBRN sensor data from the battlefield into existing visualization tools or “common operating pictures.” CSC2 is leveraging the Defense Department’s Software Acquisition Pathway (SWP) to rapidly develop and deliver capabilities that provide battlefield threat information to commanders. The CSC2 program is one of only a handful of Army programs on the SWP and the team is breaking new acquisition ground every day.