Nuclear Command Control and Communications (NC3)

A. Mission Description and Budget Item Justification The Department of the Air Force (DAF) nuclear enterprise has historically used unique closed systems to provide the high degree of mission assurance and security needed for this mission. Furthermore, the rapid development of the nuclear enterprise required the fielding of the most advanced technology of that time, and in most cases utilized technology that was well ahead of the commercial sector. Today's technological world is very different and, in cases such as satellite communications and information technology (IT) systems, the commercial sector has raced ahead of government unique systems. Commercial leveraging for the nuclear enterprise will explore a range of key technologies that are either commercial, or commercial entwined with government system to quantitatively determine whether these capabilities provide increased resilience, improved reconstitution, or lower cost for applications within the Department of War (DoW) nuclear enterprise. It is not intended to replace baseline systems but rather will be prototypes to augment existing capabilities. The program will reduce risk in leveraging emerging commercial-based technologies by partnering with industry while providing access to Government analysis, testing and certification capabilities. Prime investments focus on Government-industry partnerships to influence and militarize emerging commercial capabilities to ensure US competitive advantage in key technology areas. Experimentation efforts will be employed to explore new concepts and their applications in future operating environments within a system-of-systems context, taking risks early in the acquisition process to drive a more optimized and efficient acquisition approach significantly reducing overall acquisitions costs. Prototyping of commercially derived technologies into government systems, followed by operational experimentation of the performance and security, will enable these candidate technologies to move into warfighting capability faster and at a lower cost, based on demonstrated low-risk prototypes. Efforts include a focus on communications, secure data flow, and incorporating commercial approaches for a coarse navigation capability.