The Department of the Air Force’s Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications and Battle Management used the Air, Space and Cyber Conference on Sept. 23 to underscore momentum across the DAF Battle Network, the service’s push to link sensors, shooters and support systems for faster, more resilient command and control.
“We’re as lethal as we’ve ever been,” said Maj. Gen. Luke Cropsey, C3BM program executive officer. “I’ve never been more excited about where we’re at, quite frankly, as an overall enterprise, than where we are today.”
Senior leaders outlined priorities ranging from artificial intelligence and the Joint Fires Network to advances in airborne networking. A central line of effort pairs the PEO with the Advanced Battle Management System Cross Functional Team, part of Air Force Futures. ABMS CFT lead Maj. Gen. Bob Claude highlighted a recent Decision Advantage Sprint for Human-Machine Teaming at the Shadow Operations Center-Nellis in Las Vegas, where teams built AI-enabled microservices to help operators “match effectors” to targets.
“A lot of what used to be manual, or what is currently manual for our [air] battle managers, is taken care of, or addressed in whole, or in part, by the human-machine interface teaming aspect of things,” said Claude, who is also the Mobilization Assistant to the Chief of Space Operations. “Of the courses of action generated by the various solutions, some were viable and some were not. I’m confident that a more deliberate coding effort, with adequate time to refine, test and validate would increase the number of valid COAs and reduce the number of invalid COAs.”
Beyond internal Air Force efforts, C3BM plans to establish an integrated program office Oct. 1, 2025, to lead the Joint Fires Network. The initiative is intended to combine high-fidelity targeting data with modern command-and-control applications and enable machine-to-machine targeting and fire control across echelons, while preserving options for tactical commanders even in the absence of dedicated nodes.
“We are actively engaged across the Navy, the Army [and] a number of fourth estate enterprises,” said Cropsey. “It provides, I think, a really good example, and focal point for the entire joint aspect of the Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control piece to this. So, I would say we’re doubling down on that front. We’re not letting up on the gas.”
Cropsey also updated progress on Phalanx Griffon, an open-architecture airborne networking “system of systems” designed to give aircrews and commanders time-sensitive data in real time. Managed within ABMS, the effort is moving toward its first operational delivery through the Janus Program.
“How do you create an IP [Internet Protocol] addressable network that flies through the air?” Cropsey said. “Simple to say, not so simple to do. A lot of what we’re trying to figure out is what does a modern network look like in an aerial layer, and then beyond that, how do you think about putting that capability on a jet?”
The DAF Battle Network ties together about 50 programs of record to improve situational awareness, accelerate decisions and direct forces across the Air Force, Space Force, and joint and coalition partners. It serves as the department’s contribution to Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control, aiming to maintain a decision advantage against high-end adversaries.
