Key Takeaways:

• Valiant Shield is a military exercise that U.S. Indo-Pacific Command conducts every two years, and this year was the first multilateral event.
• In order to integrate the different mission data systems from foreign allies for interconnected warfighting capabilities known as combined joint all-domain command and control, or CJADC2, SAIC and the combatant command worked on development of the Joint Fires Network.
• The network successfully linked all of Valiant Shield's participants, enabling the partners to share data in real time and make closely coordinated battle decisions.

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SAIC contributed to the success of Valiant Shield 2024, a multilateral military exercise led by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) in June that tested the Joint Fires Network (JFN) with Canadian, Japanese and French partners in the western Pacific Ocean. JFN, for which SAIC serves as the lead system integrator, is a battle management system connecting the information systems and networks of USINDOPACOM, the intelligence community and partner forces, designed to enhance data-sharing and decision-making in neutralizing threats.

JFN is serving as a pathfinder for the Department of Defense’s Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) effort to speed dynamic decision-making by digitally connecting its armed services, combatant commands and partners. From June 7 to 18, a U.S. joint force, consisting of the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group and Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group, along with Air Force, Marine Corps and Army units, combined with counterparts from the Royal Canadian Navy, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and French Navy to conduct an exercise in the South China Sea and Philippine Sea that validated JFN-based integration of operations and C2 processes.

The CJADC2 strategy entails linking all combined and joint force participants, working across battle domains that include sea, subsurface, air and land, in a singular communications network that combines intelligence and operational data across all C2 levels of warfare. This interconnection will more effectively allow participants to contribute to a shared common operating picture and coordinate joint fires and effects, closing the so-called kill chain. JFN and other CJADC2 solutions in development will fuse and transport tactical, operational and intelligence data of different classifications over one network, allowing commanders to access and disseminate data necessary for effective C2 to the tactical edge in various domains.

In the Valiant Shield exercise, JFN successfully connected live data feeds from the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office to USINDOPACOM. The Air Force’s Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications and Battle Management was able to patch in its software-defined wide area network for advanced communications capabilities over multiple data transport paths.

The JFN network's nodes integrated and operated seamlessly, transporting tactical data to and from nodes operated by Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy and Army units with zero downtime. The system was said to perform exceptionally well on naval vessels, transmitting real-time tactical data reliably and at a high level of quality.   

The ability for commanders to use all the battlespace nodes of their partners in a multilateral operation and then choose the most effective individual or combined fires from among undersea, surface, ground and air weapons is a key CJADC2 tenet. This interoperability across domains and among allies requires SAIC to execute on complex integrations of disparate systems brought by the different military partners and to develop innovative information architectures and technical solutions.

JFN’s success at Valiant Shield was the culmination of two years of close collaboration and joint innovation by SAIC and partners at DOD. The network’s capabilities shown at USINDOPACOM’s biennial training exercise proved SAIC’s ability to enhance integrated decision-making in coalition operations, benefiting American warfighters and allies who can fight in better coordination to be more effective.

For more information on SAIC’s contributions to CJADC2, visit our CJADC2 page.