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The U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) is poised to revolutionize command and control by enhancing the integration and processing of battlefield information. As a cornerstone of the Department of Defense’s Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) initiative, ABMS aims to establish a comprehensive, interconnected network that improves decision-making and operational efficiency across all military branches.
Transitioning from JSTARS to ABMS
The shift from the legacy Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) to ABMS marks a significant evolution in battlefield intelligence and command operations. Initially conceived as a joint venture between the Air Force and the Army, JSTARS was designed to provide comprehensive ground situation awareness akin to the air surveillance provided by AWACS. Operating from a standoff distance exceeding 200 km, JSTARS could detect, locate, classify, and target potentially hostile ground movements in all weather conditions. It relayed tactical information via secure data links to various command posts, mobile ground stations, and centers for military analysis.
JSTARS first saw action during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, even while still in development. Its deployments continued through peacekeeping operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and during the Kosovo crisis. However, advancements in adversary capabilities, particularly from nations like Russia and China, highlighted JSTARS’s vulnerabilities to sophisticated air defense systems.
By 2018, the Air Force announced plans to cancel the JSTARS replacement program in favor of the ABMS, a system-of-systems approach aimed at enhancing battlefield command and control in high-threat environments. This decision was driven by the vulnerability of airborne ISR platforms to sophisticated air defense systems like the Russian S-400 and S-500. Operating below 40,000 feet, JSTARS was within the range of these advanced SAM systems, posing a significant risk to its operations and the safety of U.S. ground forces.
Understanding ABMS
U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) – an ambitious program designed to connect sensors, shooters, and decision-makers across all domains (air, land, sea, space, and cyber) in real-time. It replaces legacy systems with a more agile, cloud-based solution capable of integrating data from air, land, sea, space, and cyber domains. This integration enables more informed decisions, faster response times, and a more coordinated approach to modern warfare.
ABMS addresses modern warfare challenges by leveraging cloud environments, advanced communications, and artificial intelligence to enable seamless data sharing across Air Force and Space Force systems. This state-of-the-art command and control system integrates data from various sources, including ground radar, aircraft sensors, and soldier-worn devices, into a unified picture. By providing real-time situational awareness and facilitating enhanced collaboration among military branches, ABMS ensures that commanders at all levels can make faster and more informed decisions.
Key Components of ABMS
ABMS is envisioned as a “system-of-systems” that will eventually replace the E-8C JSTARS surveillance planes. This new system will integrate traditional manned aircraft, drones, space-based technologies, and advanced data links to provide a robust and resilient command and control capability.
The Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) is designed as a dynamic and interconnected command-and-control network, integrating cutting-edge technologies to enhance battlefield awareness and decision-making. At its core, ABMS is built upon several key components that enable seamless data processing, communication, and operational coordination.
A cloud-based infrastructure serves as the backbone of ABMS, leveraging cloud computing to process and distribute vast amounts of data in real time. This cloud-centric approach enables instant information sharing and collaboration across various platforms, ensuring that military units receive up-to-date intelligence and can adapt swiftly to changing battlefield conditions.
To enhance situational awareness, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are embedded within ABMS to analyze large volumes of data, detect patterns, and provide predictive insights. These AI-driven capabilities help commanders anticipate potential threats, optimize resource allocation, and make faster, data-driven decisions that improve operational effectiveness.
The system is built with an open architecture, allowing for seamless integration with both legacy and emerging technologies. This design ensures adaptability, enabling ABMS to evolve alongside advancements in military hardware, software, and communication systems while reducing the risk of obsolescence.
Reliable advanced communication networks are essential to ABMS, facilitating high-speed, low-latency data transmission across air, land, sea, space, cyber, and electromagnetic domains. These networks create a resilient information-sharing ecosystem that connects all operational assets, from fighter jets and naval vessels to satellite systems and ground forces.
Ensuring interoperability between different military branches and allied forces is another fundamental aspect of ABMS. By standardizing communication protocols and data formats, the system fosters better coordination in joint and coalition operations, allowing U.S. forces to collaborate seamlessly with partners and allies in multi-domain battle environments.
Given the increasing complexity of cyber warfare, security is a critical component of ABMS. The system incorporates advanced cybersecurity measures to protect sensitive data, mitigate cyber threats, and maintain the integrity of command-and-control networks. These protections help safeguard military communications against adversarial interference, ensuring operational resilience in contested environments.
Together, these core components make ABMS a transformational system, equipping the U.S. military with the technological superiority needed to maintain strategic dominance in modern warfare.
ABMS Shift in Focus: From Innovation to Operational Impact
The U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) is undergoing a critical transformation—from a technology demonstration platform to an operationally deployable capability. The Air Force is prioritizing the rapid fielding of functional military systems that enhance joint operations and reduce acquisition risks.
The Air Force has conducted several “on-ramp” events to demonstrate and test ABMS capabilities. These events showcased the system’s ability to transmit data across different platforms and domains, integrating inputs from Army radars, Navy destroyers, and Air Force aircraft. For instance, in a 2020 demonstration, Army artillery successfully intercepted a cruise missile using data provided by Air Force assets, exemplifying the potential of machine-to-machine connectivity and decision-making.
The U.S. Air Force has conducted multiple “on-ramp” events to test and refine the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS), demonstrating its ability to integrate data across different platforms and domains. These events have showcased ABMS’s machine-to-machine connectivity, real-time data sharing, and decision-making capabilities across the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Space Force. Notably, in a 2020 demonstration, Army artillery successfully intercepted a cruise missile using targeting data relayed from Air Force assets, highlighting the system’s potential to enhance multi-service coordination and response times.
One of the earliest major ABMS tests occurred in December 2019, where the system successfully transmitted data from Army radars and Navy destroyers to F-22 and F-35 fighter jets. This event also demonstrated the Space Force’s Unified Data Library (UDL), which integrates space and ground-based sensors to improve satellite tracking and space domain awareness. In September 2020, additional on-ramp exercises simulated cruise missile defense using hypervelocity weapons, tested ABMS’s resilience against space-based disruptions, and engaged over 70 industry and 65 government teams in joint operations. Another milestone occurred during Exercise Valiant Shield, where a KC-46 tanker acted as a tactical command-and-control (C2) platform, relaying data between fourth-generation fighters and fifth-generation aircraft like the F-22.
ABMS also demonstrated international interoperability in February 2021, when a European-based exercise connected the U.S. Air Force with allied nations, including the Netherlands, Poland, and the UK. This test validated ABMS’s ability to coordinate long-range strike missions using F-15E aircraft and AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) while also deploying F-35s for airbase defense. Similarly, in a North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) exercise, ABMS integrated data from multiple sensors to enhance homeland defense, providing commanders with real-time situational awareness and reducing response times to potential airborne threats.
Beyond these demonstrations, key ABMS advancements include the KC-46 tanker’s transformation into a C2 node, featuring a newly procured communications pod that enables it to act as a battlefield command relay. Additionally, the Air Force is integrating AI-driven analytics and cloud computing—leveraging platforms like Cloud One and Platform One—to enhance data processing, automated intelligence gathering, and rapid deployment of new capabilities. These advancements position ABMS as a next-generation warfare system, ensuring superior decision-making, threat anticipation, and operational flexibility across multi-domain operations.
In September 2022, the Department of the Air Force announced a new integrating program executive officer and execution construct for ABMS, reflecting the program’s evolving structure and priorities. As of March 2021, ABMS aimed to revolutionize data flow and expedite decision-making processes, underscoring its role in modernizing military operations. These developments highlight ABMS’s ongoing evolution and its critical role in enhancing the U.S. military’s command and control capabilities across multiple domains.
From Demonstration to Deployment
At the Air Force Association’s annual Air, Space & Cyber Conference, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall underscored the shift in focus toward delivering meaningful, combat-ready capabilities.
“To achieve effective change, we must keep our eye on the ball. For me, that means focusing on the fielding of meaningful military capability into the hands of our operational users. It does not mean one or two leave-behind, unmaintainable token prototypes that came out of experiments.”
This statement reflects a broader challenge within the Department of Defense (DoD): an overemphasis on experimentation without clear pathways to operational integration. Kendall stressed the need for ABMS to move beyond one-off technology demonstrations and align with defined military performance objectives.
By focusing on practical deployment, the Air Force aims to ensure that innovations transition from research labs to real-world combat scenarios, strengthening command and control (C2) across all domains—air, land, sea, space, and cyber.
Leveraging Commercial Technologies for ABMS
A key aspect of the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) is its increasing reliance on commercial technologies to enhance intelligence, surveillance, and decision-making. By integrating cutting-edge advancements in satellite-based intelligence, cloud computing, and AI-driven analytics, ABMS gains greater flexibility, speed, and resilience in modern warfare.
Commercial Satellite Imagery (CSI) and Situational Awareness
Advancements in commercial satellite technology have transformed real-time intelligence gathering, enabling near-continuous global surveillance with resolutions as fine as 0.3 meters. These high-resolution imaging capabilities play a crucial role in ABMS’s situational awareness by providing persistent monitoring of adversary movements, maritime domains, and battlefield environments.
Several key developments in commercial satellite imagery (CSI) are driving this transformation:
- Tyvak & Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL): These companies offer microsatellites equipped with visible and radar imaging, enhancing maritime and land surveillance with high-frequency updates.
- Capella Space: Deploying synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites that provide one-meter resolution imagery with hourly revisit times, ensuring reliable monitoring in all weather conditions.
- Boeing X-37B: This reusable space plane conducts classified military experiments, with potential applications for space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR).
In addition to high-resolution imaging, ABMS benefits from constellations of small satellites that provide redundancy and resilience. Unlike traditional large, single-point-of-failure reconnaissance satellites, these distributed networks ensure continuous operational capability even in contested environments.
CASINO: Enhancing ABMS with AI and Cloud-Based Intelligence
The Commercially Augmented Space Inter Networked Operations (CASINO) project, a DARPA spinoff, is demonstrating how large-scale commercial satellite constellations can augment military command and control (C2). The U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center is working with Ball Aerospace and Microsoft to integrate commercial cloud technologies into ABMS, unlocking several strategic advantages:
- Faster Data Processing: Cloud-based infrastructure accelerates real-time situational awareness, allowing commanders to receive and analyze intelligence instantaneously.
- AI-Driven Intelligence Gathering: Machine learning algorithms automate intelligence processing, identifying patterns and anomalies across vast datasets to improve decision-making.
- Resilient Data-Sharing Networks: Commercial satellite connectivity enhances ABMS’s ability to distribute intelligence securely across multiple domains, ensuring continuity in contested environments.
By leveraging commercial innovations, ABMS is transforming into a highly adaptable, cost-effective infrastructure capable of supporting multi-domain operations at unprecedented speeds. This integration of private-sector advancements strengthens military readiness, ensuring that ABMS remains at the forefront of next-generation warfare.
The U.S. Air Force has committed $950 million over five years to accelerate ABMS development, awarding contracts to 28 industry partners spanning defense giants like Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems to Silicon Valley innovators like Palantir.
These vendors will contribute to:
- Advanced data fusion systems (e.g., PLASMA: Platform for Leveraging Analytics for Streaming Multi-Intelligence Awareness).
- AI-driven decision support tools (e.g., VENOM: Visual Explanation and Narration of Models).
- Enhanced cybersecurity frameworks to protect ABMS against cyber threats.
This shift in procurement strategy reflects a move toward open architecture solutions, enabling the rapid integration of emerging technologies.
Challenges and Innovations in ABMS Deployment
Despite significant progress, ABMS faces multiple challenges, particularly in interoperability, cybersecurity, and legacy system integration.
1. Overcoming Interoperability Barriers
A major obstacle to ABMS adoption is the lack of standardized data-sharing protocols across military platforms. A prime example is the inability of F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters to share combat data due to incompatible networks. ABMS seeks to resolve this issue by creating a universal military “Internet of Things” (IoT) where all sensors and platforms communicate seamlessly.
2. Cybersecurity in a Networked Battlefield
As ABMS relies on cloud-based networks and AI-driven automation, securing these systems against cyber threats is paramount. The Air Force is integrating zero-trust security models and quantum-resistant encryption to mitigate risks from cyber espionage and electronic warfare attacks.
3. Integrating with Legacy Systems
Transitioning from JSTARS to ABMS involves integrating with older C2 systems across the Air Force, Army, and Navy. This requires significant investment in software-defined networking (SDN) and edge computing solutions that enable real-time data sharing with legacy platforms.
The Future of ABMS: Next-Gen Warfare Capabilities
As the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) evolves, its next phase of development will focus on harnessing emerging technologies to enhance decision-making, operational efficiency, and multi-domain coordination. By integrating artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and advanced networking capabilities, ABMS will transform military command and control into a fully adaptive, high-speed system capable of responding to modern threats in real time.
Expanding AI and Machine Learning for Predictive Threat Analysis
AI and machine learning will play an increasingly vital role in ABMS by enabling predictive threat analysis. These technologies will process vast amounts of intelligence data to identify patterns, detect anomalies, and forecast potential adversarial actions before they materialize. By leveraging AI-driven analytics, commanders will gain enhanced situational awareness, allowing for proactive decision-making and faster response times in complex battle scenarios.
Increasing Autonomy in Battlefield Decision-Making
The integration of autonomous systems will revolutionize battlefield operations by reducing human workload and accelerating decision cycles. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), autonomous ground platforms, and AI-assisted command centers will enable ABMS to:
- Execute automated threat detection and response, minimizing delays in engagement.
- Improve distributed decision-making, allowing units to act independently while maintaining synchronized objectives.
- Enhance sensor-to-shooter efficiency, enabling faster target acquisition and engagement through AI-assisted coordination.
By reducing reliance on human operators for routine decision-making, ABMS will operate at machine speed, ensuring that military forces maintain an advantage in fast-paced combat environments.
Strengthening Multi-Domain Integration for Joint and Coalition Warfare
Future ABMS advancements will prioritize seamless integration across air, land, sea, space, and cyber domains. This interoperability will be critical for coordinating joint operations between U.S. military branches and allied forces, ensuring synchronized efforts in global conflicts. Key initiatives include:
- Unified data-sharing networks: Enhancing real-time intelligence exchange between coalition partners.
- Cross-domain mission execution: Integrating AI-driven logistics, cyber defense, and ISR capabilities into a single operational framework.
- Resilient command structures: Building adaptive, decentralized networks that remain operational even in contested environments.
A Fully Integrated, AI-Enhanced Command Structure
The ultimate goal of ABMS is to establish a resilient, adaptive, and AI-enhanced military command structure that empowers commanders with real-time battlefield intelligence. By integrating advanced technologies, ABMS will enable the U.S. Air Force to:
- Operate at machine speed, reducing human response times and increasing operational tempo.
- Anticipate and counter emerging threats before they escalate.
- Achieve superior decision dominance through AI-augmented situational awareness.
As ABMS continues to evolve, its fusion of AI, automation, and multi-domain coordination will shape the future of next-generation warfare—ensuring that U.S. forces remain agile, decisive, and technologically superior in an era of rapidly evolving threats.
Conclusion
The Advanced Battle Management System is a game-changer in military command and control, replacing outdated legacy systems with AI-driven, cloud-based, and interoperable capabilities. By leveraging commercial innovations, enhancing cybersecurity, and prioritizing operational readiness, ABMS is poised to redefine joint warfare for the 21st century.
As ABMS evolves, it will play a crucial role in ensuring battlefield dominance, giving the U.S. and its allies a decisive technological advantage in future conflicts.
References and Resources also include:
https://www.doncio.navy.mil/CHIPS/ArticleDetails.aspx?ID=13872
https://www.fedscoop.com/project-maven-air-forces-advanced-battle-management-system/
https://sgp.fas.org/crs/weapons/IF11866.pdf
https://breakingdefense.com/2021/09/air-force-abms-refocus-capabilities-and-kit-not-experiments/
