Transition Approval Go-Ahead a SMART Program Move

  • Published
  • By Mr. Craig Stansifer
  • 711th Human Performance Wing
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  On 24 September, US Strategic Command formally requested that Air Force Reserach Laboratory provide the software code needed for installing its Subject-Matter Analysis and Research Toolkit application on the Integrated Strategic Planning and Analysis Network Experimental Planning Lab for future inclusion in the Department of Defense ISPAN ACAT [Acquisition Category] 1 Program of Record. Once installed, SMART will serve as a concept demonstration illustrating the feasible use of a single, unified workspace for finding, organizing, and sharing information throughout the ISPAN domain for the purpose of information analysis. AFRL's SMART program will continue to assist USSTRATCOM as it refines ISPAN Increment 2 requirements by providing the ISPAN prime contractor, Lockheed Martin, a functional example of how it can fully integrate the SMART application into Increment 2, due in Fiscal Year 2010.

ISPAN is the DoD Program of Record for the Joint Operational Planning Process, as defined in Joint Publication 5.0. Directed for all of DoD and associated service components, ISPAN is USSTRATCOM's--and other DoD Combatant Commands' --overall command and control and global situation awareness capability for global planning and distributed operations. ISPAN provides a Web-enabled, thin-client-structured collaborative environment on the unclassified, secret, and top secret networks to orchestrate GSA and joint course of action development.

ISPAN utilizes data, integrated via a net-centric operational warfighting construct, from space-based, airborne, and ground-based sensors to provide real-time GSA and alert commanders to potential threats or other areas of interest. For each new threat, the system provides a different set of possible COAs, complete with estimates of success probability, potential collateral damage, required resources and assets, and time frame. Commanders can then execute one of the options, coordinating closely with COCOMs and warfighting resources.

SMART is a single, unifying, user-centered application that aids analysts in seamlessly exploiting structured and unstructured information and data. It uses semantic Web technologies and semantic tags so that users can have a single workspace (as opposed to multiple, separate, "stovepiped" applications) facilitating the information exchange process. SMART is designed to support intelligence analysis via direct, formal request for information support and tracking, as well as more generalized, informal communication support (in both intelligence and nonintelligence applications), supplying increased context in formal and informal communication exchanges. SMART enables users to efficiently capture, organize, and share information; simultaneously search multiple, user-defined analytic resources (e.g., databases, libraries, internet, M3 message traffic, RSS feeds); capture informal information exchange history for future reference; and clarify ambiguities in intent and context through mission-specific templates.