GAO: ABMS analysis expected to finish this summer

Air Combat Command is expected to complete an analysis of alternatives this summer for the Advanced Battle Management System, according to a senior Government Accountability Office official.

ABMS “is in the early stages of planning. The capabilities and the strategy to deliver those capabilities are still to be determined,” Michael Sullivan, director of defense weapon system acquisitions at GAO, stated in his written testimony for a hearing today before the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee.

ABMS is intended to provide command and control and surveillance across air, land and sea using an integrated network of sensors. It will enhance the Air Force's Airborne Early Warning and Control System, Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System and Control and Reporting Center.

The upcoming AOA will focus on air-centric mechanisms, such as those provided now by AWACS, while ground target tracking processes will be identified using an existing AOA conducted for JSTARS in May 2012.

Although Sullivan states the Air Force “expects to fully define ABMS” with the AOA scheduled to finish this summer, he does not address how the service plans to assess sea-based capabilities.

The AOA was originally planned to last nine months but was shortened to six, and the service received “conditional approval” to cut the number of alternatives analyzed from five to three, he adds.

Sullivan also discussed the Air Force's plans for the three-phased strategy for ABMS based on interviews with Defense Department officials.

According to an acquisition specialist, technologies associated with the first phase -- which began in fiscal year 2018 and runs through 2023 -- are considered mature, though “there may be risks as the Air Force integrates technologies.”

The second and third phases -- scheduled to begin in 2024 and the mid-2030s respectively -- are not fully developed and will be informed by the results of the AOA.

Sullivan further states the role of the Air Force's chief architect position -- held by Preston Dunlap, who joined in March -- has “not been fully defined.”