Latest weather toolkit enhances data exchange

Tag : Electronics Tool Kit

by Monica Morales
66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

7/29/2008 - HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. -- The mid-July fielding of the 651st Electronic SystemsSquadron's Joint Environmental Toolkit Increment 2 is helping U.S.forces deal with an ever-changing variable - the weather.

The Air Force Weather Agency at Offutt AFB, Neb., is the first baseto receive the second increment of JET's capabilities. JETIncrement 2 will be fielded to 230 locations around the globe by2010.

Officials say the benefits of JET are that it will ensure accurateweather data reaches warfighters and also save time and money.

JET provides the user with a single, fully integrated system ofweather analyses, forecasting, and dissemination capabilities toreplace a number of currently separate and disparate systems. JEThelps the user characterize the environment, store information foruse in Air and Space Operations Centers, integrate weatherinformation with Army decision processes and integrate and exploitweather at strategic, operational and tactical levels. It providesa single system with common user interface, training and supportinfrastructure.

The 651 ELSS' effort to develop and deliver the second increment ofthe Air Force Weather Weapons System Joint Environmental Toolkitwill further advance the capabilities of the Air Force WeatherAgency to combatant commanders with the most accurate and timelyweather data available.

JET Increment 1 introduced service-oriented architecture. JETIncrement 2 will expand on that architecture by expanding commandand control interoperability, adding emerging forecasting conceptsand improving other capabilities at the operational and strategiclevels.

"JET focuses on making the weatherman's job easier and allowsdelivery of more timely weather impact information to decisionmakers through machine-to-machine integration with C2 systems, "said Maj. Deleon Narcisse, JET program manager. "We took thisincremental approach as an opportunity to field capability fastwhile continuing to expand with each successive increment."

The introduction of JET's service-oriented architecture allows itsservices to be Web-enabled and accessed across the network ratherthan residing in individual legacy systems.

"It's applicable across the network, and that means that storagespace is freed, time saved and required services immediatelyavailable to the user," Major Narcisse said. "With this comes theability to share data more rapidly versus a stove-piped informationflow, which is slow and cumbersome and can be unwieldy at times."

JET Increment 2 supports and improves upon machine-to-machineinterfacing, expediting data exchange that historically has reliedon antiquated manual or fax data exchange.

"JET puts the same, single system at all levels of weather(strategic, operational, tactical), so that everyone -- from acolonel to an airman -- is using the same tool," said Dan Zehner,JET deputy program manager. "And because everyone is using the samesystem, it facilitates training, allows for seamless transition ofusers from one duty station to another, and facilitates the timelysharing of data up and down the operational tiers."

Another warfighter benefit stems from this boost in interfacing -the latest increment standardizes training that previously had beenfragmented in four separate ways to accommodate JET's varyingsystem components.

"Now when a weather warrior moves from USAFE to Barksdale AFB, forexample, they will already know how to use the system, resulting intime saved and money saved on training," said Pat Dagle, 651st ELSSdirector. "It's a big burden that will be lifted off the logisticsand sustainment chain."

Among Increment 2's added capability are visual enhancements thatallow forecasters as well as customers to see weather displaysincorporated into missions.

"They can see the best routes and get a really good sense of whatthe weather is going to be like in a particular area," MajorNarcisse said.

The JET team has also focused on JET as an ESC enterprise system,collaborating with other ESC wings and groups to expand andintegrate JET across the enterprise. This includes working with the653rd Electronic Systems Wing's Coalition Warrior InteroperabilityDemonstration to expand weather into the coalition environment,with the 350th ELSW's Air and Space Operations Centers, as well aswithin the 551st ELSW and its 951st ELSG to integrate weather intothe Mission Planning System.

Looking beyond ESC, JET Increment 2 will extend to a wider audienceas it works to integrate into the Army's Distributed Common GroundSystem.

"We integrated Army requirements into JET but will still providethe same basic functionality that the Air Force is getting," Mr.Dagle said. "That's a big step forward for the joint warfighterbecause the Air Force supports the Army in providing weatherservices to its battalions. When the Army takes off from SouthwestAsia, it is getting its weather data from the Air Force and JET."

JET has also been selected as the Net-Enabled Command Capabilityweather module to provide weather to combatant commandersworld-wide.