C2E: Communications in Contested Environments

The continued growth in unmanned, sensor, and networked devices is expected to drive the need for larger, more capable and more diverse communications systems. 

Among other enhancements, these systems must improve jam-resistance and low probability of detection to keep pace with adversaries’ growing electronic sophistication and must adapt to fast-changing operational environments. By contrast, today’s military communications architectures are static and inflexible.

The Communications in Contested Environments (C2E) program seeks to enable the development and deployment of adaptive communication systems through a three-part approach that is motivated by processes in the commercial world, which allow incorporation of third-party technologies that are from neither the hardware developer nor the core software provider. At the base of the C2E approach, a modular hardware architecture provides the flexibility to refresh capabilities and outpace application demands and adversary threats without requiring wholesale system overhauls. 

In addition, a new waveform-development model leverages re-usable waveform processing elements and formal methods to enable faster development across multiple hardware platforms. Thirdly, the C2E network vision fully embraces the diversity and multiplicity of radio types across platforms in the airborne battle space, to provide highly reliable, networked and scalable information distribution to every element of the fighting force.