USA: NWDC Plays Critical Role in Bold Alligator 2012

The Navy Warfare Development Command (NWDC) is playing a critical role in planning, executing and evaluating Bold Alligator 2012 (BA12) across every function of the command and as host facility for key components of exercise leadership and staff supporting U.S. Fleet Forces Command, beginning Jan. 30.

BA12, scheduled to run until Feb. 12, is the largest east coast amphibious exercise conducted by the Navy and Marine Corps in at least the past 10 years. The intent of the exercise is to revitalize Navy and Marine Corps amphibious tactics, techniques and procedures, and reinvigorate its culture of conducting combined operations from the sea at the Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB)/Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG)-level.

NWDC’s state-of-the-art Navy Center for Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NCAMS) is the site of the BA12 Joint Exercise Control Group (JECG) and the Combined Force Maritime Component Commander (CFMCC) staff.

Vice Adm. David H. Buss, deputy commander, U.S. Fleet Forces and commander, Task Force 20, who will also serve as the CFMCC for the exercise, recently expressed his appreciation for NWDC’s role in the exercise. “What happens here are at NWDC will have a profound impact on the future of Navy and Marine Corps interoperability,” Buss said.

As the Navy’s forward-leaning command directed to develop, test and deliver solutions to the maritime warfighter, NWDC’s directorates are contributing to BA12 in several ways.

The Modeling and Simulation (M&S) directorate is operating the technical infrastructure known as the Navy Continuous Training Environment (NCTE) in support of BA12, in addition to hosting the JECG, CFMCC and significant portions of the controlling organization in NCAMS. The M&S directorate also engineered and installed voice communications and simulation networks specifically designed to support BA12’s live, virtual and constructive exercise requirements.

For experimentation, the Allied Command and Control experimentation team is providing an updated draft Allied Tactical Memorandum (TACMEMO) to the exercise participants. NWDC will also be supporting data collection efforts to ensure the appropriate capture of observations to best inform the final development of this document. Three ship riders and other NWDC personnel are capturing the data and, upon exercise completion, will distribute a final draft TACMEMO to stakeholders.

BA12 presents an invaluable opportunity for participants, observers, and evaluators to directly and rapidly influence the doctrine review and development process. NWDC Doctrine and Training Integration, has solicited input from BA12 exercise participants, observers and evaluators for potential updates to amphibious operations-related doctrine. Additionally, NWDC Doctrine has put together a ready reference “electronic bookshelf” of relevant amphibious related doctrine for quick reference by BA12 participants and watch standers in NCAMS, utilizing its online Navy Doctrine Library System (NDLS).

NWDC is collecting and analyzing many facets of the exercise both afloat and ashore to help develop lessons learned from BA12 in order to improve the Navy and Marine Corps’ amphibious capabilities in the future.

The Navy Warfare Development Command is the Navy’s conduit between the fleet and its leaders, directed to develop coherent, creative and timely solutions to operational capability challenges and help move the fleet forward through the 21st Century. Its core competencies; concepts, experimentation, modeling and simulation, information dominance, lessons learned and doctrine, make the command the solutions hub to meet the needs of the maritime warfighter in a challenging global environment.

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Naval Today Staff , January 31, 2012; Image: navy