Glenn Ignazio is currently President of Integrated Intelligent Ideas, "IX3 Inc.". IX3 Inc. is a company that offers corporations, investment groups and solution provider's effective business development, subject matter expertise and marketing consulting services to connect with classified and unclassified defense, military and intelligence agencies. IX3 Inc. effectively connects technology to the operational defense and intelligence requirements.
Glenn led the Global Defense, Government and Intelligence Solutions Marketing team at SGI. He was responsible for SGI's international marketing efforts and strategically positioning SGI technology for Homeland Security, Intelligence, Ballistic Missile Defense, Imagery, Simulation, Command and Control Systems, Mission Rehearsal and Network Enabled Operations.
Glenn has presented keynote speeches and consulted for dignitaries such as the former Assistant Secretary Of Defense for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR), the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Defense Ministers of Singapore and Italy, The Information Minister of Korea, The Japanese Defense Agency, and The Air War College of Italy. He has made media appearances on NBC, KTVU, Silicon Valley Business News, the History Channel, Southeast Asian Media and Asahi Television of Japan. His written press coverage has been in the Silicon Valley Business Journal, the Washington Journal and Chosun IIbo of Korea.
Glenn is an experienced Special Operations and Combat Rescue pilot with the Air Force and the California Air National Guard. He has 6 combat tours of duty in Northern and Southern Iraq and flew in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. During Operation Iraqi Freedom he participated as a war planner. He coordinated efforts between the U.S. Air Force, Marines, Army, Navy Special Warfare, British amphibious and Special Air Service teams regarding the ground order of battle, special operations and combat rescue. During Operation Enduring Freedom he was sent to the Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) Combined Air operations Center (CAOC) and assisted in planning the special instructions (SPINS) for combat rescue and special operations in Afghanistan. He has conducted dozens of life saving rescues and has been decorated with numerous medals such as the prestigious Air Medal, Aerial Achievement Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal and Coast Guard Special Operations Citation just to name a few. He is a Combat Tactics Instructor and has studied force employment and joint force operations at the Naval Fighter Weapons School and the Naval Strike Warfare Center. His military experience encompasses strategic and tactical force employment, combat rescue, special operations and intelligence operations around the world.
Glenn has an Executive MBA from Pepperdine University, a BS in Aeronautics from Embry Riddle University and an A.S. in Electronic Systems from the College of the Air Force.
[Have an opinion about the views expressed in this commentary? Sound off here.]
I am returning from Kirtland AFB, New Mexico where I spent a week
in an Air Force Simulator -- a required 1-week activity that pilots
endure once a year. For those whom are not familiar with this process,
highly experienced personnel try to kill us every day and in numerous
ways. We call this experience "Dial a Death." It is the aircrew's
responsibility to stay alive and learn as much as we can to prepare
for real world situations. Specifically, we are placed in the exact
same situation in which some of our friends did not survive. To honor
their sacrifice we learn precious lessons that will prevent further
loss of life.
When it comes to warfare technology the United States spends a tremendous
amount of time and money to develop systems that keep us ahead of
our adversaries and minimize casualties on both sides. The United
States Defense initiative "Transformation Technology" and "Network
Centric or Network Enabled Operations" (NCO) is leading this transformation.
Many people that I have presented to and held seminars with have been
perplexed by this phrase. As soon as you hear "Network," people immediately
believe that it is a specific system that Cisco or Juniper Networks
will be leading. However this is not the case.
The principle of NCO is to focus around the war-fighter: the individual
that must conduct operations anywhere, anytime, and anyplace in the
world. In the past, massive systems were developed and then the military
would frame their operations around the capability of these systems.
Today the focus is to understand what the soldiers of today and tomorrow
will need to guarantee mission success and reduce collateral damage
to the maximum extent possible. The technology that I speak of is
complex and also so simple that it may not be apparent.
In business operations we have wireless communications that can send
images, documents and files to anyone, anywhere instantly. In military
operations the requirement is just the same, however there are no
cell phone sites in many of the areas where we operate. Therefore
we have to use different and unorthodox approaches to solving this
problem.
For example, if you own a PDA you have a compact, lightweight device
that can receive and transmit information. An effective solution for
a military operator that is forward deployed or conducting an operation.
However, receiving high-resolution imagery on a 3 x 5-inch PDA screen
seems senseless.
To fix this problem a commercial software company called Idelix
Inc. assists engineers designing small circuits on computers and
consumers to read articles on PDA's which would normally be too small.
Working with this company we were able to "Transform" their civilian
application to a military application. By using this technology, military
operators that utilize small screens can analyze high-resolution imagery
effectively on a 3 x 5-inch screen. This is a real example of a Commercial
Off The Shelf "COTS" product that the military has turned to.
For the last 2 years I have spent a tremendous amount of time explaining
this concept of Network Centric Operations. This will be the first
in a series of 4 articles that will demonstrate the intent of NCO
from each service's application.
First we will start with one of the more complex services, the Air
Force. I will start in one of the more common locations called a Combined
Air Operations Center, or CAOC. The CAOC is the nerve center for command
and control "C2" of combat operations within a theatre. The CAOC takes
advantage of a concept called Sensor Fusion. A C2 center is receiving
an incredible volume of information from ground-based radar, airborne
radar, satellites, imagery, intelligence and a variety of additional
sources. Many have stated that we truly have Information Superiority
within this realm. Information is valuable in combat operations however
decisions are more critical. Indecision can quickly lead to failure.
How do you turn Information Superiority into Decision Superiority?
This is accomplished by fusing the information together in a graphical
sense so that an individual can comprehend a vast amount of data quickly
and effectively. For example, you can read a radar blip that has the
information on the type of aircraft, how many in the formation and
where it is on a blank map of a country. As an individual, reading
text would take an unreasonable amount of time to process the information
and maintain the situational awareness of the threats, terrain and
objectives. A fused presentation would have real terrain imagery as
a foundation, combined with a picture of the aircraft, the objective
and even weather that you would be concerned about. Observing a symbol
of a 4-ship formation of F-16's
is quicker and more tangible than reading the data.
In addition, you can see red domes of your threats and their ranges
ensuring that your aircraft do not penetrate weapon engagement zones
(WEZ). Subsequently, add in ground troops, special operation teams
and ships to command and control the campaign being carried out in
the air, at sea and on the ground. Maintaining situational awareness
of the air, ground, naval, and electronic order of battle is challenging
unless you have this fused, combined operating picture "COP".
Moving away from the C2 center to the front line is where most operational information
is attenuated. As the distance from the C2 center to the frontline
increases, information channels and bandwidth are reduced. This is
due to the nature of deployments into forward operating locations.
Units deploy with the smallest amount of equipment or "footprint"
to minimize airlift requirements and to stay maneuverable. Minimizing
the deployed footprint negatively impacts the unit's capability; however,
it positively reduces size, weight and power requirements. This compels
an operational unit to take what is needed rather than what is nice
to have. Therefore, the military has turned to COTS technology. In
a business environment, I have a cell phone (communications), email
(data) and a camera (imagery) with one wireless device. In a military
environment I should be able to have the same capability. Of course
the military is not going to install cell towers around a country
it is planning to go to war with however there are other ways. In
this situation we have taken hundreds of pounds of equipment and reduced
it to a 7 to 12 oz. device.
Applications that apply directly to aircraft are more centered around
data and communications. Communications is one of the most problematic
issues of operations. Imagine the number of operators, missions, taskings,
etc that can saturate the radio waves. Combine this radio saturation
with critical information such as latitude and longitude of sensitive
targets and you can have a mess. Why not send data directly from the
C2 to the aircraft, or aircraft to aircraft, tanker to receivers,
etc.? This can be accomplished, sensor to sensor, to minimize confusion
and prevent operational breakdown. Basically, the computational process
moves from the pilot's brain to a silicon-based processor. This solution
reduces pilot workload (helmet fire) and conducts the computation
within a computer. The result is a simple display of the critical
information that is needed by the pilot.
As an operational example, think of a team on the ground that is in
a dire situation. They call in close air support to knock out heavy
resistance that they are facing. The team on the ground usually has
to provide information to the pilot so that the target can be visually
identified from the friendly location. This is referred to as a "9
line". After a volley of information the pilot rolls in to take out
the adversary. The pilot may have the adversary or friendly on ground
radar, however, which is which? This entire operation could be more
efficient and safer if the pilot had a display that showed the friendly
and adversary force position. Remember the CAOC? Why not send the
COP or the specific portion of the COP to the cockpit? The pilot would
have pristine situational awareness to go for weapons release without
the implication of fratricide.
By making a connection from the fighter to the CAOC, the CAOC can
see the entire engagement real-time. This would allow for immediate
battle damage assessment for the commanders. This "Reach-Back" process
accelerates operations, improves situational awareness and provides
a collaborative engagement from ground to air and air to air. There
are many other examples and applications to Network Centric Operations.
This article provides an introductory to the operations that the Air
Force can exploit for collaborative warfare. NCO is not an Internet
solution it is a method of operation that focuses on the warrior's
requirements and delivers to them the tools to ensure mission success.
A long way from the days where technology was delivered and soldiers
scratched their heads wondering what they should do with it. It's
just the way I see it.
