Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2) is a communication platform designed for commanders to track friendly and hostile forces on the

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

field. It increases a vehicle commander's

situational awareness Situational awareness or situation awareness, often abbreviated as SA is the understanding of an environment, its elements, and how it changes with respect to time or other factors. It is also defined as the perception of the elements in the envi ...

of the battlefield by gathering information near real-time based on vehicle locations being updated on the battlefield. This information is viewed graphically, and exchanged via both free and fixed text message formats (instead of verbal collection of reports). The location data for friendly forces is collected through the

Enhanced Position Location Reporting System The Enhanced Position Location Reporting System (EPLRS) is a secure, jam-resistant, computer-controlled communications network that distributes near real-time tactical information, generally integrated into radio sets, and coordinated by a Network C ...

(EPLRS) line of sight tactical radio network and Blue Force Tracking (BFT) satellite network.

Development

The development of the system is managed by Project Manager, Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below, a component of the U.S. Army's Program Executive Office – Command Control and Communications Tactical (PEO C3T). PEO C3T is based at

Aberdeen Proving Ground Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) is a U.S. Army facility located adjacent to Aberdeen, Harford County, Maryland, United States. More than 7,500 civilians and 5,000 military personnel work at APG. There are 11 major commands among the tenant units, ...

Aberdeen, Maryland Aberdeen is a city located in Harford County, Maryland, United States, northeast of Baltimore. The population was 16,254 at the 2020 United States census. Aberdeen is the largest municipality in Harford County. Aberdeen is part of the Baltimo ...

. The original Army Program Executive Officer was William Campbell (LtG, ret). The original contractor program manager was Neil Siegel. FBCB2 was tested under the First Digitized Division

4th Infantry Division (United States) The 4th Infantry Division is a Division (military), division of the United States Army based at Fort Carson, Colorado. It is composed of a division headquarters battalion, three brigade combat teams (two Stryker and one armor), a combat avia ...

based in

Fort Hood, Texas Fort Cavazos is a United States Army Military installation, post located near Killeen, Texas. The post is currently named after Gen. Richard E. Cavazos, a native Texan and the US Army’s first Hispanic four-star general. The post is located ha ...

, and 1/25 infantry out of

Fort Lewis Fort Lewis may refer to: * Fort Lewis (Colorado), a former United States Army post (1878–1891) in the U.S. State of Colorado ** Fort Lewis College, a college in the Durango, Colorado, United States ** Fort Lewis Skyhawks, athletic teams of Fort L ...

, Washington. series of what were called "Advanced Warfighting Experiments" at the

National Training Center Fort Irwin National Training Center (Fort Irwin NTC) is a major training area for the United States military in the Mojave Desert in northern San Bernardino County, California. Fort Irwin is at an average elevation of . It is located northeast ...

near Barstow, California, starting in 1997. The division conducted Limited User Test on the equipment in 1998, and the system was approved for production. FBCB2 was then tested and implemented under the Force XXI concept that stemmed from

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

Shield A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry like spears or long ranged projectiles suc ...

. The

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

and the

United States Marines Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expedi ...

reached agreement to standardize on a new variant of the system to be called Joint Capabilities Release (JCR) developed by the Project Manager, Joint Battle Command-Platform (PM JBC-P) that was fielded in 2013. JCR takes advantage of the BFT-2 network, a new satellite infrastructure that can handle significantly more data than the first BFT.

Deployment

The

awarded TRW (that became a part of

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...

in 2002) the prime contract for FBCB2 in 1995. ESP (Engineering Solutions and Products) is now the prime contractor for the system. FBCB2 was first used in actual military operations in the former Yugoslavia in 1998. It played a key role in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan starting in 2003. Work has begun on plans to reach the level of nearly 160,000 tracking systems in the Army within a few years.

Awards

The FBCB2 system, and the BFT system have won numerous awards and accolades, including: recognition in 2001 as one of the five best-managed software programs in the entire U.S. Government, the 2003 Institute for Defense and Government Advancement's award for most innovative U.S. Government program, the 2003 Federal Computer Week Monticello Award (given in recognition of an information system that has a direct, meaningful impact on human lives), and the Battlespace Information 2005 "Best Program in Support of Coalition Operations".

References

Notes

*
at,

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

at Austin, and

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Force Xxi Battle Command Brigade And Below Command and control Military electronics of the United States

Development

Deployment

Awards

See also

References

Notes