COMMANDERS SITUATIONAL DEVELOPMENT & COMMON OPERATIONAL PICTURE
Assume an area of operations AO or a battlespace where a Bde is deployed to conduct military operations.The various commands right from the topmost echelon down to the platoon commander are in their own way engaged in the battle , with the higher Commands more involved in decision cycle planning and execution whereas the lower and subordinate tactical units engaged in combat operations.The battles of today are characterized by nonlinear distributed warfare attributes in a highly fluid condition with more and more asymmetric type enemies and enemy TTPs.But be it conventional or asymmetric warfare , the entire operation is composed of seemingly disparate and distributed combat operations by the various units throughout the battlespace.It becomes increasingly difficult to keep track of all such unit tactical operations in an atmosphere which is highly fluidic in tempo.The top echelon command will not have the time to focus on ground level tactical ops.
The standard COP refers to a single,combined,graphical, visual display of the battlespace environment , foces , and actions portrayed in near real time on an operation scale rather than the broader strategic level to aid the situational development anawareness of the Bde command headquarters and down through to the lowest tactical command so that these HQs can ensure that the proper /currect information is presented to the commander ..with every commander at every level viewing the identical graphical display.In this manner collaborative planning and synchronized execution of actions is achieved and the entire system acts as a single unit , coherent unit driven by the situational awareness generated.
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So far so good.
We can along these same lines create an intelligence common operational
picture ICOP so that every command level can share , synchronize and
integrate the intelligence products , intelligence feeds from tactical
operation centers supporting multiple companies,force protection
intelligence , security products like vulnerability assessment and
threart assessment, attack and IED frequency distributions and profiles
, special operations forces and R&S debriefs and intelligence
reports from the CI element attached to the teams and finally OSINT
which actually accounts for more than 90% of our intelligence inputa
though rarely realized.
If we can have a combined tabbed representation of all the above in
portal form on the desk of the command intelligence staff at every
level , with continuous updating by operators in the command analysis
section , in the TOCs and if we can ensure that all company and
platoons with organic intelligence capability (pl refer to my project
ARMY XXII) are commanded and controlled by the ''created'' Bn Int HQ
properly and technically then the 2 intelligence analysts can ''push''
intelligence discipline-specific (HUMINT , SIGINT , Tactical
questioning by trained inf soldiers , DOCEX , CEE etc) information
efficiently to their TOCs..with all the TOC forming a TOC
NET...connected with every command int section through secure
communication lines ..all the connected command staff computers forming
a LAN at every command level..all these LAN networks being connected to
form a WAN network comprising the entire Brigade ..then we can achieve
the ICOP , with the result that situational awareness is heightened
considerably as accurate , specific and timely intelligence is the
foundation of information warfare...if we have to get that comnpetitive
edge over our enemy and more importantly avert surprise.
Further this tabbed display will be in near real time.Every command int
staff and even the soldier on the ground belonging to the created (My
project ARMY XXII) can easily access the display..common at every level
, and retreive information of immediate need--this ''intelligence
reach'' is extremely important for tactical missions but hardly do
soldiers on the ground can access timely information or combat
intelligence.Again this portal can facilitate updating of information
through intelligence gathered by soldiers and fed into the system by
simply entering the information in a ''contact us'' message form
interface.
MILITARY OPS MAP CREATED BY KESHAV.THIS IS A MODEL WHERE THE BRIGADE COMPONENTS (Bn , Coy) are engaged in Tactical Ops in a distributed non-linear battlespace--mostly mountaneous terrain..N.E.Mountain Divisions are Headquartered as shown which are not correct in position , are included here only for the sake of modelling.This ops map does not represent any battlespace in real - its included here to explain the concept of COP with the help of TOCs and Networking.
The TOC's at Bn level collect all the HUMINT/SIGINT and R&S
information.These are analysed and reports generated.These reports are
shared horizontally amongst all the TOCs and sent upwards to the
Brigade TOC concerned.All the Brigade TOCs share the information
amongst themselves and submit a distilled combined and condensed report
to the Bde Cdr.All the Bde Cdr's forward the reports to the DIV Int
Staff through their Int Staff Officers.The DIV Intelligence Staff which
in turn studies the reports and places the INTSUM , INT ESTMATE and CI
ESTIMATE to the DIV Cdr.
| BELOW IS THE SCHEMATIC DIAGRAMMING OF THE ''AT A GLANCE'' PICTURE OF THE INTELLIGENCE SITUATION AT DIV , Bde & Bn levels ; The Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield Report; Threat/Vulnerability Assessments;the Force Protection Intel and FPCON Reports , the Intelligence Products brief ; the insurgent IED/Attack profiles ; the Deconfliction Reports and After Action Reviews. |
COP MAIN
COMMON REPRESENTATION - ALL ECHELONS <<For meaning of above terms please go here >> |