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The TOC-L Prototype Collaboration with L3Harris

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Teaming up to transform tactical command and control

As Great Power competition intensifies in the strategic Indo-Pacific region, the U.S. Air Force needs to accelerate the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS)—the Air Force’s contribution to the Department of Defense's (DOD) Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) initiative. The strategic cooperation between Booz Allen and L3Harris Technologies is speeding development and delivery of a proven, scalable solution to empower joint forces at the tactical edge: the Distributed Battle Management Node (DBMN) Tactical Operations Center-Light (TOC-L) prototype utilizing Booz Allen’s Modular Detachment Kit (MDK). 

The TOC-L prototype is a lightweight, scalable system modernizing battle management, command, and control (BMC2) to ensure information and decision superiority at the edge. Rigorous digital engineering ensures the solution is continually updated and easily adapted as missions and challenges evolve. 

Replacing a monolithic legacy system with a powerful, yet agile solution requires innovative mission systems integration: connecting sensors to effectors, enabling secure delivery of relevant information to allies and partners, and fusing and sharing data and intelligence via distributed tactical nodes. Working together allows the companies to make the system available to any defense organization on an urgent timeline.  

As industry leaders with a long history of supporting DOD missions, Booz Allen and L3Harris find their shared mission understanding and complementary expertise are an excellent fit to bring technologies to warfighters faster and at scale. “A commitment to accelerate CJADC2 capabilities for the warfighter is the essence of our joint effort,” says Khalid Syed, senior vice president driving BMC2 technologies through Booz Allen’s Digital Battlespace platform. 

The Solution: MDK’s TOC-L Prototype

Booz Allen’s TOC-L prototype, utilizing Booz Allen’s Modular Detachment Kit (MDK), provides industry-leading capabilities within a compact form factor. MDK is a fully operational multidomain integration agent for tactical command and control (C2), providing holistic integration of disparate tactical C2 data systems. 

The solution was proven at Project Convergence 2022, where it successfully effected joint all-domain connectivity and provided cross-domain edge C2—delivering cross-domain network integration, fires, and air pictures at the tactical edge. At Project Convergence Capstone 4 in 2024, Booz Allen and L3Harris demonstrated the C2-Hub prototype for the U.S. Army. This mobile version of the MDK-powered solution successfully provided joint service connectivity for the integrated fires mission.

The solution is also proving itself daily in operations. In 2023, U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) completed rapid deployment of Booz Allen’s prototype system thanks to a strategic collaboration between the command, the Information Directorate of Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), and Booz Allen. Today, this solution provides crucial BMC2 capability across the more than 13 million square miles of the European Command (EUCOM) area of responsibility.

These initiatives show how government-industry collaboration can expedite technical advances. Now Booz Allen and L3Harris are showing the power of industry collaboration to accelerate first-mover capabilities.

The Collaboration: Next-Gen Mission Systems Integration

“Our pedigree in communications, sensing, production, fusion, and lead systems integration makes this a good teaming,” says Toby Magsig, senior director of technology strategy at L3Harris. “We connect multidomain forces across the battlefield and in our partner nations with tactical devices. That level of connectivity at the ground, plus our experience managing networks, make this a great collaboration to accelerate MDK as a uniquely qualified solution at the tactical edge.” 

As an Air Force Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) digital infrastructure consortium member, L3Harris is designing and developing the CJADC2 digital backbone for the U.S. Air Force. The firm is also the lead contractor for the Cooperative Engagement Capability system, the backbone of the Navy's CJADC2 architecture and integrated fires capability. And aligning with the U.S. Space Force’s vision for a hybrid space architecture for the future, L3Harris delivers interoperable, scalable solutions at the tactical edge to protect satellite communications services for various mission sets.

The Advantage: Accelerating the Attack

“Legacy systems are designed to fuse a particular sensor with a specific weapon system to go after a particular target. That refers to the stages of an attack, the kill chain,” says Khalid. He explains that DOD is evolving from a kill chain—a vector—to a kill web, a mesh. 

“The hardware can correlate any sensor data with any weapon system to simultaneously take on any target or multiple targets. On the software side, the system can use data from any source, government or commercial, or from a partner nation. That’s the advantage of the MDK solution,” he says.

L3Harris’ Magsig points out the value of intelligent routing. “Just as your smartphone can find the right Wi-Fi or 5G LTE or even 3G in an austere environment, the fielded solution can operate in a denied, degraded, intermittent, or limited environment while still finding the best pathway to keep the joint force connected.”

Both companies are excited about the speed and synergy this collaboration provides. “We’re very pleased to be able to help the government accelerate progress on CJADC2,” says Khalid. “The best part is, this isn’t an idea we’re proposing for the future. This TOC-L solution is available now.”

Learn more about Booz Allen's Modular Detachment Kit

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