The Government Accountability Office found that the U.S. Air Force has initiated steps to act on GAO’s 2020 recommendations by developing planning and acquisition documents with regard to its Advanced Battle Management System, which serves as the service’s contribution to the Department of Defense’s Joint All-Domain Command and Control effort.
The Air Force has made two ABMS-related efforts through Capability Release 1 and cloud-based command and control, according to a GAO report published Friday.
Capability Release 1 seeks to establish data connectivity between F-35 fighter jets and command and control centers. Under this plan, the service intends to deliver prototypes in 2024.
For cloud-based C2, the Air Force plans to integrate various sources of air defense data in support of homeland defense and deliver initial capabilities in 2023.
According to the report, the military branch also created a consortium of companies in June 2022 to support the development of requirements for the ABMS Digital Infrastructure and formed a new leadership structure for ABMS in September 2022.
“While these are positive steps toward developing ABMS, the Air Force has not delivered any capabilities to date and is in the process of identifying future capabilities and when they will be delivered,” the congressional watchdog said in the report.
