ETHEREAL FORGE: Call for Participation – Test & Evaluation of Advanced Electromagnetic Warfare (EW) Capabilities

Overall objective:  Test and evaluate Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA)-conformant, modular, advanced Electromagnetic Warfare (EW) capabilities against realistic threats in a representative environment to assess capability utility, inform the development and acquisitions processes, and gain insight to support rapid, iterative fielding of Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (EMSO) capabilities.  The objective is to be a forcing function to drive towards the next generation of modular, rapidly upgradeable EMSO systems that will sense the electromagnetic environment, make sense of it, maneuver within it, and engage with precision at the speed of light.

Background:  Many promising EW capabilities are being developed based on modular hardware- and software-centric principles linked to mature open standards, such as SOSA, CMOSS, FACE, VITA, and/or AMS-GRA.  These capabilities require demonstration in a representative environment before being accepted by program offices for final integration.  This event will leverage lessons learned from multiple pathfinding events, experiments, and exercises over the past six years. 

Expected outcomes:

• Technology Readiness Assessments of the suitability for further integration and fielding of candidate capabilities (specifically software applications and SOSA hardware components)
• Key data to support future budgeting cycles and acquisition processes
• Data-centric assessments to inform mission- and campaign-level simulations, directly supporting long-term planning and acquisitions cycles
• Prototype infrastructure and process to accelerate test and evaluation of modular hardware components and software-defined capabilities