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(U//FOUO) Airborne SIGINT Engineering Integrated Product Team Part I
FROM:
National Tactical Integration Office (S14)
Run Date: 10/07/2003
(U) Note from SIGINT Communications: This is the first of a 2-part article.
(U//FOUO) Interoperability....Re-usability...Horizontal Fusion....TPPU (Task, Post, Process, and
Use).... Today's buzzwords are voiced within NSA, but even more so, out in the tactical SIGINT
community. It is rare that these "in" words are NOT heard during any conference, briefing,
meeting, etc in the tactical SIGINT community today.Are these words thrown around just to
impress our stakeholders downtown and seek funding for a particular project, or are there really
efforts within the tactical community trying to achieve the concepts behind these words and
move toward a more collaborative, cohesive, tactical SIGINT enterprise?
(U//FOUO) The Airborne SIGINT Engineering Integrated Product Team (ASEIPT) is one effort
within the tactical SIGINT community that demonstrates true movement towards a more
collaborative, cohesive, tactical airborne SIGINT enterprise. In FY-02, the Defense and
Intelligence Authorization Conference Report stated that "ASD(C3I) should develop an
architectural plan to provide standards-based policy direction to the services, whose platform
program offices can develop systems and, to the maximum extent possible, share
developments." With two major tactical airborne SIGINT systems (Army's Arial Common Sensor
- ACS and Air Force's Airborne Signals Intelligence Payload - ASIP) on the doorstep of
development, Mr. John Stenbit, then ASD/C3I, responded to this report by establishing the
ASEIPT.
(U//FOUO) The ASEIPT consists of platform system engineers representing all the major
airborne tactical SIGINT platforms (ACS, Guardrail, EP-3, Broad Area Maritime Surveillance
(BAMS), Multi-Mission Aircraft (MMA), GLOBAL HAWK/ASIP, Rivet Joint, and U-2) as well as
NSA's Tactical Platform Division. NSA's National Tactical Integration Office (NTIO) is the
facilitator of this IPT (Integrated Process Team). The ASEIPT provides the forum for the services
to identify opportunities to collaboratively meet operational requirements while emphasizing
cross-platform re-usability and interoperability. Mr. Stenbit wants to foster true collaboration
between the services by using open systems architecture concepts in developing SIGINT
solutions once and extending them out amongst other tactical systems to the maximum extent
possible. Although it is not reasonable to expect a "one solution fits all" solution, sub-sets of
hardware, software, implementation standards, etc. may be leveraged across multiple service
SIGINT platforms.
(U//FOUO) The ASEIPT provided the avenue for the Army and Air Force to develop a joint open
system architecture baseline and the establishment of their relationship was formalized between
the two program offices. This collaboration has grown in importance with the Navy's decision to
adopt the ACS as its next generation tactical SIGINT platform (EP-3 replacement). We will now
have three Services working collaboratively to design next generation tactical airborne SIGINT
systems.
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid comms)."
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DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108