The Enhanced Command and Control Spearhead – Along the Path to Digital Transformation

Colonel Andrew Mould’s article in Volume 42, Winter 2023, ‘Making Defence more Innovative’ gave a thorough introduction to the innovation landscape within Defence and why it is so important. Within the article he mentioned the role of the Capability Spearheads portfolio in accelerating innovation into Defence. This article looks in detail at one of those programmes, the Enhanced Command and Control Spearhead (EC2SPHD), and its journey over the last 5 years.  The article has been co-authored amongst EC2SPHD team based in Land Systems Reference Centre, Blandford.

Op PATTERN HQ, RAF Akrotiri, April 2027

The air smelled of sweat, stale coffee and overheated electronics. Despite some state-of-the-art technology, the atmosphere felt improvised—hastily annotated maps were pinned to the walls beside flickering digital displays and battered crates of supplies cluttered the corners.

The hum of diesel generators mixed with the frantic clicking of keyboards inside the rapidly assembled HQ, located in derelict hangar on the outskirts of the Permanent Joint Operating Base. An aging LCD screen displayed a mix of BBC, Al Jazeera and CNN feeds that all told the same story: the rapidly deteriorating security situation across the Middle East as Iran and Israel finally went gloves off. COBRA had met 48 hours ago and ordered Op PATTERN: the evacuation of all British citizens from the Levant.

At the heart of the operation was “Ecne”, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system running on a hardened server stack—impervious, in theory, to the Iranian-aligned electronic warfare and cyber threats that had knocked out most external communication channels. Designed to process vast datasets independently, Ecne sifted through satellite imagery, social media feeds, radio traffic and Defence Intelligence reports to locate British nationals stranded across the Middle East. With all commercial flights grounded due to the surface-to-air missile threat, the evacuation of civilians relied on this AI system’s rapid, adaptive analysis.

Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mills watched as Ecne projected the evacuation routes in real-time on a holographic display. “We have identified 146 British nationals in Muscat. There is a 67% chance of Surface to Air threat exceeding defined Risk Appetite in the next 48 hours,” the AI intoned.

Mills ordered an update to the extraction plan. The AI adjusted, running simulations and calculating new flight paths based on satellite surveillance of Israeli and Iranian units, Houthi rebel activity and Hezbollah movements. Corporal Jenkins, an AI specialist, worked frantically to tweak the machine learning parameters, reacting to new satellite data showing proxy forces shifting in Lebanon.

The HQ buzzed with urgency as Ecne projected escalating threats across multiple regions. With Iranian proxies targeting ports, border crossings and operating surface-to-air missiles, time was draining away. As the minutes ticked by, the HQ staff relied on Ecne to continually refine routes and minimize risks, racing to evacuate the last of their citizens before land routes closed and the skies grew too hostile to fly.

Link to full article.