CLOUD FORMATIONS
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hoot, move and communicate. All three fundamentally involve movement. It can be moving a small chunk of lead to its intended target or moving raw materials to ammunition plants. It can be placing Soldiers in the right
situation with the right mission to move to a specific objective. It can be moving information in the form of data from the location of observation to an analysis center, then back to field command- ers for decision-making at the pace of war. But the real challenge is delivering payloads to their intended targets simultaneously in a constantly moving and therefore changing environment.
In each of the examples above, we find that access to real-time information is critical to ensure that we are shooting, moving and communicating the right way. As DOD pointed out in its 2020 DOD Data Strategy, and the U.S. Army has pointed out in the Army data plan and joint all domain command and control documents, data has become the new ammunition in a changing battlefield. Similar to moving ammunition, we must be able to move relevant data to the right users in time to make a difference. Te U.S. Army Network Cross-Functional Team, part of Army Futures Command, is enabling the Army to leverage modern concepts and technologies to access and evaluate data from numerous sources, enabling faster and better informed decisions.
Te foundational concept on which many other concepts and technologies will be built is the cloud: the ability to remotely access data and services via an internet connection. In the same way we build physical structures, this foundation—while not as visible to the unknowing eye—is critical to a stable end-state complete with a frame, walls, plumbing and electrical. In this multipart series, we aim to describe the Army’s tactical cloud progress to date, as well as challenges to consider moving forward. We also explain key cloud terms where common understanding
PILOT TAKES FLIGHT
The Tactical Cloud Pilot with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, conducted in August 2020 at Fort Indiantown Gap, validated that units could be trained on new mission command software without being fielded associated hardware. (Photo by Justin Eimers, U.S. Army)
will be mandatory within the requirements, communications, acquisition, tactical and general leadership communities.
With the availability of dynamic computing and storage paradigms enabled by cloud computing comes a new set of challenges for how we use software.
32 Army AL&T Magazine Spring 2022
WHAT THE CLOUD BRINGS TO DOD Often “cloud” takes on two very different but complementary meanings. One approach focuses on the value of access to data in the cloud—think backing up the photos on your smartphone— while the other focuses on the infrastructure that enables that access. Te second version, often referred to as cloud computing, means that computing and storage capabilities require hardware and therefore, must exist somewhere. Tat can be your pocket, in the form of a smartphone, or your laptop or Internet-of-Tings- like device. It can be warehouses full of high-end servers and networking equipment. For larger workloads (such as artificial intelligence, data analysis, service hosting), it requires specialized hardware purposefully built to handle the kind of computing needed to create complex machine-driven neural networks. It can
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