Information Flow Analysis of the Marine Air Command and Control System

This analysis is based on a model of the Marine Air Command and Control System identified in the Center for Naval Analysis study 'C3 Information Flow Model'. The study was the composited result of a working conference of subject matter experts required to identify the operators, information, and communication paths used by the Marine Air Command and Control System. The model was reduced to a numeric data base from which an analysis of the model's performance as an information exchange system could be evaluated. The timeliness, accuracy, and efficiency of the information flow was then examined based on the numeric reduction of the model. Among the many conclusions which could be drawn from the analysis are: the model could exchange limited volumes of information in a timely, accurate, and efficient manner; as the volume of information requirements goes up in high intensity air operations, the system as identified in the model will most likely fail to provide timely, or accurate, or efficient information flow; the absence of a formalized architecture for the Marine Air Command and Control system has allowed the system to evolve in a piece-meal fashion resulting in the suspicion supported by the analysis that the system is flawed to perform as required in high intensity operations. The analysis concludes that the requirement and architecture for the Marine Air Command and Control System needs formalization. Development of a Required Operational Capability and a Concept of Employment should proceed while study of the system continues to formalize the architecture required for the Marine Air Command and Control System.