Problem To Solve:
Tanker planning
The methodologies to service airborne refuelin requirements were personnel and time intensive. JIGSAW, and existing software tool to handle this task. JIGSAW was designed by the United States Department of Defence to complete this task in the Air Operations Centres environment
Details
Client: NATO AIRCOM
Status: Completed
User Group: NATO Entities
Product Highlights:
Only two weeks after the initial discussion with Allied Air Command, Allied Command Transformation Innovators demonstrated JIGSAW during NATO Exercise TRIDENT JUPITER 19-1 in Fall 2019. The capability proved to be a tremendous improvement over existing methodologies and was subsequently tested by NATO personnel during the NATO Specialized Heavy Air Refuelling Course in February 2020.
During the Specialized Heavy Air Refuelling Course a team of four students took three hours (a total of 12 person hours), to plan a series of 108 air refuelling requests, in a notional 24 hour mission day, as part of their course culmination activity. In contrast, using JIGSAW, a single test subject planned the same series of missions in only 1.5 hours with no knowledge of air to air refuelling planning and only 30 minutes of JIGSAW familiarization training. In addition, JIGSAW planned the refuelling requests with only 25 tanker sorties vice the 28 used by the students. This test proved the efficiency of JIGSAW in reducing planning time and resources, as well as increasing operational flexibility during the mission execution phase. JIGSAW provides NATO the opportunity to continue streamlining its processes resulting in a more agile and effective force.
Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Clow is the Allied Command Transformation Innovation lead for the JIGSAW project. “To keep our nations safe in such an unpredictable environment, we need to keep our Alliance strong. Innovation and experimentation are critical components of NATO’s future defence, security, and deterrence,” said Clow. “A culture of experimentation at Allied Command Transformation allows us to consistently revamp and develop our capabilities and embrace new concepts to make our Alliance more successful.”