Air Force Cloud-Based Command and Control Takes Flight

Greater situational awareness and faster kill chain closure enabled by secure, shared mission partner data and cloud environments

Mission Need

The U.S. Air Force faced a critical challenge: legacy command and control (C2) systems were stovepiped, incompatible, and required manual handling of data across networks. These limitations slowed decision-making, increased the cognitive burden on battle managers, and impeded the ability to respond to evolving threats. To execute the Department of War's combined joint all-domain command and control (CJADC2) vision, the Air Force required an integrated, cloud-based environment that could securely fuse data across multiple domains, reduce operator workloads, and accelerate mission-critical decision timelines. In modern defense, a 6.5-minute timeline to close the kill chain is a national security vulnerability.

SAIC + AWS

Mission Outcomes

6X faster decisions in tactical air defense missions
800+ data feeds from U.S. and Canadian sources fused into a common operating picture
16 environments hybrid cloud environments deployed in one year
<2 ms latency for secure data transfer pipelines

Solution

SAIC, as lead integrator, supported the Air Force’s Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications and Battle Management (PEO C3BM) in developing the initial cloud-based command and control (CBC2) capability for the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS). This solution integrates and processes data from more than 800 Department of Defense and Canadian radar feeds, significantly enhancing situational awareness for air defense.

At the core of the solution is the creation of a new secret releasable (S/REL) data environment in the Department of Defense cloud. Built in Amazon Web Services (AWS), the environment federates U.S. and Canadian air defense networks, allowing classified information to securely flow across domains. By leveraging Cloud One’s enterprise multi-cloud infrastructure and existing authorization to operate (ATO), SAIC accelerated deployment while reducing development costs and risk.

The team integrated AWS native services, DevSecOps practices, and identity, credential and access management (ICAM) systems from Cloud One to ensure secure and scalable operations. This synergy between programs positioned other mission systems in Cloud One to leverage the same cross-domain solutions for future innovation. SAIC also brought its expertise as a member of the ABMS Digital Infrastructure Consortium, helping guide Air Force strategies for secure data sharing, zero trust cybersecurity, and coalition interoperability.

Mission Impact

The CBC2 capability, delivered to North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), marks a significant advancement in command and control. By automating machine-to-machine data integration across classified domains, the solution provides battle managers with faster access to more sources of information and reduces their manual workloads, shortening the kill chain by 85%.

The S/REL environment and integrated radar feeds create a unified operating picture, enabling seamless collaboration between U.S. and Canadian partners. This advancement lays the foundation for scaling ABMS capabilities and advancing the Department of Defense’s CJADC2 warfighting concept. The result is improved situational awareness, faster decision-making, and strengthened homeland defense.