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Poster Abstract Due Date: 25 January 2025
For a downloadable version of the Call for Abstracts, please click here.
We invite you to participate in the 31st National Fire Control Symposium (NFCS) which will take place in Norfolk, Virginia, 10 - 13 March 2025. The NFCS, heralded as the premiere forum for discussing the entire kill web, has served the Integrated Fire Control - Community of Interest (IFC-COI) for over three decades. Due to its restricted and no-foreign format, the NFCS is in a unique position to cultivate lasting relationships between the forward operators, service communities, warfare centers, laboratories, and our industry partners.
Initially launched in 1992 by the Air Force, and subsequently supported by the Army, Navy, and Marines, and the Missile Defense Agency, the NFCS is now an industry sponsored event. The 2025 event features the U.S. Navy as the lead technical advisor. The event has been successful in engaging the multi-services, industry, and academia in synergistic relationships and discussions. With continued reduction in budgets, the government has an increasing reliance on cooperative research efforts. The size and focus of the NFCS promotes a greater number of productive contacts and collaborative relationships, provides an overview of a larger number of external research efforts, and provides U.S. researchers with a deeper understanding of the state-of-the-art and the warfighter's perspective. The net result is the potential reduction in duplication of work completed by academia, industry, and the services, as well as the promotion of scientific advancements resulting from joint efforts that could save DoD valuable time and financial resources, while defining innovative solutions to technology challenges.
Along with concurrent technical sessions offered throughout the week, attendees can attend a flag level Plenary Session, special topic presentations, a technical poster session, and many networking and collaboration functions. The topics chosen will support the 2025 theme “Fire Control in the Age of Peer Competition” which is critical to ensuring U.S. advantage over peer adversaries.
The 2025 Call For Abstracts will focus on both kill web elements and specific topic areas. All abstracts must fit in one or more of these elements AND Topics:
This kill web element requires that platform and operator have the necessary tools and training to prepare, configure, and employ the platforms’ systems to successfully complete the kill web. Successful execution of distributed Integrated Fire Control (IFC) requires preparation to ensure optimization of battlespace, maximization of effect, and appropriate allocation of platform, sensor, and weapon resources. This preparation occurs both pre-mission as a function of training, system optimization, and mission planning at multiple levels, and during active operations as a function of battle management, to include dynamic re-planning. Successful preparation requires accurate modeling and simulation (M&S) representations of red and blue capabilities and limitations, relevant decision aids, understanding of force employment concepts, and thorough knowledge of system functions and constraints in relevant operational environments. Increasing warfighting complexity demands specialized tactical training, improved decision speed, and dynamic resource allocation. This need is central to operations in all services, at all levels of war, and in all domains.
This kill web element requires that systems have the ability to persistently search a volume that is expected to contain threats, and to collect, integrate, correlate, and disseminate (to include in flight target update) surveillance information (manually or automatically) to other elements of the kill web. Successful execution of distributed IFC requires delivery of precision effects with advanced networking, integrated sensor approaches, and multi-node collaboration/decision support tools. Many challenges exist to enable tasking, collection, processing, exploitation, dissemination, and management of the extensive and diverse set of data sources to rapidly orient to evolving threats. These core capabilities are imperative to provide warfighters with timely, decision quality and actionable combat data at the tactical edge. This pertains to current and proposed systems and technologies that address these challenges and improve the integration of multi-domain command & control (C2) and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.
This kill web element requires that a system detects targets at sufficient range to support mission objectives, in a manner that enables track initiation. Successful execution of distributed IFC requires accurate, timely, and persistent situational awareness (SA) and the means to effectively communicate SA to assets in theater. Global, theater, regional, and area detection must be supported by robust and complimentary multi-domain, multi-sensor (electro-optical, infrared, radio frequency, offboard) capabilities including efficient handover of detections for tracking and engagement, to include operations in denied environments.
This kill web element requires that sensors and systems provide timely information of sufficient quality to engage at ranges relevant to support mission objectives. Successful execution of distributed IFC requires the ability to maintain track integrity, and manage a track picture to support force interoperability and common field of view. Multi-domain, multi-sensor (electro-optical, infrared, radio frequency, offboard) data fusion supports robust and accurate track management while suppressing/mitigating effects of deception and electronic attack. Sensor fusion at the data, feature, and decision levels enable optimal fire control solutions.
This kill web element requires that the system accurately identify targets at sufficient range to employ weapon(s)/effects in support of mission objectives. Successful execution of distributed IFC requires the development and deployment of a reliable and accurate Combat Identification (CID) capability. CID enables the warfighter to locate and identify critical targets with high precision, permits use of long-range weapons, prevents fratricide, enhances battlefield situational awareness, reduces leakage and waste, and reduces exposure of blue forces to enemy fire. This topic will explore innovative architectural, algorithmic, hardware, software, and system integration solutions, as well as near-term operational lessons learned, the decisions and processes involved in CID, and current/emerging CID requirements for all services. CID addresses all functional elements of cooperative and non-cooperative techniques while suppressing/mitigating effects of deception and electronic attack.
This kill web element requires successful engagement scheduling and coordination to enable weapon employment. This requires sufficiency of communication between the control platform and supported weapons, as well as timely and accurate execution of post-launch operations such as in-flight target updates that support target defeat and sufficient weapon lethality at combat relevant ranges. Successful execution of distributed IFC requires one or more engagement alternatives that satisfy mission objectives in both benign and degraded environments. IFC performance is directly dependent on a number of factors, from environmental impacts to the performance of platform-specific systems and sub-systems, including hardware and software. This topic can include analysis of the impact of the design and configuration of platforms, sensors, and kinetic and non-kinetic weapons and effectors on fire control system performance. In addition to considering offensive fire control performance, this topic also addresses defensive capabilities that enable the fire control system to perform in highly contested environments.
This kill web element requires accurate and timely assessment that supports re-engagement and concurrent surveillance, detection, and tracking of additional threats. Successful execution of distributed IFC requires timely and accurate battle damage and kill assessment. This permits sensor and weapon resource re-allocation, limits over-expenditure of weapons, and ensures any required re-engagement occurs in a timeline that supports optimal weapon-target pairing for threats of varying range and speed.
Emerging concepts and technologies will be part of the warfighter’s future arsenal and fire control capabilities. These are the “seed corn” for advanced fire control sensors and systems and the technology game changers that will give tomorrow’s military forces break-through capabilities and overwhelming advantages in future conflicts within both the conventional and unconventional (asymmetric) environments. This topic addresses:
Rapid advances in autonomy, machine learning, and artificial intelligence research will shape the future of warfighting and change how the Joint Force operates. The expected payoffs are numerous and include 1) accelerated pace of operations, 2) removing human operators from dangerous environments, and 3) optimizing use of limited resources. To take advantage of these potentially novel and disruptive technologies, we must address the challenges of rapid, robust sensing and decision making in a highly-varying environment. This topic will include, but is not limited to the following:
Development and deployment of a reliable and accurate Combat Identification (CID) capability for warfighters is critical to the success of fire control for future military operations. CID enables the warfighter to locate and identify critical targets with high precision, permits use of long-range weapons, aids in fratricide reduction, enhances battlefield situational awareness, reduces leakage and waste, and reduces exposure of U.S. Forces to enemy fire. This topic will explore the innovative algorithmic, architectural, hardware, software, and system integration solutions, as well as near-term operational lessons learned, the decisions and processes involved in CID, and current/emerging CID requirements for all services. This topic invites abstracts addressing all functional elements of cooperative and non-cooperative CID for air-to surface, air-to-air, surface-to-air, ballistic missile defense, and surface-to-surface engagements, including:
Ranging from the low-end capabilities of individual actors to high-end and well-funded strategic efforts, cyber warfare is the most prevalent, persistent, and pervasive form of attack facing the DoD and the national infrastructure. Continuous probing and successful attacks are pervasive. The ability for our military to operate under these conditions requires fire control systems that are robust and resilient under cyber attack. This is particularly challenging given the threat is increasingly easy and inexpensive to deploy and very complex to defend against. This topic invites abstracts addressing all aspects of fire control in the cyber warfare domain, including:
Directed Energy (DE) technology has reached the stage where services are maturing the doctrine and tactics associated with the integration of DE weaponry into the operational capability of our military. It has long been seen as a “weapon of the future,” but the technology has advanced, and continues to advance so rapidly that the operational realities need to be addressed. DE enables the inherent ability for quick, highly accurate engagement of threats with little or no collateral damage for hardkill and non-lethal solutions. The very nature of the weapon that allows for the highly accurate engagement also presents a new challenge to traditional methods of fire control. The symposium would welcome all DE related abstracts addressing, but not limited to:
Electronic Warfare (EW) is the warfighting capability to gain decisive military advantage in the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) to enable increased freedom of action across all military mission areas. EW is comprised of Electronic Attack (EA), Electronic Protection (EP), and Electronic Warfare Support (ES). EA targets and jams enemy sensors, weapons, and communications systems (i.e. softkill). EP techniques and capabilities protect U.S. sensors, weapons, and communications systems against enemy attacks and intrusions. ES measures, detects, locates, and identifies enemy threat emissions and helps enhance overall battlespace situational awareness.
Effective EW is becoming increasingly important in order to effectively counter dense, coordinated enemy air and missile raids. EW systems and capabilities (including ES and EA) have an increasingly important role in fire control because of their affordability, re-use alternatives, and reduced collateral damage. Concepts of Operations (CONOPS) must consider the coordinated application of kinetic and non-kinetic (EW) effects applied across multiple warfighting domains (e.g. cyber, space, air, land, and sea).
This topic invites abstracts addressing all aspects of EW considered in the context of fire control and electronic fires effects, including but not limited to:
Integrated fire control kill-chains utilizing multi-mission sensors and weapons platforms are a crucial capability to enhance U.S. and Joint Forces effectiveness in all theaters. The operational arena consists of an expansive, dynamic security environment, rapidly evolving threats, and the global significance of maintaining stability and security in key regions across the full spectrum of operations. This topic will look to gain insight on those key challenges facing warfighters and the operational security concerns posed by regional peer or near peer competitors, current day pacing threats and associated rapid evolution, the need to preserve access in all shared domains, the effect on operations/employment, and joint, allied, and nation tactics, and techniques and procedures (TTPs) associated with multi-domain/cross domain fires. Warfighter discussions of lessons learned from these operational experiences provide invaluable insight for engineers, scientists, researchers, and product developers. Submissions by those actively engaged in field operations are encouraged to provide operational context and capability needs related to integrated kinetic and non-kinetic kill chain with topics such as:
Fire control performance is directly dependent on a number of factors, from environmental impacts to the performance of platform-specific systems and sub-systems, including hardware and software. This topic focuses on fire control solutions from a platform perspective, in the space, air, land, and maritime (both surface and sub-surface) domains. Discussion and analysis of the impact of the design and configuration of the platform on fire control system performance is invited. In addition to considering offensive fire control performance, this topic also addresses defensive capabilities that enable the fire control system to perform in highly contested environments. Other areas included in this topic are:
The ability to provide a conventional precision strike on time-sensitive and critical targets is of extreme importance to the DoD including capabilities and the technologies and testing associated with hypersonic velocities and advanced flight dynamics. Adversarial hypersonic cruise and glide threat vehicles present unique challenges to our defenses including very high speeds, high-G maneuvers, low detectability, exo- and endo-atmospheric flight, difficult endgame dynamics, and demanding reaction times. This session will address ways to reduce latencies in all aspects of the kill chain. We will examine technologies, capabilities, and experimentation to defeat these threats with both hardkill and softkill techniques. Areas of interest include:
Joint Integrated Air & Missile Defense, supporting both Homeland Defense and forward deployed operational forces, continues to evolve from organic sensor-shooter systems to networked sensing, decision tools, and weapon elements that can support integrated fire control. These capabilities can expand the defended battlespace. Further, they can accommodate multiple engagement conditions by improving defense capability against a full spectrum of threats to include cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, fixed-wing and rotary-wing manned aircraft, individual and swarming unmanned vehicles (UAV), rockets, artillery and mortars, and extend the radar horizon limitations. This topic invites abstracts addressing any aspect of these areas including but not necessarily limited to:
Live, Virtual, and Constructive (LVC) Modeling & Simulation (M&S) in tactical scenarios plays an increasingly important role in the development, assessment, and organizational training of integrated fire control capabilities. As the number, diversity, and complexity of interconnected fire control systems grow, field testing the resulting “integrated” capability becomes increasingly expensive and logistically demanding, requiring the coordination of assets from across the services. These same considerations pose significant limitations on the accomplishment of training objectives once systems are successfully fielded. Abstracts covering any technical aspect of LVC testing, M&S, or wargaming and training exercises are encouraged. Of particular interest are abstracts discussing:
Successful execution of multi-mission IFC effects requires preparation to ensure optimization of battlespace, maximization of effect, and appropriate allocation of platform, sensor, and weapon resources. This preparation occurs both pre-mission as a function of Mission Planning at multiple levels, and during active operations as a function of Battle Management, to include dynamic re-planning. Successful Mission Planning and Battle Management require accurate representations of red and blue capabilities, understanding of force employment concepts, and thorough knowledge of system functions and constraints in relevant operational environments. The increasing complexity and size of the operational environment, advanced technologies, and adversary capabilities demand improved decision speed, dynamic resource allocation, and seamless handoff of functions between disparate nodes across the operational theater. This need is central to operations in all services, at all levels of war, and in all domains. This topic invites abstracts addressing any aspect of these areas including:
Multi-Domain Command and Control & Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance is critical to the warfighter’s ability to deliver precision effects through the integration across domains with advanced networking, integrated sensor approaches, and multi-node collaboration/decision support tools. Abundant challenges exist to enable tasking, collection, processing, exploitation, dissemination, and management of the extensive and diverse set of data sources to rapidly orient to evolving threats. These core capabilities and mission needs are imperative to provide warfighters with timely, decision quality and actionable combat data at the tactical edge. Abstracts are sought for current and proposed systems and technologies that address these challenges and improve the integration of multi-domain C2 and ISR capabilities. Examples of topics include, but are not limited to the following:
Engagements against targets in contested environments require rapid execution of networked and distributed warfare in the face of ever more complex and difficult combat environments: (1) mobile and extended range target engagements compress decision times; (2) advanced sensors provide high volumes of raw data that must be processed to extract target information; (3) expectations of precision targeting at long ranges extend kill chain execution times; and (4) coordinated actions by distributed forces require reliable data exchanges for command and control. Integrated systems can leverage networked, distributed, or shared information to achieve greater overall capability, with the potential to substantially improve joint and coalition operations. This topic will consider approaches to extending and accelerating all elements of distributed kill chains for air-to-surface, air-to-air, surface-to-air, surface-to-surface, and subsurface-to-surface engagements. In addition, this topic will explore innovative algorithmic, architectural, hardware, software, and system integration solutions; near-term operational lessons learned; unique kinetic and non-kinetic engagement capabilities enabled by agile and extendable networked systems; decisions and processes involved in target selection; and current and emerging fire control requirements in the age of distributed warfare. Topics include but are not limited to:
DoD continues to transform into a lighter, highly flexible, and more effective fighting force. Changes on the battlefield accelerate the need for speed and efficiency in meeting warfighter needs. In a fiscally constrained environment, new capability development often requires being reliant on mature and adaptable technology with short acquisition schedules. This topic will focus on supporting fire control in the following areas:
As our fire control systems become more complicated utilizing multi-sensor inputs (EO, IR, RF, offboard), there needs to be a capability to fuse sensor data, as well as integrate and manage onboard and dispersed sensors to quickly reach optimal fire control solutions. This topic includes sensor fusion at the data, feature, and decision levels. Additionally, abstracts will be accepted that address Sensor Resource Management (SRM) technologies that incorporate SRM as a top tier system-of-systems function with real-time (or near real-time) interfaces to battle management and planning, command, and control such as:
Space systems impact the warfighters’ effectiveness and provide indispensable strategic, operational, and tactical capability. This is especially true in contested environments where space assets may provide the only visibility deep in denied territory. The need for accurate and timely fire control requires situational awareness that, in turn, requires persistent intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance, and connectivity in the tactical theater, specifically in active combat locations. This topic seeks abstracts that address:
Unmanned/Uncrewed systems continue to expand their presence on the battlefield from strategic High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) systems conducting strategic surveillance, down to small hand launched systems. Today many unmanned/uncrewed systems serve to carry Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) sensors or communications relay payloads, while a number of platforms are being weaponized. Unmanned/Uncrewed systems of all types will continue to be an integral part of modern-day combat fire control. This topic invites abstracts that focus on any fire control related aspect of these platforms (whether in the air, on the ground, on the surface, or underwater) and will include, but are not limited to such key topics as:
There are many options available for weapon engagement that are enabled by the future of netted systems and the increasing array of available weapons. The ability to engage targets globally is still a high priority that brings its own set of challenges. This topic will focus on one or more of the following areas:
Effective Fire Control starts with understanding the Threat. Rapidly advancing threat capability stresses all phases of the kill web, driving the need for advancement in testing and training, sensor technology and CONOPs, weapon system doctrine, engagement, and assessment. In this era of Great Power Competition with Peer adversaries, staying ahead of the threat is critical to successful fire control execution. From threat assessment, starting with the intelligence community, to the development of accurate threat representations to support weapon system development, testing, and training, through post-engagement analysis, the need to understand the threat is ever-present. Abstracts covering any technical aspect of threat assessment, representation, and analysis are encouraged. Of particular interest are abstracts discussing:
Approved for Public Release/Unlimited Distribution; Case File Number: 88ABW-2020-1286; 29 April 2020