Linking four airborne platforms, nine simulation labs and more than 30 virtual war-fighting platforms is little more than just an average day's work for Boeing's modeling and simulation centers.

On Dec. 7 and 16, Boeing facilities in St. Louis, Mo.; Seattle, Wash.; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Huntsville, Ala.; Wichita, Kan.; Anaheim, Calif.; and Palmdale-Edwards, Calif., participated in three-hour, live, classified demonstration to U.S. military customers. Customer representatives also viewed the experiments onboard the Connexion by Boeing 737.

The experiments were the latest in a series of events planned by Boeing to showcase an architecture that integrates "best-of-industry" solutions to enhance the joint network-centric capabilities of fielded systems within the next two to three years.

"A larger, more comprehensive experiment is already in the works for late 2005," said Guy Higgins, vice president of Boeing's Analysis, Modeling & Simulation group. "The goal is to achieve improved capabilities for warfighters sooner than other, longer-term transformational solutions and at a reduced cost to customers."

The December experiments demonstrated Boeing's joint network capabilities of advanced battlespace management, shared information through a common relevant operational picture, and paired weapons-to-targets enabling a Joint Forces Command to achieve effects-based operations.

Four actual flying aircraft - a Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet, a U.S. Air Force B-52H, a BAT Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and the Connexion by Boeing 737 acting as a Smart Tanker - participated in the scenarios.

The "live" aircraft exchanged data with numerous simulated aircraft that included an EA-18G, V-22 Ospreys, F-15E Eagles, a B-1B, C-17s, Avengers, AH-64 Apaches, CH-47 Chinooks, an Airborne Early Warning and Control System aircraft, a Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft, and ground-based Units of Action of the Army's Future Combat Systems.

Both Boeing experiments involved the use of simulated U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force units in three simultaneous network-enabled scenarios - a time-sensitive target cell, an airborne electronic attack cell, and a ground attack cell. The ability to link recently developed technologies to fielded systems and future systems in a network will provide the U.S. military with shared awareness, speed of command, and dynamic employment of tactical forces in a major combat engagement.

"These technologies are available today. The question is how do we employ them to meet the needs of the warfighter?" said Higgins. "Events like these enable us to get feedback from our customers that tell us whether or not we're on the right track. We are looking to chart a path forward to partner with the U.S. Department of Defense and industry to ensure that these technologies can be fielded rapidly."