October 27, 2014

STRATCOM Nuclear Planning Software Architecture to Be Upgraded

By ExchangeMonitor

U.S. Strategic Command will upgrade a key element of its Integrated Strategic Planning and Analysis Network (ISPAN), which national leaders and combatant commanders use to plan for nuclear crisis scenarios, according to an Oct. 24 release. Five contracts awarded by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Hanscom (Mass.) AFB to four companies—BAE Systems, Leidos, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman—will support modernization of ISPAN’s Mission Planning and Analysis System (MPAS), an integrated software system that develops fully executable nuclear plans and options to support U.S. leadership, according to the release published by 66th Air Base Group.

The ISPAN program management office is co-located with STRATCOM at Offutt AFB. “STRATCOM needs to be able to rapidly conduct operations across a range of conflicts,” ISPAN program manager George Beck said in a statement. “This MPAS effort will dramatically improve the efficiency, effectiveness and timeliness of planning and analysis.” MPAS’ latest upgrade will entail several enhancements, including greater processing speed, applied to the deliberate planning and crisis response planning systems for aircraft- and missile-integrated operations, the release said. Other improvements include expanded planning for a new data federation—collection/placement of metadata into a single database—subsystem, increased virtualization capabilities, and enhanced analysis and quality review systems. The release identifies the Office of the Secretary of Defense as the “milestone decision authority,” and notes that the project has three spirals, with task orders awarded for each one.

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