Secure, Zero Trust, Public-Cloud Based Peer-to-Peer Messaging for AFSOC Decentralized Wireless Network

Beginning in 2018, as national security threats shifted to near-peer conflict, the Air Force identified a need to become more agile in the face of a technologically similar adversary. áThe Agile Combat Employment (ACE) concept was born, recognizing that rapid dismounted movement would be key to avoiding advanced weapons systems. áSpecifically in the Pacific, it was understood ACE shifts operations from centralized physical infrastructures to a network of smaller, dispersed locations or cluster bases. áCurrently under the ACE concept, Air Force Special Warfare (AFSPECWAR) operators are disadvantaged in command, control, and communication (C3) abilities between independent combat elements due to geography and distance. Current SATCOM and High Frequency (HF) communications platforms have proven effective in uncontested environments; however, near-peer competitors such as China and Russia have proven capable of degrading and jamming these systems, threatening theater C2. The conflict in Ukraine has shown Russiaĺs ability to degrade both legacy milspec communications equipment and commercial solutions such as SpaceXĺs Starlink, relied upon to provide in-theater comms. Beyond that, the Chinese continue to develop additional capabilities that could prove devastating for C2 in the INDOPAC theater.á Because of this situation with current equipment and developments by near-peer competitors, the Air Force has recognized the critical need for rapidly deployable, attritable, private wireless networks to allow airmen to operate in austere environments with denied / degraded communications. áIn a 2022 presentation on the Joint All-domain Command and Control (JADC2) program, The Congressional Research Service cited ôThe future operating environment articulated by the National Defense Strategy (NDS), the NDS Commission, and other sources describes how potential adversaries have developed sophisticated anti access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities [to counter] traditional U.S. defenses, including electronic warfare.ö These electronic countermeasures in particular severely hinder Dept of the Air Force (DAF) C2 capabilities.á If funded, TGrid will be able to provide decentralized wireless peer-to-peer video and chat across the decentralized wireless network without the need for a centralized directory or centralized cloud. TGridĺs decentralized identity and decentralized network solution is designed to run on a public cloud over public networks. The primary objective of TGrid is to provide transactional efficiency for cross domain relationships and transactions. It provides open source standards based cryptographic methods that are self protecting, which eliminates the need for expensive and cumbersome perimeter based security. á