United States Special Operations Command

The dimension of the battlefield can change as rapidly as the capabilities used on the battlefield. Despite all the controversies surrounding the expenses associated with the defense of our great nation, the single most valuable asset the United States military can utilize to accomplish military objectives is its people. This paper will discuss a relatively new capability used on the battlefield that will allow commanders at all levels an opportunity to better accomplish their mission and save lives: Blue Force Tracking (BFT). BFT utilizes a family of systems to bring battlefield situational awareness to the commander in order to provide the commander increased decision making capabilities. BFT can change the way forces are commanded and controlled, and can be used as a tool to reduce fratricide events that harm American forces and those of our allies. The recent explosion in BFT requirements has made it very difficult to equip deployed special operations forces (SOF) with enough BFT capabilities to satisfy operational requirements. Inadequate BFT program funding and bureaucratic inertia have resulted in an excessively long device procurement process. Funding issues and bureaucratic inertia have repeatedly created roadblocks that have cause unacceptable delays and prohibited forces from fully complying with operational requirements. This has frustrated SOF providers who are unable to satisfy deployed SOF requirements or maintain critical situational awareness of SOF involved in combat operations. The absence of programmatic authority has resulted in the proliferation of non-standardized BFT device purchases. This indicates the importance of BFT capabilities but raises concern over the standardization and integration of BFT devices.