Experimental Use of the Electromagnetic Spectrum Aboard Designated Marine Corps Installations

1.  Purpose. To establish procedures for the experimental use of the
EMS aboard designated Marine Corps installations.
2.  Background.
2.a. The National Telecommunications & Information Administration 
(NTIA) serves as a National EMS regulator and establishes the rules 
and procedures governing Federal use of the EMS within the United 
States and Possessions (US&P).
2.b. Chapter 7, Section 11 of ref (a) authorizes experimental use of 
the EMS at designated locations without prior authorization when the
experimental operation's nature or duration makes traditional EMS 
authorization impracticable. This authority is commonly referred to 
as "Seven Eleven or 7.11" due to the chapter and part from which the 
authority is derived. 
2.c. No priority rights are established to use of a frequency under 
this authority. Experimental operations are secondary to 
pre-existing NTIA and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 
licensees, authorizations, or operations of other services. 
Experimental operations must not cause harmful electromagnetic 
interference (EMI) to any authorized EMS user. Upon notification or 
identification of harmful EMI, experimental transmissions will cease
immediately.
2.d. 7.11 authority cannot be used for the performance of 
Electromagnetic Attack (EA) or Electronic Countermeasures (ECM) 
testing, training, or exercises under any circumstances. EA and ECM
require separate and distinct authority and must be coordinated in
accordance with Section 7.14 (and Section 7.25 for authorized C-UAS
force protection) of ref (a) and applicable Joint Staff directives.
2.e. 7.11 authority applies to EMS use only. It does not replace
required aviation, flight, range, safety, acquisition,
cybersecurity, environmental, or other operational approvals and 
authorities.
3.  Concept of Operations. 
3.a. The Marine Corps will use 7.11 authority to support EMS use
associated with experiments, innovation, and integration activities
for the development of science or techniques for which obtaining EMS
approvals through traditional means is impracticable. 
3.b. Impracticable: An action or performance that causes extreme and
unreasonable difficulty, expense, or becomes unfeasible. 
3.c. Innovation: The successful, scalable integration of a system or
capability to shorten a kill chain, improve survivability, and other
military practices. 
3.d. Integration: The coordinated, synchronized application of two
or more systems or capabilities to produce a unified, synergistic
effect or technique.
3.e. 7.11 authority is an exception for qualifying experimental
operations. The Marine Corps must still strive to support EMS
dependent systems via traditional methods when possible.
3.f. 7.11 will not be used solely to support routine training,
exercises, administrative use, operational employment, or to 
circumvent otherwise practicable EMS supportability procedures.
Requests involving fielded POR or COTS equipment may qualify when
the requesting organization identifies the experimental objective,
variable or configuration under evaluation, expected output, and
defined period of experimentation
3.g. Equipment Spectrum Certification (ESC): NTIA certification that 
the system conforms to U.S. allocations and technical rules. While
ESC is a necessary part of responsible EMS regulation and
management, it often involves exhaustive technical reviews of
systems information and can cause significant bottlenecks for
experimentation and innovation. 
3.g.1. The Marine Corps will use 7.11 authority to overcome ESC
friction and accelerate the transition from bench to field by
delaying formal certification until designs stabilize.
3.g.2. Systems characteristics. By eliminating full reviews for
temporary, highly-mutable prototypes, the Marine Corps will be able 
to experiment with frequencies, bandwidth, power levels, antenna
configurations, etc. without requesting new applications for ESC or
modifications to existing certifications.
3.g.3. Operating Locations. The Marine Corps will use 7.11 authority
to overcome challenges attributed to desired operating locations not
being featured on existing ESC, therefore making EMS approvals
impracticable. Aboard installations designated for 7.11 authority,
the Marine Corps will operate these systems until the operating
locations can be updated on the respective ESC.
3.h. Frequency Assignment: Authority to operate in a stated EMS
band, location/area, and timeframe using specified parameters.
Experimental operations are typically meant to last for a restricted
timeframe (e.g., a few hours, days, or brief test windows), the
administrative lead time to secure a formal frequency assignment
could far exceed the actual lifespan of the experiment therefore
making obtaining EMS approvals through traditional means burdensome.
To overcome this, the Marine Corps will use 7.11 authority to
support temporary EMS use at the discretion of the Installation
Spectrum Manager (ISM).
3.i. The Marine Corps will execute 7.11 authority in accordance
with all guidelines and restrictions provided in section 7.11 of
ref (a).
3.j. Authority to determine whether requested EMS use qualifies for 
and may be technically supported under 7.11 resides with the
responsible ISM or Regional Marine Corps Installations (MCI)
Spectrum Manager. This determination addresses spectrum eligibility,
technical feasibility, deconfliction, and conditions of RF use; it
does not constitute approval or acceptance of operational, range,
aviation, safety, acquisition, cybersecurity, environmental, or
other matters outside spectrum-management authority. Requesting
organizations remain responsible for obtaining all other required
command and functional approvals.
3.k. It is important to note that regardless of being designated for
7.11 authority does not mean all requests can be supported aboard
respective installations. There may be instances in which the
desired frequency or frequencies are not available for use and
cannot be secured via deconfliction or coordination.
3.l. Locations approved for execution of 7.11 authority are
identified in Annex C of ref (a). The Marine Corps will not exercise
7.11 authority outside of these designated locations. Marine Corps
installations currently assigned 7.11 authority are:
3.l.1. Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center, Marine Air-Ground
Task Force Training Center Twentynine Palms, CA.
3.l.2. Marine Corps Base Quantico, VA.
3.l.3. Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, CA.
3.l.4. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, NC.
3.l.5. Marine Corps Training Activity Bellows, HI.
3.l.6. Marine Corps Auxiliary Landing Field Bogue, NC.
3.l.7. Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center Bridgeport, CA.
3.l.8. Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, AZ.
4.  Tasks. 
4.a. Office of the Deputy Commandant for Information; Information,
Command, Control, Communications, and Computers Directorate.
4.a.1. Provide oversight to the Marine Corps' use of 7.11 authority.
4.a.2. Maintain a Service-level 7.11 Logbook capturing the
installation executing 7.11 authority, Frequency Resource Record
System (FRRS) agency serial number, supported unit, submission date,
transmission start and end times, range or operating area, and
onsite Stop Buzzer contact information.
4.a.3. Make this logbook available to NTIA upon request.
4.a.4. Coordinate with the Navy and Marine Corps Spectrum Center,
NTIA, and other stakeholders when issues exceed installation-level
authority or require additional regulatory action.
4.b. Deputy Commandant for Installations and Logistics; Marine Corps
Installations Command.
4.b.1. Provide oversight to the Installations use of 7.11 authority.
4.b.2. Ensure installation commands support local EMS deconfliction,
range coordination, and immediate cessation of experimental
transmissions when required.
5.  Coordinating Instructions.
5.a. MARFOR, MEF, and Supporting Establishment Spectrum Managers.
5.a.1. Assess and determine the feasibility of support for EMS
requirements under traditional EMS approval processes.
5.a.2. Submit a temporary frequency proposal for support of
experimental EMS requirements to the cognizant ISM via Spectrum XXI
(Spectrum 21) in FRRS as early as practicable and sufficiently in
advance to permit required technical analysis, local deconfliction,
and external coordination. When the planned frequencies meet the
notification conditions in section 7.11.3 of ref (a), submit with
sufficient lead time to permit the required notification at least 24
hours before planned operations. The ISM may establish additional
local submission timelines based on coordination complexity.
5.b. Frequency proposal will be in line with ref (b) and will
include, at a minimum:
5.b.1. A Marine Corps "MC" or "MCT" agency serial number.
5.b.2. The installation and specific range or operating area.
5.b.3. The planned transmission start and end times.
5.b.4. The purpose and description of the experimental operation.
5.b.5. Identification and available technical characteristics of the
EMS-dependent system sufficient to support technical analysis and
local EMS deconfliction, including frequency or tuning range,
occupied bandwidth, modulation or waveform when known, maximum
anticipated transmitter power, transmitter and receiver antenna
characteristics, planned operating mode, geographic operating area,
altitude or antenna height when applicable, temporal
characteristics, and other information required by the ISM. When
validated characteristics are unavailable, provide a conservative
bounded operational envelope representing the worst credible
configuration.
5.b.6. The requesting unit and unit point of contact (stop buzzer).
5.b.7. Name and telephone number of the onsite Stop Buzzer contact.
This individual must have the authority and capability to
immediately terminate all experimental transmissions.
5.c. Marine Corps organizations and units lacking dedicated
spectrum management personnel will submit EMS support requests to
the appropriate Installation Command or Regional MCI, following the
procedures established by the respective installation.
5.d. ISMs and Regional Spectrum Managers.
5.d.1. Assess and determine the feasibility of support for EMS
requirements under traditional EMS approval processes.
5.d.2. Ensure that 7.11 authority will not be executed for EA or
ECM.
5.d.3. Ensure that requested frequencies do not fall within or
overlap the excluded frequency bands identified in section 7.11.2 of
ref (a).
5.d.4. Conduct analysis, determine ICM, and perform local EMS
coordination and deconfliction as required.
5.d.5. Register a temporary FRRS assignment in Spectrum XXI using a
"MC" or "MCT" agency serial number and station class of "EX".
5.d.6. When the planned frequencies meet the notification
conditions identified in section 7.11.3 of ref (a), conduct the
required external notifications at least 24 hours before planned
experimental operations.
5.d.7. Log execution of 7.11 authority as identified in section
7.11.3 of ref (a) using the DCI-IC4 maintained SharePoint list
hosted within the DCI-IC4 Secret Internet Protocol Router Network
SIPRNet EMS Teams environment.
5.d.8. Upload a copy of the experimental FRRS assignment Radio 
Frequency Authorization (RFA), or approved SFAF to the SharePoint
tracker for each approved operation.
5.d.9. Direct the immediate termination of any experimental
operation that causes harmful EMI or fails to comply with the
conditions of the approved authorization.
5.d.10. Periodically review repeated, recurring, or enduring use of
the same system or configuration to determine whether the
requirement has matured sufficiently to transition to traditional
ESC, frequency assignment, or other applicable EMS supportability
processes.
6.  Points of Contact. Direct all questions to the MARADMIN POC
listed above.
7.  Release authorized by Lieutenant General J. A.
Matos III, Headquarters Marine Corps, Deputy Commandant for
Information.