U.S. Army Marches Toward Coalition Interoperability

摘要

The U.S. Army has partnered with NATO and other coalition nations to enhance operational readiness in a series of multinational exercises this year focused on interoperability. The drills enable national militaries to assess and adjust the interoperability of their capabilities long before meeting adversaries in the battlespace. "Establishing and maintaining military coalition interoperability takes more than just software applications, hardware standards and a network capable of transferring data among partner nations," says Mary Woods, Army deputy program executive officer for Command, Control and Communications-Tactical (PEO C3T). "True success is a byproduct of each country's planning efforts, technical expertise and coordination behind the scenes months before any equipment ever touches the ground in an operational setting." The Army is not alone in grappling with the issue of interoperability with coalition partners, both from technical and operational standpoints. However, many of the Army's issues were brought to the forefront during the services comprehensive network review last year. The review identified challenges that will be a main focus of its network modernization efforts. Transforming the service's network and command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C~4ISR) capabilities is a team effort. Materiel developers, requirements experts, research and development scientists, industry allies and coalition partner countries seek software applications, waveforms, gateways and other solutions that enable and simplify joint and coalition interoperability at the initial stages of design. The United States and its coalition partners envision that these new solutions, combined with improved training, techniques and procedures, will contribute to more effective mission command in congested and contested environments.