Becoming a Network-Centric Military: The Case for Applying Business Process Reengineering Concepts

摘要

Network Centric Warfare (NCW) is the concept that will allow the military to transform from an Industrial Age force to an Information Age one. NCW strives to use Information Technology (IT) to make military forces more effective while reducing the overall footprint of a force. Capitalizing on the power of networks in this way realizes the goal of being able to do more with less. The Department of Defense (DoD) has placed a lot of emphasis on NCW as the future way of fighting for U.S. Armed Forces. DoD doctrine, including the Joint Vision series of documents, identifies Information Superiority as the key enabler of the future fighting force. Likewise, the individual services have also begun to take a look at how IT can be used as force enablers to enhance warfighting capability. The research reveals that although great emphasis has been placed on the need to become network-centric, there is no solidified game plan on how to implement it. The concept of Business Process Reengineering (BPR) was considered as a possible template for instituting NCW and was found to be a good fit. BPR is geared towards radical, fundamental changes, terms which can easily be applied to NCW. The research concludes with some specific recommendations for using BPR principles to facilitate the DoD's transformation towards NCW.