To implement the capabilities conceptualized in the National Military Strategy, complex, secure networks of weapon systems, intelligence platforms, and command-and-control mechanisms must be seamlessly integrated and maintained over time. Accurate and timely information will enable National Military Strategy key tenets to be realized. These networks are central warfighting platforms in the information age. As these capabilities are developed over time in an evolutionary manner, interoperability on the Net-Centric Warfare (NCW) networks is essential, and both hardware and software systems must be designed in an Open-systems Architecture (OA) fashion to accommodate the vast number of changes anticipated. Professional Program Management will be needed to successfully develop these key warfighting platforms. Materiel Developers will need to recognize the relatively immature nature of the software engineering domains and actively compensate for this immaturity. System software performance capabilities must be much more detailed than typical hardware-centric systems, as the current state of software engineering disciplines is unlikely to satisfy implied, yet critical performance requirements. Essential OA performance characteristics including Maintainability, Upgradability, Interfaces/Interoperability, Reliability, Safety and Security (MUIRSS) must be fully analyzed and clearly communicated to the software developer to ensure the DoD obtains the flexibility and longevity desired from NCW systems.-- p. i.
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