A time-critical military mission must be completed before a random deadline to be successful. The mission requires a number of Blue assets; the more assets that can be assembled before the deadline, the greater the possibility of mission success. Traditionally, military Command and Control (C2) has a hierarchical structure; information is centrally stored and decision makers are also centralized. The paradigm of Network-Centric Warfare (NCW) implies a more horizontal C2 structure. There is often little communication infrastructure on the battlefield. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) communication networks are attractive enablers of a horizontal C2 structure. A stochastic model is used to discuss the benefits and possible vulnerabilities of a P2P-enabled C2 structure for a time-critical mission. The P2P architecture can result in larger probabilities of mission success than centralized C2. However, its benefits are nullified if the time it takes to assemble the needed Blue assets becomes larger than that for the centralized C2.
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