Building Blocks for Network Centric Warfare

There is an on-going revolution in military affairs (RMA) with a clear recognition by WEAG and NATO countries that Information Superiority/Dominance is a key capability for future battle scenarios.
Network Centric Warfare (NCW) provides the means to achieve information dominance capability. That is the ability to develop and use information to achieve operational effectiveness while denying adversaries the same capability. This means acquiring, interpreting, managing, distributing and exploiting information, proactively where effective, and either delivering or denying the delivery of the right information to the right place(s) at the right time(s), with the necessary fidelity and security assurances. This is a critical requirement that needs to be satisfied if the WEAG Nations are to provide, in joint and combined operations.
The concept of NCW is to provide effective, compatible, and secure C4I systems by using a distributed service oriented information architecture where applications and the information network are independent of each other.
From an analysis of the relevant and emerging technologies for NCW, the key technologies to be investigated and demonstrated in this programme in summary are:

- Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). The next generation Internet protocol which supports communication between diverse systems on diverse platforms over diverse communications media.

- Universal Mobile Telephony System (UMTS). The third generation mobile communications protocol which facilitates communication with mobile platforms at bandwidths an order of magnitude beyond the capabilities of the current second generation technology.

- Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN). The rapidly emerging broadband wireless technology for mobile connections through access points, and for ad hoc routing over multi-node radio networks.

- System Management. Management tools for a hierarchy of networks using IP -protocols.

- Information assurance. Assess security solutions and means of information attack and/or counter-attack.

- Emerging Technologies. Identify, list and evaluate emerging, and potentially disruptive, technologies that appear to be the most promising for future NCW applications.

- Information and data fusion. New developments in decentralised techniques to provide the capability to utilise disparate sensor resources distributed over various mobile platforms, to form a common operating picture, for more effective command and control structures.

- Ad hoc networking. A new way of communicating between groups of users without any infrastructure or complex management.

- Unmanned Ground Sensor Network (UGSN). Networking and fusion of systems of static, 'simple' sensors for ground target surveillance.

Over a 36-month schedule, the work aims through a focused development plan built up of specific stages, to have achieved the following:

- Understood the technical characteristics of the selected technologies via study activities, modelling and demonstrations.

- Developed algorithms and/or extensions to standards to increase the effectiveness of the selected technologies when applied to NCW applications.

- Developed an integrated demonstration of the technologies, and have validate them in a representative example military configuration.