Europe

Germany will deploy its first dedicated secure military satellite communications system before the end of the decade. The constellation is designed to assist the nation's forces as they support coalition and peacekeeping operations. The first satellite is scheduled to be in orbit by 2008, and the entire system is planned to be online by 2009.

The Republic of Bulgaria is facing a challenge familiar to many former Warsaw Pact NATO members as it strives to build a modern interoperable force under domestic fiscal constraints. But not all new Central and Eastern European NATO members are active in overseas security deployments both for NATO and for other coalition operations. Bulgaria is facing short-term as well as long-term challenges as it rigs for interoperability concurrent with a transition to a professional military.

NATO and coalition commanders soon may benefit from a Norwegian-designed data fusion and visualization system. The technology allows satellite imagery, three-

The German military is deploying an electronic communications system that allows users to exchange classified information across nonsecure fiber optic networks. Featuring

The French army is developing a common operational architecture that will allow all of its command and control systems to interoperate seamlessly. A key part of the initiative is

A seven-year-old British military communications agency is bringing both its primary networks and its organizational activities under one umbrella architecture that, if

The Portuguese navy has embarked on a modernization program that seeks to incorporate all of the needs of modern network-centric warfare while addressing new mission

Ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, other barriers are crumbling within the German defense community. The private sector is playing a key role in convincing the military to abandon its old ways of doing business and adapt to the dynamism of the information age.

Germany has accelerated a longtime move toward acquisition reform by consolidating diverse activities in its main procurement agency. These changes have been driven largely by Germany's new security mission and by the need to incorporate substantial amounts of high technology into hardware and doctrine.

The United Kingdom is implementing acquisition reforms designed to produce less costly military systems faster and more effectively. These choice program innovations are being applied across the entire spectrum of defense purchases as the country revamps its procurement process for changing missions in a changing time.