EUCOM Elevates Interoperability Demonstration to the Next Level
by Maryann Lawlor

SIGNAL Connections, May 2006

Featuring a maiden deployment overseas as well as abundant input from industry, this year’s Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration is set to propel the evolution of technology evaluation and acquisition in the U.S. military. Unlike the events in previous years that primarily showcased new capabilities, the 2006 demonstration aims at accelerating acquisition so that both the warfighter and the commercial sector can reap benefits faster.

The U.S. European Command (EUCOM), the only regional combatant command headquartered outside the United States, is the host command for the first time since the event’s inception. Spearheading this transformational CWID effort for EUCOM is Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Verbeck, USAF, director of command, control, communications and warfighting integration at the command. He points out that although the name officially changed from Joint Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (JWID) to Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration last year, the identity truly takes hold this year as CWID 2006 moves to an area of operations that comprises 91 countries. In addition to immersing the event in a non-U.S. environment, the change of location will help the event fall into step with two other multinational events: Combined Endeavor, an exercise that involves 43 nations and celebrates its 11th anniversary this year, and NATO CWID, an event organized by Allied Command Transformation.

To ensure that the command could take full advantage of this year’s international forum, Gen. Verbeck headed straight for industry, energetically seeking the commercial sector’s opinions and ideas during the CWID planning process. In addition to speaking at conferences, he engaged the members of the Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium, an organization of more than 100 high technology firms that have banded together to work toward quickly advancing their capabilities worldwide. “We have really opened the door to industry to help us make what is a good program significantly better and more importantly transform it now so that it has the opportunity to really make some significant changes [in the future],” Gen. Verbeck states.

In addition to industry, the general actively sought input from the governments of nations throughout Europe and in parts of Africa. Not only was he interested in their systems and interoperability concerns but also in learning their ideas about concepts and planning, he relates.

In the general’s view, these improvements will have the greatest impact on operations and for the troops as well as the commercial sector during the coming years when several existing programs begin to feed into each another. Specifically, Gen. Verbeck is looking at coordination of CWID, Combined Endeavor, NATO CWID and joint capabilities technology demonstrations.

The current events schedule supports immediate progress toward this goal. This year, Combined Endeavor, an exercise that explores interoperability among different countries’ systems, is taking place May 12-25. NATO CWID, which focuses on validating the interoperability of existing capabilities, occurs concurrently with CWID, June 12-22. Gen. Verbeck notes that Combined Endeavor’s participants have been invited to “look over shoulders” during the CWID trial demonstrations so they can learn about new capabilities.

“In 2007, the plan is that CWID will take place before Combined Endeavor so that countries or industry will come back and say, ‘We looked at what you did in Combined Endeavor, you saw what we are capable of doing in 2006, and we think we’ve got some fixes for things that are facing you right now.’ Then countries will get a chance, after CWID 07, to go into Combined Endeavor 07 and hopefully carry some of those ideas forward,” Gen. Verbeck says. In this way, the process can continue to build and merge toward a great partnership between the military and industry as well as among coalition partners, he adds.

But the general has even grander plans in mind for how CWID can continue to evolve into a more effective program for the military and industry. In his interaction with corporate representatives, Gen. Verbeck heard firsthand their frustration with both CWID and the overall military acquisition process. While companies say they have proposed many great ideas, these ideas have not led to institutional changes, purchases, updates or programs that ultimately resulted in greater capability for the United States and its forces, he relates.

What is needed to tackle this quandary is more than just the realignment of exercises and demonstrations. Rather, the general proposes a course that would harness the potential of new capabilities explored in demonstrations, merge them with lessons learned in exercises and move them into the institutional processes of acquisition.

“Part of the problem has been that CWID has been a technology demonstration, but there has been no onus to buy or to move beyond it being just a techie demo. What we are trying to do this year is move beyond that. We’ve brought in the Office of the Secretary of Defense–specifically Acquisition, Technology and Logistics–which manages technology and logistics for OSD,” Gen. Verbeck explains. The command is examining how to map the technology demonstrations to the acquisition process through the Program Objective Memorandum (POM). They then will try to institutionalize the procedure, he adds.

Although all the transformational pieces are on course, achieving this goal will require some fine-tuning of current processes. The first step would be to extend the time a combatant command hosts CWID from two to three years so that it matches the POM cycle. This approach would enable the financing of new technologies, align funding with planned technology developmental changes and then allow the services to sustain those changes with future funding, the general maintains.

In the meantime, however, CWID 06 is ramping up to examine dozens of technologies next month that can support information sharing in a coalition environment. With a scenario that includes hostilities and subversive attacks as the backdrop, troops from nearly two dozen nations will determine how best to make critical systems interoperable worldwide. But Gen. Verbeck emphasizes that EUCOM is striving for more than just technological solutions. “It’s the tactics, techniques, procedures and capabilities that we’re looking to improve upon,” he states.