An evolving battle management and situational awareness system is allowing the United States to form a layered missile defense by linking regional, theater and national commands into a single network. A new battle management function allows warfighters to optimize sensor and interceptor operations. By fusing sensor data, the system presents commanders with a common operating picture during a ballistic missile attack. The technology allows users to select and place missile defense assets and to analyze and test for potential weaknesses in defensive coverage.

Governments, militaries and businesses worldwide are in the midst of various types of transformations. AFCEA members can be pleased with their own association's embrace of change. It always is important for an organization such as ours to transform as nations around the globe adjust to the dynamic information age as well as the changing nature of conflict and security amid the Global War on Terrorism.

Without a doubt, service-oriented architecture (SOA) and specifically the impact it will have on how personnel think about and deploy business services will affect the way the Office of Naval Research (ONR) does business. As others have stated in this column, the biggest challenge will be the processes and thinking that must be put in place to make the technology work.

New and effective technologies will be essential for NATO to carry out missions beyond its traditional areas of responsibility. Industry is a key player in providing needed capabilities, and ongoing cooperative efforts between the Atlantic alliance and its commercial partners need to be enhanced and their procedures improved.

The U.S. Defense Department is shifting away from building its own communications tools and services and is reaching out to the private sector for help in providing information to those who need it. The public sector is seeking to form partnerships with industry based on open standards, network centricity and collaboration between developers and end users to supply tools to the troops before the technology is obsolete.

The composition of the U.S. Army's strategic and tactical signal brigades is evolving to meet the changing needs of the warfighter, and communications is at the crux of the transformation. Simultaneously required for transformation is the centralization of knowledge, security, capabilities and maintenance.

Developers are using an ultra-fast broadband engine designed to make video games faster and more realistic to improve warfighting tools. This breakthrough capability-called the next disruptive technology by some experts-is smaller and more powerful than its predecessors and is causing the military and defense contractors to rethink the way they design systems.

More rapidly deployable, reliable, secure and capable communications systems are defining the next generation of communications gear for both the U.S. Defense Department and industry. One improved capability, which supports military contingencies as well as national emergencies, is based on a command and control package that incorporates everything over Internet protocol.

An experimental sensor technology may one day permit reconnaissance and combat aircraft to detect and identify ground targets more rapidly and efficiently than with radar. The prototype equipment uses a laser to create a high-resolution image of an object from an aircraft in flight, something that only radar had been able to achieve.

Electronic devices across an array of fields may soon experience major improvements because of advancements in diamond film technologies. The material results in the enhanced functioning of various technological tools, and organizations from the military to the medical community could reap the benefits.