Two energy-starved Asian economic dynamos may face potential conflict in their quest for access to scarce oil reserves. China and Japan are finding themselves competing for the same undersea oil deposits, and this could lead to armed confrontations between the former antagonists.

Communicating through a new community of interest network, coalition forces from eight countries examined information-sharing issues such as language and interoperability during a recent exercise in the Pacific Ocean. This effort was part of an intensive warfighting training session that gave the national militaries a chance to expand, improve and connect their command, control, communications and computer capabilities.

Coalition interoperability and transformation dominate the challenges facing the U.S. Army-Pacific as it supports the Global War on Terrorism. Nearby wars, backyard threats and rapidly changing network-centric technologies all compete for top billing for a component command that encompasses the world's largest ocean and more than three dozen countries.

The tactical level of the Global War on Terrorism is having a greater effect on the war's strategic outcome than we ever would have predicted. Rather than being an issue of doctrine or force structure, this is largely an information technology issue. Today, information gathering and information transfer occur blindly from the tactical level to the strategic level.

The U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) provides common-user and commercial transportation, terminal management, aerial refueling and global patient movement for the U.S. Defense Department through the Defense Transportation System and serves as the distribution process owner (DPO) for the department. Information and enabling technologies are critical to delivering DPO capabilities. The DPO establishes and monitors Joint Deployment and Distribution Enterprise (JDDE) standards for operational performance, data and information technology. It also sets the Defense Department's distribution technology investment priorities and serves as the department's distribution portfolio manager, determining a data strategy to capture requirements and to establish standards.

The U.S. military must incorporate the ability to change on the fly in its information networks or it risks ceding the edge in the war on terrorism to the enemy. Better communications systems and networks must be implemented rapidly and in a manner that permits the force to adjust to the changing tactics of an elusive adversary.

NATO Rapid Response Force commanders soon will benefit from equipment that provides enhanced situational awareness and battle management capabilities. The improvements are part of a package of networked decision-making tools scheduled to enter service in 2008 to support the force's deployable headquarters.

A new NATO member nation is deploying an advanced air defense command and control system that provides its forces with enhanced situational awareness and that interoperates with allied forces' systems. The system connects short- and medium-range anti-aircraft weapons batteries into a battalion-level network. It is designed to provide commanders with a real-time picture of friendly and enemy air operations over the battlefield.

Troops in the field may soon have a little help handling their busy schedules. Researchers are working on a developmental distributed intelligent software system that adapts field units' mission plans as situations and events unfold. The software can be used with a variety of devices and reduces the time and personnel necessary when changing tactics.

The U.S. Air Force is claiming the virtual high ground. The service recently stood up a task force to study and define exactly what cyberspace means in relation to military operations. This group, part of an ongoing effort to reap the maximum benefits in force transformation, is developing recommendations that will help reshape doctrine, tactics and mission areas for years to come.