The first satellite of a long-awaited U.S. Defense Department surveillance and early warning system is back on track to orbit in less than three years. The spacecraft, with sophisticated infrared sensors to detect, track and analyze missiles in flight, is part of a new generation of highly capable spacecraft poised to form the core of the United States' future global surveillance and early warning architecture. Space is the watchtower of modern nations, and reconnaissance and observation platforms are the sentries. Designed to support national and theater ballistic missile defense systems, the new satellites will enhance warfighters' global and regional situational awareness.

Future warfighters will benefit from enhanced information technology infrastructure and hardware as well as support services being developed by the U.S. Defense Department. As a part of its ongoing transformation efforts, the military is changing established cultural and business practices to meet the computing needs of widely dispersed U.S. forces.

Shrinking military budgets and stagnating sales are placing pressure on European defense firms to survive by merging. Companies seeking to do business on the Continent must be especially enterprising to find opportunities in this tight market.

It's time for us to admit that operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom both were victories for the command and control capability provided by the Defense Information Systems Agency, or DISA. The military's communications provider rose to the occasion and served up a platter of bandwidth to information-hungry network-centric forces. The result was two overwhelming victories that reinforced the concept of information as the linchpin for U.S. military supremacy.

With the Pacific Command's area of responsibility covering 51 percent of the Earth's surface, making information technology work to break the distance barrier is essential to the security of the Asia-Pacific region. This fact was emphasized to more than 3,000 attendees throughout AFCEA's TechNet Asia-Pacific 2003 Conference and Exposition. Held November 4-6 in Honolulu, the 18th annual event examined topics such as getting timely information to the correct person; sharing information; information security; policy, strategy, doctrine and organizational transformation; and the government/military/industry team. Senior military speakers and panelists discussed these themes as the requirements necessary to defeat "the tyranny of distance."

Being an AFCEAN for many years gives one a unique perspective on what makes AFCEA International so successful. As with any good organization, AFCEA comprises several elements that work well together. And, as for any organization that has continued to thrive over several decades, an examination of AFCEA's successes should help pinpoint areas to make the association as a whole even stronger.

The Swedish military is preparing the way for fielding its own soldier modernization program by 2010 with field trials beginning this year. In support of the effort, one company is developing its own soldier ensemble to meet Swedish requirements and to compete in the international market at both the system-of-systems and subsystems levels. Sweden pursued its own path in defense procurement and development throughout the Cold War, keeping pace with the latest defense technology in military and industrial terms while remaining strictly nonaligned. Industrial consolidation in Sweden with the acquisition of Celsius by Saab, Linkoping, Sweden, was the catalyst for development of the Saab Warrior soldier ensemble.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has prepared for a serious health event-including a biological attack-anywhere in the United States by building a multimedia command center in its Washington, D.C., headquarters. This facility serves both to present all the necessary information to a decision maker and to establish vital communications links to emergency responders even during a devastating public health event such as a pandemic or a bioterrorism event.

A commercial homeland security test facility is serving as a proving ground for systems and processes for all levels of government responders. It features hardware and software from dozens of companies as well as potential crisis scenarios developed by government officials.

Solutions to today's information security challenges may reside in the virtual world. Modeling, simulation and evolutionary computational techniques offer organizations a way to observe how real hackers operate and attack systems. Because tireless computers are doing all the work, data can be gathered around the clock ready for analysts to examine and evaluate.