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A family of software-based radios designed specifically for export will allow many nations to acquire network-centric capabilities for their ground forces. Built around a waveform engineered to meet international standards, the radios permit legacy equipment to interoperate with other national or coalition systems in ad hoc mobile communications networks.

Now that the U.S. Defense Department has its arms around the challenge of moving vital information down to the individual warfighter, it is facing a new challenge of sharing information with nonmilitary, non-U.S. organizations. This latest priority reflects the diversity of operations that the military might find itself involved with for the foreseeable future.

Since launching its first offensive operation in Kosovo in 1999, NATO has been changing its command structure and improving its ability to deploy small troop units quickly to anywhere in the world. It has shifted from a regional focus to a global focus and from its traditional tendency of taking an immediate action outlook for the more proactive approach of preparing a vision for future operations.

A new, state-of-the-art command center is coordinating the operations of allied forces in Afghanistan. It provides officers with enhanced connectivity and situational awareness and features a specially built network to share sensitive coalition data. A large on-site staff of liaison officers helps speed inter-organizational information sharing and decision making, allowing for more rapid and streamlined operations.

The greatest challenge facing NATO interoperability is the desire of individual nations to safeguard information and technology from their allies, according to the general manager of the agency tasked with enabling coalition interoperability.

Despite a tight procurement budget, Sweden is maximizing the benefits of battlefield awareness by embracing network-centric warfare concepts. As the country applies these concepts across its armed forces, it also is actively training its officer corps to make rapid decisions in an information-rich environment.

People talking on cell phones while behind the wheel may be an annoyance during rush hour traffic, but the ability to communicate on the go is one that commanders in a combat zone crave. So members of the U.S. Army V Corps were intrigued when they discovered that the command that focuses on joint warfighter needs was developing a system that would allow not only mobile voice but also data and imagery communications. As a result of that curiosity and the work of many dedicated experts, troops rotating into current operations can conduct command and control as effectively and efficiently while on the road as they can in headquarters.

The United Kingdom's tactical and operational commands soon will be linked by a mobile, high-capacity communications network. Designed around an Internet protocol architecture, the system replaces aging asynchronous transfer mode equipment with a scalable application that can be configured rapidly to meet the needs of an expeditionary force. It also interoperates with other digital communications technologies now entering service with the British military and provides a secure messaging channel to coalition allies.

The pace of fielding technology is increasing so quickly that testing, training and maintenance personnel

Multi-National Force-Iraq, plagued by problems with incompatible data sources