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Standards Participation May Help Ease Technology Gap

Allies should be part of the process for new communications and networking systems.

The growing technology gap between U.S. forces and their allies and partners could be addressed in part by having allies help establish standards for new systems. The gap, caused by advancing technology progress in U.S. forces, threatens coalition operations by leaving less advanced nations unable to interoperate with their U.S. counterparts.

A Thursday panel on assured interoperability explored this topic, which was raised earlier at TechNet Asia-Pacific 2014, being held December 9-11 in Honolulu. Col. Michael Sweeney, USMC, assistant chief of staff, G-6, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific, raised the issue of how U.S. forces would be able to extend their VHF and terrestrial communications to allies and coalition partners.

“There’s a gap there, and it isn’t even close,” he declared. “We created that gap, and it hinders our ability to share information when it is necessary.”

Chris Gieser, COMPACFLT (N-6D), deputy for C2/CS, Operations and Plans, weighed in on the issue. “We shouldn’t leapfrog way above our allies and coalition partners,” he said. “We must be greatly aware that they operate within a structure and a budget in their own country. We have to keep them aware too. If we do new technology, it has to be releasable or, if not, backward compatible.”

Gieser suggested another solution that would help close the gap. “Have allies participate in setting those standards and have a say in them—we’ll do all of us a favor,” he offered.