Warfighters Gear Up to Address Interoperability Issues
Armed forces from a multitude of nations and U.S. government agencies will come together next month for their annual examination of interoperability in a coalition environment. Although the focus will be on homeland defense and homeland security technologies, participants in the Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (CWID) also will scrutinize promising communications capabilities with broader missions in mind.
Coalition demonstration participants assess capabilities that support homeland defense and homeland security.
Armed forces from a multitude of nations and U.S. government agencies will come together next month for their annual examination of interoperability in a coalition environment. Although the focus will be on homeland defense and homeland security technologies, participants in the Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (CWID) also will scrutinize promising communications capabilities with broader missions in mind.
This year’s demonstration, which takes place June 13-23, marks two firsts for the event. The event’s new name is the most obvious change. For the past 10 years, it has been known as the Joint Warrior Interoperability Demonstration, or JWID, even though its makeup extended beyond the U.S. joint world. Oversight of the event also changed during the planning stage for this year’s demonstration. While the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff still sponsors the event, last fall U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM), Norfolk, Virginia, assumed oversight for CWID planning and execution. Previously, these duties were carried out by the Joint Staff’s director of command, control, communications and computers.
Despite these changes, the event’s focus and format remain essentially the same. The Defense Information Systems Agency will lead this year’s demonstration as it has since 2003 (SIGNAL, May 2003). For the second consecutive year, U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, will be the host combatant command. And as in 2004, participants will assess capabilities, many proposed by industry, within a homeland defense and homeland security operational scenario that involves military assistance to civil authorities and a multiagency task force.
Late last month, as the CWID team made final preparations for the event, between 25 and 30 nations were scheduled to take part in the demonstration, which will assess approximately 50 trial technologies. International participants include Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and several NATO nations.
The capabilities chosen for the demonstration are designed to enhance situational awareness, collaboration, decision making, and command and control tasks. In addition, they can improve horizontal information sharing in the anti-terrorism and force protection areas. The assessment working group also will look for the concepts of operations and tactics, techniques and procedures that complement the solutions and would allow them to be implemented quickly.
Col. Michael E. Lebiedz, USAFR, chief, CWID branch, JFCOM, stresses that while the scenario evaluates technologies with an eye on homeland defense, CWID is still very much a multinational effort. Col. Lebiedz emphasizes that his task was to balance the needs of homeland defense organizations with the traditional requirements of allied forces in military operations.
However, the colonel points out that last year’s event—the first to broaden the definition of the term “coalition” to include government agency cooperative efforts—revealed that specific challenges exist for interagency collaboration. “It is almost more difficult to do interagency than military coordination because militaries speak the same language,” he says. “In government agencies, terms, processes and policies often differ.” JWID 2004 brought some of these issues to light, and now NORTHCOM has expressed an interest in setting up an interagency laboratory that could address them year round, the colonel adds.
Because the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has begun conducting its own exercises, its participation in CWID 2005 will be less extensive than it was in 2004. However, the U.S. Coast Guard and National Guard will play a more significant role than in the past, and Col. Lebiedz considers this advantageous because these organizations have both homeland defense and military experience.
The colonel admits that moving promising capabilities from the demonstration to the warfighter in the field is still the biggest challenge. The goal is to implement effective capabilities into the Global Information Grid within six to 12 months after the event ends. He says the right acquisition path must be determined to accomplish this task, particularly when the technology is ready for fielding in the middle of a program objective memorandum cycle.
Additional information about Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration 2005 is available on the Web at: www.cwid.js.mil
This year’s demonstration, which takes place June 13-23, marks two firsts for the event. The event’s new name is the most obvious change. For the past 10 years, it has been known as the Joint Warrior Interoperability Demonstration, or JWID, even though its makeup extended beyond the U.S. joint world. Oversight of the event also changed during the planning stage for this year’s demonstration. While the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff still sponsors the event, last fall U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM), Norfolk, Virginia, assumed oversight for CWID planning and execution. Previously, these duties were carried out by the Joint Staff’s director of command, control, communications and computers.
Despite these changes, the event’s focus and format remain essentially the same. The Defense Information Systems Agency will lead this year’s demonstration as it has since 2003 (SIGNAL, May 2003). For the second consecutive year, U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, will be the host combatant command. And as in 2004, participants will assess capabilities, many proposed by industry, within a homeland defense and homeland security operational scenario that involves military assistance to civil authorities and a multiagency task force.
Late last month, as the CWID team made final preparations for the event, between 25 and 30 nations were scheduled to take part in the demonstration, which will assess approximately 50 trial technologies. International participants include Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and several NATO nations.
The capabilities chosen for the demonstration are designed to enhance situational awareness, collaboration, decision making, and command and control tasks. In addition, they can improve horizontal information sharing in the anti-terrorism and force protection areas. The assessment working group also will look for the concepts of operations and tactics, techniques and procedures that complement the solutions and would allow them to be implemented quickly.
Col. Michael E. Lebiedz, USAFR, chief, CWID branch, JFCOM, stresses that while the scenario evaluates technologies with an eye on homeland defense, CWID is still very much a multinational effort. Col. Lebiedz emphasizes that his task was to balance the needs of homeland defense organizations with the traditional requirements of allied forces in military operations.
However, the colonel points out that last year’s event—the first to broaden the definition of the term “coalition” to include government agency cooperative efforts—revealed that specific challenges exist for interagency collaboration. “It is almost more difficult to do interagency than military coordination because militaries speak the same language,” he says. “In government agencies, terms, processes and policies often differ.” JWID 2004 brought some of these issues to light, and now NORTHCOM has expressed an interest in setting up an interagency laboratory that could address them year round, the colonel adds.
Because the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has begun conducting its own exercises, its participation in CWID 2005 will be less extensive than it was in 2004. However, the U.S. Coast Guard and National Guard will play a more significant role than in the past, and Col. Lebiedz considers this advantageous because these organizations have both homeland defense and military experience.
The colonel admits that moving promising capabilities from the demonstration to the warfighter in the field is still the biggest challenge. The goal is to implement effective capabilities into the Global Information Grid within six to 12 months after the event ends. He says the right acquisition path must be determined to accomplish this task, particularly when the technology is ready for fielding in the middle of a program objective memorandum cycle.
Additional information about Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration 2005 is available on the Web at: www.cwid.js.mil
