The military establishment is currently transforming
itself to fully benefit from advanced information networking
technology. In the past two decades, fundamental changes were
introduced to the military infrastructure; new information systems
were implemented, improving availability and management of
information.
But the flow of information normally fail severely,
as soon as forces start moving - technical restrictions limited the
integration of mobile systems to information "islands". Without
effective command and control systems, combat units had to be
operated "the old way", relying on slow and unreliable voice
communication, vulnerable relay stations, hand drawn maps and visual
signals. These "islands" were most common at the "last mile" between
battalion and brigade and brigade to division levels.
However, combat experience indicates that valuable
information is generated at battalion level - battlefield
intelligence, friendly forces status and locations, etc. A dangerous
"fog of war" results when real-time data is not fed quickly enough
through the command system, to update the "situational picture" at
the higher echelons. These conditions are most susceptible to
fratricide. Fortunately, modern, multimedia communications systems
are now filing this gap with advanced, automated command and control
capabilities which transform the military forces into more
effective, cohesive, efficient, and synchronized network-centric
system of systems.
|
