Coalition Operations: A Compromise or an Accommodation

• Author: Vicki McConachie
• Position: Commodore, Royal Australian Navy
• Pages: 235-249

XII

Coalition Operations: ACompromise or an

Accommodation

Vicki McConachie*

[TJhere is no quandary in the mind ofAustralia's military leaders when we ex-

amine where we might need to be technologically; we use interoperability with the

United States as abenchmark. However, we must strike abalance that ensures we

remain interoperable with both technically advanced allies and those not as tech-

nically advanced, but no less important, regional and coalition partners. Australia

successfully led the UN effort in East Timor because it had the ability to flex its

command and control systems, technology, tactics, techniques and procedures in

both directions to accommodate coalition partners across arange of technologi-

cal capabilities. We must continue to achieve this balance within atight budget.

This will challenge our ingenuity and, Isuspect at times, our patience!1

Legal interoperability is, in many ways, similar to technological

interoperability; it is required for nations to operate effectively in coalitions.

However, legal interoperability is also in many ways more difficult to achieve.

While it may be relatively easy to persuade those outside the military of the need

for technological interoperability, it is perhaps more difficult to persuade those en-

gaged in international negotiations that military interoperability should take pre-

cedence over other goals anation might wish to achieve in becoming asignatory to

*Commodore, Royal Australian Navy. The views expressed in this article are those of the author

alone and do not necessarily represent the views of the Australian government, the Australian

Defence Force or the Royal Australian Navy.