Division hosts systems engineering meeting.

• Author: Rassa, Bob
• Position: NDIA News - National Defense Industrial Association's Systems Engineering Division

The National Defense Industrial Association's Systems Engineering Division recently hosted an interoperability conference in Phoenix, Ariz., attended by senior Defense Department and industry representatives.

John Stenbit, assistant secretary of defense for C31 (command, control, communications and intelligence), and Ronald Sega, the Defense Department's director of defense research and engineering, were the speakers. Senior military representatives from the Joint Staff, Joint Forces Command and three services as well as the U.S. Coast Guard, outlined their approaches to interoperability and identified several challenges that require immediate attention.

Stenbit explained his three priorities for achieving interoperability. First, it is important to establish a ubiquitous, reliable network that is nor "band-width constrained," and second, the network must be populated with data. The third priority is to make sure that U.S. systems can counter outside intrusion.

Sega highlighted the need for a fast transformation to a capabilities-based military and suggested ways to achieve this transformation.

Lt. Gen. Peter Cuviello, the Army's chief information officer, said that knowledge management is the way to transform the Army into a network-centric, knowledge-based force. Lt. Gen. Jack Woodward, Air Force deputy chief of staff for communications and information, noted that the service was focusing on architecture and information structure, in an enterprise-wide environment. His message was: "No comm, no bomb." The Navy, led by its chief engineer, Rear Adm. Mike Mathis, presented two case studies, one on time sensitive targeting/precision engagement, and the other on the Navy fires network.

Offering a Joint Staff...