Rethinking the network: defense engineers ponder 'modest adjustments' for connecting forces.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: NET-WARFARE

Incompatible weapon systems and disjointed information networks continue to be a source of frustration at the Defense Department, which launched an ambitious campaign six years ago to reshape the military services into "network-centric" forces.

While the services have acquired an abundance of network-based technologies in recent years for the war in Iraq, most of the systems they still operate were developed and purchased a decade or two ago, in isolation from each other. These "legacy" technologies, for the most part, cannot exchange or share data.

The Defense Department, meanwhile, had expected that, by now, it would have begun to gradually phase out the aging networks and replace them with a globally integrated grid. Incompatible communications devices also would be retired in favor of a software-based "joint tactical radio" net. And current radio communications satellites would give way to laser-based space systems.

The introduction of the next generation of technologies, however, is seeing a dramatic slowdown. Systems such as the joint tactical radio, the laser satellites and the "global information grid" have proved to be far more complex and expensive than planned.

So, while legacy systems are not going away any time soon, the Defense Department is not about to downscale its network-centric aspirations, says John J. Young Jr., director of defense research and engineering.

As the Pentagon's "chief technology officer," Young sees it as his job to help bridge the gap between service-unique weapon systems. "There is a growing need for DDR&E to represent the 'E' in the title, as the chief engineer," Young said in an interview.

In his previous job as assistant secretary of the Navy for acquisitions, Young was in charge of the so-called "force-net" program, which seeks to integrate all naval systems. "As I left, we were working hard on force-net," Young said. But it will be difficult for the Navy or any service to make this work unless they synch up their efforts, he added. "For force-net to be truly realized it needs to be a joint entity.

Young now oversees a team of seasoned network engineers at the Defense Department. He directed them to come up with sensible, short-term solutions for making legacy systems interoperable.

The Pentagon leadership has acknowledged that it is not going to replace current technologies in the near future, and that "modest investments" can be made to improve existing hardware, Young said.

Most military systems...