Successful net-centric operations require joint testing.

• Author: Farrell, Lawrence P., Jr.
• Position: PRESIDENT'S PERSPECTIVE

The wars U.S. forces are fighting today--and can be expected to fight in the foreseeable future--undoubtedly are shaping the military services' requirements for new and improved technology.

The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly, have underscored the importance of joint operations and equipment interoperability among the services and with coalition allies.

The concept that describes the ability, of weapon systems to work jointly is "net-centricity," Military planners and defense policymakers have wrestled for years with a fundamental question: How can U.S. military operations be "net-centric" when most weapon systems were developed in isolation and are not interoperable?

The U.S. Joint Forces Command, which was given the responsibility to help set joint requirements for the services to achieve network-centric systems, is working on a number of efforts, including a joint command-and-control battle management roadmap and experiments in joint missions areas. According to JFCOM, the transformation of the military to achieve net-centricity is the command's primary mission.

At the Defense Department, meanwhile, there is an ongoing effort worth highlighting, because it focuses on joint tactics, techniques and procedures. It essentially zeroes in on testing the ability of war fighters to operate jointly with today's equipment, organization and doctrine.

Obviously, joint operations and joint requirements are far from new concepts. But the joint test and evaluation of multiple systems in a single operational scenario is not something that has been done on a routine basis. It requires a lot more cooperation and planning than ever before.

Under the Defense Department's Joint Test & Evaluation program (JT&E), the military services or regional combatant commanders can seek funds to help solve operational issues through the development of joint tactics, techniques and procedures, changes to operational processes and command-and-control architectures. Joint issues are resolved using operational T&E techniques, not experiments or demonstrations.

In a presentation to an NDIA symposium last month, Mike Crisp, deputy director for air warfare at the Defense Department's operational test and evaluation office, said the services need "joint operational solutions," rather than just new hardware acquisitions.

The $40 million JT&E program marks a step in that direction.

A nominating organization--a military service or unified command, for example--can...