An updated roadmap to manage Australian Defence Force (ADF) transition to a seamless network centric warfare force was released last month by the Chief of Capability Development Group, DMO, LTGEN Hurley.
Network centric warfare (NCW) is about significantly enhancing the ADF’s warfighting capability. Operations in Afghanistan and Iraq continue to demonstrate the operational benefits to be derived from the enhanced information flows and consequent effects such as agility.
‘The NCW Roadmap provides the vision by which the ADF will become further network enabled, and operationally more effective. It encompasses the whole of Defence and outlines the key responsibilities for NCW implementation by all NCW stakeholders within Defence. The NCW Roadmap is a dynamic document that provides an overview of the milestones that we view as critical to the realisation of our vision for NCW,’ LTGEN Hurley said.
Critical to achieving the potential of NCW are the networks which the ADF are able to establish. The implementation of NCW is about capitalizing on technology to be able to do things better and achieving maximum effectiveness in how troops interact and utilize information. To this end, NCW will change the ADF’s training, education, organization and culture. It will also accelerate the process of change and innovation through mechanisms such as rapid prototyping, development and evaluation (RPDE) in concert with industry.
F-35: A key node in NCW
An example of the network centric warfare ethos in play is Defence’s approach to its air combat capability. Moving beyond legacy acquisition approaches of ‘platform replacement’, Defence is looking at ‘whole of capability’ for its new air combat capability – which at present includes a fleet of up to 100 JSF, replacing the capability currently provided by both the F/A-18 and F-111. The capability provided by the JSF will be integral to ADF network centric warfare – JSF is not a stand alone capability. When its impressive range, sensors, weapons and stealth characteristics are coupled with other ADF systems such as the Airborne Early Warning and Control Aircraft (AEW&C), Jindalee Over the Horizon radar and new Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft, our total air combat capability will be radically enhanced.
The NCW Roadmap also provides both industry and the wider defence audience with context of how Defence will implement the concept of Network Centric Warfare. It will alert industry where opportunities for future development exist. |
