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Network-Centric Warfare

Q. Where did the term network-centric come from?

A. The term ‘network-centric’ as applied to warfare was probably borrowed from network-centric computing which arose through advances in information technology that allowed computers to interact with each other while using different operating systems.

Q. How does the UK NEC concept differ from the US NCW concept?

A. For the UK Network Enabled Capability (NEC) the emphasis is not on the complete transformation of their forces by first creating a network. Instead the intention is to start with the weapons systems, sensors and command centres and then link them together in a network in order to improve operational capacity.

Q. How does the Australian NCW concept differ from the US one?

A. In a nutshell, the Australian concept of NCW focuses on supporting a manoeuvre type of approach to military operations. Additional to the acquisition and application of suitable technologies, the human dimension is highlighted as key to achieving effective NCW and it is here that a significant difference between the Australian and US approaches to developing NCW is evident.

Q. What does ‘effects’ mean?

A. Effects are the physical, functional or psychological outcome, event or consequence that results from specific military or non-military actions at the tactical, operational and strategic level. (FWC – ADDP-D.3)

Q. What is Net assessment?

A. Net assessment is a process to analyse the total situation, including the adversary, ourselves, the environment, and the adversary’s perception of us. (FWC – ADDP-D.3)

Q. What is EBO?

A. Effects Based Operations (EBO) is the application of military and non-military capabilities to realise specific and desired strategic and operational outcomes in peace, tension, conflict and post-conflict situations. (FWC – ADDP-D.3)

Q. What does agility mean in an NCW context?

A. Agility is a US term defined in terms of the number of effective adaptations that can be accomplished per unit of time. Thus, highly agile capabilities are those that can anticipate or react and successfully adapt to changes in the environment faster than less agile capabilities.

From an Australian perspective agility may be thought of as ‘adaptability’ in complex or uncertain situations. FWC describes agility as ‘the ability to change from one type of activity to another in time to be effective’.

Q. What does tempo mean in an NCW context?

A. Tempo is the rate of a force’s military decision and action cycle compared to that of its adversary.

Q. What is situational awareness?

A. Situational awareness is the ability to observe and determine the orientation of your own, neutral and enemy’s forces as well as the environment.

Q. What is professional mastery?

A. This is a level of proficiency individuals strive to achieve so that they can effectively apply the art and science of war.

Q. What is meant by ‘system’?

A. A system, such as an organisation or living organism, contains a number of separate elements that have both a relationship with each other and combine to achieve a common purpose. Consequently a change in one element of the system has an effect on the entire system.

Q. What is reachback?

A. Reachback enables forces to access military and non-military support from the most appropriate source outside the battlespace.

Q. What does assurance mean in an NCW context?

A. Assurance is a US term defined in terms of achieving expected levels of operational and systems performance within a specified context, including an adversarial force in a specified timeframe. Adversarial force (i.e., counters to assurance) is measured in terms of work-factors (time to accomplish a condition or effect) and probabilities (likelihood of occurrence). Note that this is a broad definition of assurance that includes the general concept of information assurance. Assurance should:

• Provide the capability to deter an adversarial force.
• Prevent adversarial force from succeeding within a specified time and/or detect an adversarial force when it is being applied in time to provide mitigating responses to counter such a force application.
• Provide the capability to recover in a timely fashion from an adversarial force, given that the application of such a force has succeeded to some degree.

Assurance can be directly related to the time-value of mission operations.  That is, the time-value related to mission might be assessed by the following types of questions:

• Can the mission succeed within the resources/unit time expected?
• Can mission performers respond to operational and systems failures, and still succeed within some time boundary?
• Can operational or system resources be reconstituted, upon catastrophic failure, in time to still enable mission success?

Assurance is thus a level of confidence in the ability of a NCW force to control the battle-space with respect to the resources needed to successfully undertake various military actions and including controlling the options available to an enemy.

Q. What does reach mean in an NCW context?

Reach is a US term defined in terms of space-time where ‘distance is not a factor,’ but recognising that the integration of spatially disconnected capabilities costs time (i.e., there is a minimum delivery time). Time is the dominant limitation in success!

Reach may be thought of as the proportion of the networked force that can be effectively used (reached) and coordinated in the available time frame, particularly with respect to the sharing of information via the network. For Australia geographic reach (distance) is also important.

Q. What does richness mean in an NCW context?

Richness is a US term defined in terms of the total set of expertise, information, and/or capabilities that can be brought to bear, within a unit of time, to effect a decision or an action subsequent to a decision. Richness contributes to driving the margin of uncertainty in a decision or action downward.

Richness may then be thought of as the available options, within a defined time frame, for gathering, processing and sharing information via the network.

Q. What does robustness mean for a NCW force?

Robustness may be thought of as comprising two aspects:

1.      Resilience to degradation through attack or accidental failure.

2.      Redundancy of elements so that the functions of elements destroyed or incapacitated can be performed by other elements.