Network Centric Warfare: Background and Oversight Issues for Congress

Network Centric Warfare (NCW) is a key component of DOD planning for transformation of the military.NCW relies on computer processing power and networked communications technology to provide a shared awareness of the battle space for U.S. forces.Proponents say that a shared awareness increases synergy for command and control, resulting in superior decision-making, and the ability to coordinate complex military operations over long distances for an overwhelming war-fighting advantage.NCW technology saw limited deployment in Afghanistan and, more recently, increased deployment in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).Several DOD key programs are now underway for deployment throughout all services.Congress may be concerned with oversight of the DOD organization and the individual services as they transform through NCW programs that are intended to promote a management style and culture with joint objectives.Oversight may involve a review of service efforts to improve interoperability of computer and communications systems, and may also involve questions from some observers about whether DOD has given adequate attention to possible unintended outcomes resulting from over-reliance on high technology.Updates may also be required on emerging threats that may be directed against increasingly complex military equipment.The background section of this report describes technologies that support NCW, and includes (1) questions about possible vulnerabilities associated with NCW; (2) a description of directed energy weapons, and other technologies that could be used as asymmetric countermeasures against NCW systems; (3) descriptions of some key military programs for implementing NCW; (4) a list of other nations with NCW capabilities; and, (5) a description of experiences using NCW systems in recent operations involving joint and coalition forces.The final section raises policy issues for NCW that involve planning, budget, network interoperability, acquisition strategies, offshore outsourcing, technology transfer, asymmetric threats, coalition operations, and U.S. military doctrine.Appendices to this report give more information about the global network conversion to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), and possible perverse consequences of data-dependent systems.This report will be updated to accommodate significant changes.