All Systems Go - Vol. 1 No. 4


		Volume 1	Number 4

This Issue

The 21st Century Naval Systems

BY DARYL STEPHENSON

F/A-18E Super Hornet The Department of Defense, Boeing and industry have done a lot in recent years to establish communications networks that enable military platforms, systems and people to share information.

“The next step is to put it all together - communications, information, knowledge, and actions - to assure that everything and everyone is connected, that information is certain, that decisions are timely and that actions are fast and appropriate,”
said John Lockard, senior vice president of Boeing Naval Systems.

“It’s about improving the speed of decision making and the velocity of action. We want to complete the circuit and get the right information to the decision makers so they feel that the risks are under control,” he said.

Boeing is responding to the U.S. Navy’s vision for its future by bringing together the full capabilities of the company and the best of industry to develop new, innovative integrated solutions.

This kind of “interoperability is more than interconnectivity – it’s managing data as well,” said Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. “We need network-based systems that gather data, transform it into information and knowledge and then enable decision making. We need to put the right infrastructure in place to ensure that the right information gets to the right people at the right time.”

Boeing, along with its industry partners, is proving that “we can transform legacy systems and new systems into integrated solutions,” Lockard said. “If we do this correctly, we’ll enable the Department of Defense to maximize its investment in network solutions through the power of a total systems approach.”

The 21st Century Naval Systems

FORCEnet:

Managing the Network, the Knowledge and the Actions

The dangerous and uncertain environment of the new century places a premium on credible combat forces. Those forces must possess speed of response, immediate deployability and the flexible force packaging that brings the right capability to bear at the right time.

FORCEnet

“Readiness is the Navy’s watchword,” Adm. Vern Clark, Chief of Naval Operations, said recently before the Senate Armed Services committee. “Readiness is the catalyst that brings combat power, speed of response and the ability to disrupt an enemy’s intentions.”

To navigate the challenges ahead, the U.S. Naval services developed a clear and concise vision – Sea Power 21 – for projecting decisive joint capabilities from the sea. According to Clark, FORCEnet “is the glue” that binds together the three major elements of the Sea Power 21 vision – which involves Sea Strike (projecting offense), Sea Shield (projecting defense) and Sea Basing (projecting sovereignty). FORCEnet “is the operational construct and architectural framework for naval warfare in the information age; integrating warriors, sensors, command and control, platforms, and weapons into a networked, distributed combat force,” he said.

Specifically, FORCEnet is aimed at developing the software and systems that will allow war fighters, platforms and sensors to communicate and collaborate throughout the battle space to achieve unparalleled situational awareness and combat superiority in support of Sea Power 21.

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