To be relevant in an age of globalization, navies are discovering they must cooperate with each other more than ever. This year, the Naval Institute asked the commanders of the world's navies: "What is your Navy doing to enhance its interoperability so your maritime service can work more closely with other nations' naval forces?"
Admiral Jorge Omar Godoy, Argentine Navy
Throughout the 20th century, the Argentine Navy has faced the challenge of interoperability during its participation in different multinational missions-from the naval quarantine on Cuba as a result of the missile crisis in 1962 to operations for Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1991 to the blockade of Haiti in 1993-94. This concept has become a priority, however, with the beginning of the third millennium, since our nation's commitment to ensuring international security is increasingly calling for the presence of naval forces organized into multinational coalitions. The Argentine Navy believes combined training is an interoperability multiplier that enables the establishment of doctrine and procedures, as well as the evaluation of technological developments necessary to facilitate the conduct and execution of successful operations.
The following examples help illustrate the Argentine Navy's commitment to interoperability.
* Participation in peacekeeping missions: The current U.N. stabilization mission in Haiti provides a clear picture of the progress made at a regional level in this respect, with forces from Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Argentina operating together at the highest efficiency levels.
* Multilateral combined exercises: Unitas, which developed from a bilateral exercise with the U.S. Navy into a multinational exercise including the participation of regional navies and those of other friendly nations such as Canada, Spain, and France; Atlasur (with the navies of Brazil, Uruguay, and South Africa); and Panamax (with the navies of Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, the United States, Honduras, Panama, Peru, and the Dominican Republic).
* Exercises with the U.S. Navy: Gringo Gaucho, which involves Argentine naval aviation fixed-wing training on board U.S. carriers; and Solid Step, the integration of an Argentine Navy destroyer into a U.S. Navy strike group.
* Exercises with the Brazilian Navy: Fraterno and Araex-the high degree of integration and interoperability achieved in Araex in particular has enabled an Argentine naval air group to operate on a Brazilian carrier.
* Exercises with the Chilean Navy: Viekaren (a searchand-rescue exercise) and Integracion. In addition, the Combined Naval Antarctic Patrol contributes to human safety and environmental protection in Antarctica.
This outline further proves that the joint effort made by the international community has helped promote cooperation and friendship between the different countries in the Americas, and also has contributed to the implementation of confidence-building measures between nations with a view to preserving stability and international peace.
Admiral Roberto de Guimarães Carvalho, Brazilian Navy
The world is witnessing a trend of growing asymmetries among nations stemming mainly from the technological evolution of their military capabilities. Many countries resort to alliances and coalitions as a means to reduce or (in some cases) increase those asymmetries. In both instances, interoperability among their armed forces plays a very important role, contributing to the enhancement of potential strengths or to offset common weaknesses. Participation in multinational exercises is one of the ways to improve interoperability.
Accordingly, the Brazilian Navy takes part in regular exercises with friendly navies, such as: Fraterno and Araex with Argentina, which include take-off and landing operations of Argentinean aircraft from the Brazilian aircraft carrier São Paulo; Ãguas Claras (a mine-countermeasures exercise) and Uruex (carrier operations) with Uruguay; Acrux (amphibious operations) with Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay; VenBras with Venezuela; Bogatun with Chile; Ninfa (riverine operations) with Paraguay; Swordfish and Linked Seas with NATO navies; Atlasur with Argentina, South Africa, and Uruguay; and Unitas with Argentina, the United States, and Uruguay (and occasionally with other countries).
There already are several international exercises scheduled for 2005. It is worth mentioning that the Brazilian Navy will be organizing Unitas 2005, which will take place mostly in Brazilian waters.
Another way of enhancing interoperability is through personnel-exchange programs. Brazilian Navy officers and enlisted personnel are assigned to friendly navy units, and vice versa, for up to two-year exchange programs. This interaction provides better training for our personnel and helps improve doctrine and procedures.
Interoperability also demands that naval forces be kept at high readiness levels, which can be maintained only through a time-consuming and onerous process, ranging from design and development to building and evaluation of naval assets. Ever conscious of such requirements, the Brazilian Navy recently submitted to the Ministry of Defense a new fleet renovation program. Realistic in its views of Brazilian political, economic, and strategic scenarios, the program is an effort to reduce materiel and technological deficiencies stemming from a long period of budgetary constraints.
All of these undertakings contribute to Brazil's long tradition of operating with friendly countries, strengthening the historical bonds that bring us together.
Vice Admiral at Bruce Maclean, Candian Navy
The evolution of the world into a single battle space demands we change our outlook, approach, tools, and doctrine. It obliges us to look at our immediate ocean frontiers in the same way as we view, say, the Persian Gulf, for both are equally important "operational" areas to us. To accomplish this daunting task both at home and abroad, the Canadian Navy must possess the tools to operate, integrate, and command naval and maritime forces multinationally, continentally, and domestically. Interoperability is key to ensuring success, and indeed it is the cornerstone of naval policy that has enabled the Canadian Navy to meet the challenges of the new strategic environment.
At the heart of the Canadian Navy's interoperability is the transformation and modernization of its command-and-control infrastructure. Domestically, continuing activities include the development of joint marine security operation centers integrating diverse data sources such as highfrequency surface warning radars, unmanned aerial vehicles, helicopters, maritime patrol aircraft, ships, and submarines. This activity is working toward full integration into the Government of Canada Operations Centre to support our national security policy.
Internationally, Canada's investment in interoperable command and control has enabled the seamless integration of Halifax-class frigates into NATO formations and U.S. Navy carrier strike groups and of Iroquois-class-led task groups into U.S. and NATO fleets under the trying operational conditions of the global war on terror. Indeed, the Canadian Navy has embraced the U.S. Navy's vision of network-enabled operations and has set as the eventual goal the "seamless access to the sum of human knowledge" for commanders at sea. The close integration we enjoy with our allies has enabled Canada to take a leading role in NATO and multinational maritime operations. During Operation Enduring Freedom, for example, Canadian Commodore Roger Girouard commanded up to 20 coalition warships from more than 8 allied nations in Task Force 151. This ability to exercise coalition command also lets us act as a bridge between other nations and the U.S. Navy.
More than the technology to create and support the data, the Canadian Navy has ensured its people are capable of exploiting the information fully. The Navy has established new training and infrastructure programs to ensure our information "users" of the future are properly supported by information "managers," specially trained to supply timely and useful data from sensors to shooters. In sum, in home waters or on the other side of the globe, interoperability-particularly cornmand-and-control interoperability-is key to the continued relevance of a sea service and to its success in contributing to a safer world. It is the focus of the Canadian Navy in 2005.
Admiral Miguel A. Vergara, Chilean Navy
The Chilean Navy has been working actively to enhance its capability to interoperate with other navies, for we believe new global security requirements can best be accomplished through the cooperation of friendly nations' services.
Attaining an effective capacity to interoperate demands a long-term effort, because multinational naval operations require a common doctrine and a workable command-and-control system in place so as to share and understand the tactical picture, have timely knowledge of relevant intelligence, and comprehend what is expected of each participant nation.
The human factor is key. When adequate publications, software, and hardware are in place, there still is the need for language skills to ensure correct communications, as well as the all-important mutual knowledge to ensure trust between partners, confidence in their proficiency and commitment, and respect for their contributions to common defense goals.
For these reasons, we have increased our personnel exchanges with the U.S. Navy and our neighboring countries. We also have set up an interesting exchange program with the Royal Navy's flag officer sea training organization, and recently have begun to use the English language for our tactical training courses and fleet operations.
From the well-known Unitas exercise, we broadened our interactions with the U.S. Navy through the Teamwork series of exercises, hosted since 1995 by Chile in our waters, and by the U.S. Third Fleet in its area of responsibility. This has allowed us to work more demanding scenarios with U.S., Canadian, British, and French units, and it has been the stepping stone for our continued participation in the Rim of the Pacific (RimPac) exercise since 1996.
To contribute to the global effort against emerging threats that could seriously affect our overseas commerce (and in line with the concept of presence I addressed in last year's response to Proceedings [March 2004]) we organized the first Panamax exercise in 2003, together with U.S. Southern Command and the Panama Defense Force. Here, we trained to ensure the protection of shipping through the Panama Canal by conducting maritime interdiction operations with a multinational naval force. The subsequent Panamax 2004 included Argentina, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Peru, and Venezuela as participants, and Ecuador as an observer.
The recent acquisition of frigates from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands will enhance our capability to interoperate, by providing modern and efficient open-ocean units that share common logistical and command-and-control suites with NATO navies. They also will bring a substantial reduction in operating costs when compared to the ships they replace, thus allowing a more cost-effective presence whenever and wherever they are needed.
Rear Admiral Zdravko Kardum, Croatian Navy
Adequate interoperability of the Croatian Navy with NATO armed forces and European Union members is one of the main preconditions for the integration of the Croatian armed forces into EuropeanAtlantic security and defense structures. The reality of today's security situation demands the development of the Croatian Navy so it can achieve a wider range of tasks to be able to respond to the challenges of the 21st century.
By signing the NATO Partnership for Peace draft document in May 2000, the Republic of Croatia formally became a partnership member. Since that moment, the Croatian armed forces have been active in the process of achieving interoperability, above all through planning and analysis. This process has a very important role in giving advice, support, and guidelines to the Croatian Navy on its way toward full NATO membership, especially now when Croatia has been faced with increased demands within the Membership Action Plan.
The Croatian Navy currently is implementing the following maritime partnership goals by establishing: maritime operations and basic training; standards for maritime forces; countermining capabilities; and NATO communication capabilities. In the past two years, the number of bilateral activities has increased significantly, to 136. All the activities have been related to planning and development of cooperation, to the exchange of experience in the area of NATO defense planning, and to implementing different forms of cooperation through organizing various seminars, courses, workshops, exercises at sea, and visits to different institutions abroad.
To raise our equipment to a higher level of interoperability, the Croatian Navy is taking the following steps: the Adriatic Sea surveillance system and command information system-which will provide radar images of the whole Adriatic in real time to all interested parties-are about to become operational and both systems are interoperable with NATO; our vessels are being modernized with equipment compatible with NATO standards; plans include getting new vessels compatible with NATO standards; and the training and education of our officers, at home and abroad, is to be adjusted to NATO standards.
New security risks and challenges have led the Croatian Navy to change and adapt its tasks. We are working very hard to adapt our capabilities to respond efficiently to new threats. In such a redesigned strategic environment, the Croatian Navy is taking on a significant role in securing and protecting the Adriatic, in addition to its basic military tasks.
Rear Admiral Kurt Birger Jensen, Royal Danish Navy
The Royal Danish Navy for some years has been transforming from primarily defending the realm to participating in a geographically much wider scope within the overall framework of international operations. Although firmly anchored in the NATO alliance, the Danish armed forces have been involved in various coalition operations over the past 10 to 15 years. Experiences from these operations have commanded focus on the necessity of interoperability.
Doctrine can be changed overnight, but procurement of new equipment takes years. This is especially true for ships. A major procurement program for the Navy has been launched, but until now we have had to make do by upgrading existing units with the tools of the trade-e.g., compatible link systems and satellite communications necessary to cooperate with naval forces from different nations. Long-established NATO procedures have, however, put us good in stead when operating with alliance partners.
The introduction of flexible support ships, the Absalon class, marks a new era for the Royal Danish Navy, with increased focus on the ability to participate seamlessly in international operations regardless of whether they are under the auspices of NATO, the United Nations, the Organization for security and Cooperation in Europe, or a coalition of the willing and capable. The Absalon class will function as a test bed for the build up of networkcentric-warfare capabilities in the Navy and pave the way for three new patrol ships (6,000-ton frigates) to follow. Being the avant-garde in the area of network-centric warfare, the U.S. Navy sets the standards the Royal Danish Navy will pursue, albeit on a smaller scale.
Procurement of new ships and equipment will not do it all, however. The Royal Danish Navy is putting more emphasis on the teaching of interoperability and introducing network-centric warfare awareness in all naval schools and courses, thus producing a new generation of officers to whom "information pull" comes as natural as "information push" did to older generations. Courses, seminars, and intraservice conferences are being used to mold the mind-set of personnel in all three services.
The introduction of new technology commonly is a joint enterprise in the Danish armed forces, such as the introduction of Link 16. This cooperation between the services carries the benefit of initial national interoperability, which later can be used as a stepping stone to achieve combined interoperability. Clearly, the whole process will be step by step, and at present the Royal Danish Navy is concentrating on achieving maximum interoperability with the navies of strategic partners.
Captain Marco Antonio Palacios Luna, Naval Force of El Salvador
The Naval Force of El Salvador (FNES) is tasked with the important mission of maritime defense, carrying out constant patrolling along the national maritime territory and its exclusive economic zone and maintaining control of the maritime lines of communication, albeit in a limited way because of the relatively small size of the force. Because of the relations between the naval forces of the region fostered through Central American Armed Forces Conferences, the FNES carries out specialized conferences on several topics, such as the one held in El Salvador in August 2004 on the issues of fighting terrorism and combating maritime drug trafficking. In addition, close coordination and communication exist with the chiefs of regional naval forces, especially those bordering the Fonseca Gulf.
Another form of interoperation is the participation of the naval forces of El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua in the Memorandum of Understanding on Operational Procedures, which helps foster mutual cooperation to avoid situations that might generate tension and establishes a patrol regime for activities such as the interdiction of illegal drug trafficking.
The FNES carries out mutual and combined operations with the U.S. Coast Guard, specifically against drug trafficking, with the participation of fleet units that have the capacity to communicate with other vessels and air units. In addition, there is a communication system with the Joint Interagency Task Force based in Key West, Florida, where the FNES maintains a senior officer as a liaison for the exchange of information on search-and-rescue operations, search and interdiction, interdiction of drug dealing, and control of vessels. This relationship has allowed the FNES to develop more efficient and timely operations when operating with North, Central, and South American forces.
We participate as guests (with officers and cadets) in joint operations or naval exercises with other Central American countries. It is worth mentioning that similar doctrines among countries of the region allow for a better degree of adaptability to tasks and operating procedures.
In case of emergency, El Salvador is ready to help neighboring countries, and with the activation plan for the Humanitarian Rescue Unit of the Central American Armed Forces Conference, the FNES directly supports emergency operations with the participation of staff, Marines, ships, and equipment in search-and-rescue activities, removal of debris, and with sea transportation of food, water, clothing, construction materials, medicine, and medical staff for the victims.
Because the FNES is a unit of limited resources, it maintains close relation with other naval forces to combine efforts and jointly cover maritime areas. This cooperation helps strengthen national security and improves our ability to meet new global threats.
Vice Admiral Hans V. Holmstrom, Finnish Navy
In the past five years, the Finnish Navy has restructured its fleet, coastal, and amphibious forces to function together more effectively. The focal point will shift even more from static coastal forces to mobile amphibious forces. The move from coastal artillery to highly mobile amphibious units, including light coastal missile units, is under way. The Naval Depot is working in close cooperation with the Navy Headquarters Material Division in different procurement phases. The Uusimaa Brigade amphibious unit, for instance, should be multinationally interoperable by the end of 2006.
The main elements of the fleet will be missile and minewarfare squadrons. The fleet modernization is to be continued through the finalization of the Squadron 2000 project, with the acquisition of the final two.of four Hamina-class fast attack craft, with multiple capabilities to protect sea lines of communication, by 2008. The near-term plan includes the modernization of the two Hämeenmaaclass minelayers, also by 2008. The major vessel project of the decade is the plan to acquire three multinationally interoperable mine countermeasures vessels. The Navy's Research Institute is doing the basic military research in close cooperation with the defense forces' other researchand-development establishments as well as with civilian centers. The new mine countermeasures vessels should be fully operational by 2012.
The ability to incorporate information from the other two main maritime services, the Frontier Guard and Maritime Authority, was acknowledged in the early 1990s when the Maritime Sea Surveillance System was produced. This domestic system formed the backbone of network-centric thinking in the Navy. By the end of the decade, the network should be operable from all services. A project also has been launched to broaden the Maritime Sea Surveillance System to be usable multinationally.
Both the fleet and coastal units train yearly in numerous bilateral and multinational exercises in the Baltic Sea region. In addition, new materiel projects and system acquisitioning is done extensively in cooperation with the international forum. At the moment, Finland offers one minelayer as a multipurpose vessel for international crisis management operations through the U.N., European Union, or Partnership for Peace force pools. In the near future, the pools will receive an amphibious task unit. A new minehunter class will be added to the pools at the beginning of the next decade. Baltic Sea multinational and bilateral cooperation also is vital for search-and-rescue and environmental-protection operations.
How the Finnish Navy will be refitted into the world of today and its asymmetric threats needs to be considered carefully. The ultimate responsibility for fighting terrorism nationally lies with the police under the Ministry of Interior. The ability to support the police in countering terrorist threats especially at sea and in harbors will be a challenge for all three major maritime agencies. To fulfill new tasks, the Finnish Navy must be flexible enough to respond to the new threats as well as to changes in warfighting technology. The Navy also must have political approval for all improvements to crisis management capabilities. International cooperation has become an integral part of the Finnish Navy's way of operating.
Admiral Jean-Louis Battet, French Navy
Interoperability is a permanent axis of effort for the French Navy, which is engaged mostly in joint and multinational operations. European Union or NATO activities receive particular attention.
With NATO countries, interoperability is achieved through frequent training and operational deployments, the most notable in recent times being Operation Enduring Freedom, which saw French and U.S. aircraft carriers strengthen common procedures and doctrines. The standards developed by the joint doctrine and NATO standardization organization (of which France is a part) are used. Thus, the Navy should receive High Readiness Force headquarters certification during exercise Trident d'Or 2005. Two important European initiatives also contribute to this: European maritime force task groups consisting of Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese units; and the Franco-German naval force, which is formed from units deployed operationally.
Interoperability is a permanent subject of concern with respect to the compliance with standards and is essential when dealing with information systems needed to set up a network of sensors, decision centers, and assets. The Navy also has engaged in multinational cooperative programs to help guarantee interoperability, such as: platforms (including Project Horizon with Italy and the new submarine rescue system with Norway and Great Britain); weapon systems (the medium-altitude Principal Antiair Missile System and Future Ground-to-Air Family with Italy and Great Britain); helicopters (the NH-90 with Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, and Portugal); and soon multimission frigates (the FREMM class, which will be cruise-missile equipped with Italy). The future will be prepared with the European Defence Agency, which will bring together staffs and armament establishments to equip European navies with perfectly interoperable common materials.
The common training of officers allows them to become fully conversant with NATO concepts, doctrines, and procedures, which benefits interoperability. At all levels, and particularly for officers, exchanges often take place during training, but they also occur within the integrated structures of NATO countries. French naval personnel are quite numerous abroad: 41 sailors are on long-term training (military higher education) and 64 are integrated in multinational structures (these figures do not take into account short training courses). The Navy also receives 150 foreign trainees each year and, through the naval branch of Defense Conseil International, contributes to the occupational training of sailors from a half dozen countries where training staff are sent.
Vice Admiral Lutz Feldt, German Navy
Interoperability needs to be achieved from equipment to force level, and has to address technical, procedural, and operational aspects. In the technical field, the German Navy is taking part in the development of interoperability policies in NATO, such as the "NATO Policy for C3 Systems Interoperability." The German Navy also is participating in multilateral development and interoperability programs. Special attention is given to the activities related to NATO network-enabled capabilities, as these are of paramount importance for the Navy's ability to operate together with other nations' naval forces in the future. Cooperation with other nations is a preferred approach in armaments development and procurement. This helps facilitate the required levels of compatibility, and common technical standards are incorporated across the force as units are modernized.
The German Navy adopts NATO doctrines and procedures wherever feasible. This forms a sound foundation for procedural and operational interoperability. The German Navy also aligns training procedures with doctrine as much as possible. In addition, the exchange of ideas and personnel between nations and through multinational organizations is valuable.
Even with strict adherence to technical standards, procedures, and operational doctrines, interoperability still is not guaranteed, as standards are seldom 100% the same and interpretation of procedures and doctrines may differ. The proficient conduct of close operations with other nations ' naval forces, however, requires a sufficient degree of interoperability.
To enhance interoperability, the German Navy sees a need for predeployment systems testing and training. To address this issue, the Navy has enhanced the capabilities of its reference and training systems for ships' combat systems. This permits networked testing and training together with partners prior to a deployment. In addition, it will allow participation in the process of developing and testing new tactics, doctrines, and procedures in the process of concept development and experimentation. Overall, the German Navy regards interoperability as a key issue and has implemented a process for achieving and maintaining it by various means.
Admiral Sergio Biraghi, Italian Navy
The new geopolitical situation is compelling Western military forces to review doctrine and consider new concepts such as effects-based operations and network-centric warfare. Some concrete work is being developed by the Italian Navy under the direction of the Italian Joint General Staff in both the NATO and multinational contexts, such as participation in network-enabled capability programs.
Interoperability efforts for the Italian Navy have to be addressed within the most probable alliances and coalitions that will operate on the battlefield, but the most important is within NATO. The NATO response forces represent an outstanding structure for the development of network-centric concepts. The Italian presence in the response forces is significant, with two High Readiness Force headquarters, one land and one maritime (NATO Rapid Deployable Corps and Commander, Italian Maritime Force, respectively).
The development of tactics, techniques, and procedures has proceeded more slowly than the development of the systems themselves. With the rise of network-centric warfare, doctrine now must be totally reviewed. In this context, the Italian Navy is working with the Joint General Staff in the following directions: the design of new systems and equipment; and the integration between sensors and weapons, from the highest level of command to the individual combat unit.
Since 2000, the Italian Navy has participated, with the major Western navies, in the Maritime Theater Missile Defense Forum. This forum is in constant expansion and, having previously focused on the Standard Missile evolution, now is working on integration, interoperability, command-and-control architecture, and particularly battle management. The purpose of the battle management working group, where the Italian Navy retains the chairmanship, is to identify the functionality and modalities for the integration and interoperability of systems based on networkcentric criteria and the open-architecture concept. Every new combat system, for any kind of platform, will have to be integrated in the battle-management architecture, which will be designed for future joint and multinational challenges. It represents a long-term strategic investment-and we should face it with staunch determination.
In 1996, the Italian Navy began a program of modernization of a command support system (Maritime Command-and-Control Information System Italy), based substantially on a similar NATO system. The wide employment of commercial technology and standards and the search for common solutions for the maritime environment have produced many advantages, such as full interoperability and integration with NATO systems (NATO Initial Data Transfer System and the Maritime Commandand-Control Information System) and a good level of integration with various U.S. Navy systems (Global Command and Control System-Maritime and Collaborative Enterprise Regional Information Exchange).
We need to be confident and optimistic, but above all we need to face the challenge of interoperability with the typical pragmatism of sailors, having clear in our minds the goal to be reached and the arena in which we could be called to perform.
Captain Ilmars Lesinskis, Latvain Navy
The NATO integration process began in the early 1990s when Latvia first declared its intention to be a member of the alliance, first by joining the Partnership for Peace program, and later by setting specific partnership goals and interoperability objectives for membership in NATO. The main goal was the establishment of a rapidly deployable maritime force for the Baltic Naval Squadron (BaltRon). BaltRon was created as a trilateral mine countermeasures squadron composed of forces from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. BaltRon improved the mutual understanding between the navies of the Baltic States and their interoperability with NATO units.
Since joining the alliance, the Latvian Navy has set new force goals. One of them is to continue the integration process with NATO's mine countermeasures capacity. The intention is to develop Latvia's own capacity by creating a full-range countermeasures structure including mine warfare and route survey data collection systems capable of exchanging information with units of other partner nations. Communication systems on shore and on board ships also will be upgraded to be capable of communicating with respective NATO units. The Maritime Command-and-Control Information System interoperable with NATO will be installed on all operational naval mine warfare units.
In addition, it is our intention to provide Latvian mine countermeasures vessels for the NATO High Readiness Force. One vessel will be provided for Mine Countermeasures Force North starting in January 2007 for a fourmonth period each year. For that purpose the Latvian Navy intends to acquire five Tripartite-class mine countermeasures ships, which will replace currently available old units.
All further training of naval units and personnel is focussed on achieving full interoperability with NATO standards. English-language training now is a major part of personnel basic and advanced language courses. The challenge is to prepare and send our personnel for work in the NATO headquarters, and the first steps already have been taken with several of our representatives taking positions at Maritime Component Command Headquarters Northwood.
Captain Kestusis Macijauskas, Lithunian Navy
On joining NATO, the Lithuanian Navy faced a variety of challenges related to interoperability. This encompassed a range of issues such as the security of communications and data transfer, the mine warfare database, interoperability of mine countermeasures vessels, and many others. In the field of compatibility, the main priority is upgrading mine coutermeasures platforms that will be selected for NATO assignments. Up to now, the Lithuanian Navy procured side-scan sonars for its Lindau-class mine countermeasures ships that later will be upgraded with a positioning system, and it is currently working on procurement of data-transfer equipment. Eventually, this type of mine countermeasures vessel will be replaced with more modern platforms capable of participating in Mine Countermeasures Force North.
With regard to national defense capabilities improvement, we plan to replace obsolete Grisha Ill-type platforms with more capable Western-built patrol craft-sized ships. This replacement will be valuable in terms of enhancing littoral patrol capabilities and will expand the Navy's capabilities to execute counterterrorism and host-nation-support tasks in the territorial sea and exclusive economic zone. The Navy also plans to further upgrade and automate its naval sea coastal surveillance system. This upgrade will be related mostly to installing new radars at the three radar sites along the Lithuanian coast, as well as to creating an integrated control system that will automate control of the radars and thus cut the number of personnel without sacrificing operational efficiency.
Keeping in mind increased operational commitments and overall commitments to NATO, the Lithuanian Navy has developed short- and long-term modernization programs that will support implementation of national and alliance objectives.
Admiral Mohammed Anwar bin Haj Mohammed, Rosal Malaysian Navy
Traditionally, the Royal Malaysian Navy's communications, standard operating procedures, training methodology, and naval customs have owed much to the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy. The foundation of the Royal Malaysian Navy's interoperability with these forces now needs to be broadened, especially in light of the post-11 September 2001 era in which the security landscape has broadened into a world of military operations other than war and low-intensity conflicts.
The complexity of the current maritime security landscape often demands that information and services be exchanged among friendly navies. The Royal Malaysian Navy exchanges services in one form or another with the navies of neighboring countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand on a regular basis. To further enhance its interoperability, the Royal Malaysian Navy takes part in or plays host to various bilateral and multilateral exercises, seminars, symposiums, and other activities. These involve navies within the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) region and beyond. In addition, symposiums such as the Western Pacific Naval Symposium, in which Malaysia is an active member, are excellent platforms to enhance interaction between personnel of different navies.
Small states such as Malaysia still rely on foreign military hardware and technology to meet their capability requirements. This raises the challenge of achieving common standards when there is a myriad of systems in use by various navies. Thus, in the current security scene where operations other than war are increasingly predominant, the effort of the region's navies often cannot be synergized. This is especially so where information-sharing systems or networked processes are concerned. The Royal Malaysian Navy believes naval forces should promote the concept of open-architecture systems to facilitate interoperability through common procedures and processes, which then would be in line with the concept of network-centric operations when the need to operate together arises.
The Royal Malaysian Navy views interoperability from the perspective of merging both "humanware" as well as hardware and the need for compatibility of equipment and standard procedures that will enable prompt responses to deal with emerging challenges and threats. In addition, the Royal Malaysian Navy believes in the concept of continuous constructive engagement among all maritime agencies and navies. This is the way ahead in achieving smart solutions.
Wee Admiral Ruurt A. A. Klaver, Royal Netherlands Navv
The Royal Netherlands Navy should be ready to contribute to multinational operations across the full range of conflict, including joint and combined operations and with partners from both NATO and non-NATO nations. The Netherlands' maritime contribution always will be part of a (much) larger multinational force. Our units should fit seamlessly in the command-and-control structure of that force, and this requires interoperable communications and exchange of command-and-control information. The required degree of interoperability has increased with the advent of network-centric concepts. To play an effective role in today's maritime operations, our units will become "net ready." At the same time, network-centric concepts and the associated materiel requirements-as well as the criteria for "net readiness"-still are being developed.
So we appear to be shooting at a moving target. This degree of uncertainty, however, is a fact of life and should not distract us from the imminent requirement to fit our units with onboard networks and associated communication facilities. We frequently discuss these requirements bilaterally with our maritime partners and participate in various multinational bodies dedicated to the subject. There is nothing, however, like learning by doing. The first net-ready units of our Navy already are sharing the experience of using Internet technology for modern warfare. We hope by the end of next year to have all major units fitted properly.
To provide for the required connectivity, last year we inaugurated our national military satellite ground station, and we are acquiring our own super-high frequency (and eventually advanced extremely high frequency) satellite capacity. Ships already have satellite communications fitted, and tactical terminals for Marines are being acquired. Recently, we completed a permanent hook up of our maritime headquarters in Den Helder to the Collaborative Enterprise Regional Information Exchange (CENTRIX) network. This will allow our ships to be connected to various CENTRIX-type coalition networks as required. Our Marines also will become net ready from 2005 onward, once their current equipment is replaced with the next generation, keeping them fully interoperable with the U.K. Royal Marines.
The benefits offered by the U.S. cooperative engagement capability concept are recognized, both for antiair warfare and theater ballistic missile defense. A less-expensive European alternative, the multiplatform engagement capability, is being studied with France, Germany, and Italy. Interoperability with U.K. and U.S. systems must be ensured. Interoperability also is key for missile defense, both with other navies and in joint scenarios. We work closely with the Royal Netherlands Air Force to ensure the capabilities of our new air defense and command frigates will fit smoothly in the NATO ballistic missile defense architecture.
Rear Admiral David Ledson, Royal New Zealand Navy
In the past, interoperability generally was focused on our ability to exchange tactical data and information to provide situational awareness for war fighting. Interoperability now implies a broader range of concepts in which human factors are as important as the traditional technical concerns. New Zealand's approach to enhancing interoperability-in its broadest sense-is captured in the acronym PEERT: prioritize, engage, educate, resources, and trust.
We prioritize our efforts on those navies with which we would expect to work in a coalition context, whether it is on operations with a big "O" or little "o." The aim is to achieve depth of interoperability rather than breadth. We then engage those navies constructively through experimentation, exercises, personnel exchanges, and the like. This provides the chance to understand what we need to do to work together-in particular in terms of the physical and human dimensions. Engagement is important to demonstrate we can be a value-adding partner.
The next step is to educate our sailors about our own interoperability issues-equipment, conditions of service, rules of engagement, and so on-as well as about those of potential partners (cultural issues are particularly important here). Ultimately, the human factor is the central interoperability enabler. We then work to ensure we get the resources, both people and money, we need into the areas where they improve our interoperability with other navies. This requires a willingness to accept structural and process changes to exploit limited resources and leverage technology lifecycles.
The final issue to address fundamentally is a cultural one. The key to interoperability is trust. Effective engagement and education create the knowledge foundation that supports trust.
Ultimately, however, no matter what efforts New Zealand makes, interoperability is an interactive concept involving different participants with varying amounts of power and influence. Therefore, the extent to which we can achieve interoperability depends on the extent to which someone else wants to achieve interoperability with us-or in some cases the extent to which someone else will allow us to achieve it with others. It is critical that navies work together effectively if today's asymmetric threats are to be defeated. This should be a sufficiently compelling reason to demolish significant barriers to interoperability.
Vice Admiral Samuel O. Afolayan, Nigerian Navy
Because of high cost, lack of a clearly defined enemy, and swift technological changes, modern forces are structured for flexibility and joint/combined/multiagency operations. When different forces or agencies operate together, it demands that communication systems, weaponry, and surveillance systems be standardized to allow cross management of information among different platforms and units. For the Nigerian Navy, interoperability with other services and foreign navies was not well developed in our formative years. As time went on, however, efforts were made within the Nigerian armed services to improve equipment standardization and interoperability.
For a developing nation's navy such as that of Nigeria, where technology sophistication is low and hence little can be manufactured domestically, interoperability weighs heavily on equipment procurement policy. A policy to ensure that equipment for services and agencies that will operate together is standardized was created by the Joint Services Department, which also was tasked by the Ministry of Defence to carry out central purchasing for the three services. The policy will enhance equipment integration and standardization, especially in areas such as common communication and logistical systems, weaponry, surveillance systems, computer networking, and data links. These already are being installed in our platforms and shore establishments.
The modern approach to warfare being adopted by the Nigerian armed forces encourages a high level of interoperability that will require more than just new technology. The Nigerian Navy in the near future will embark on regular joint and combined exercises with other services and other nations' navies. For example, the Nigerian Navy recently participated in a French-sponsored multinational peace-support operation codenamed Recamp IV in the waters of the Republic of Benin. In addition, syllabi are being reviewed in all Nigerian Navy training schools.
The new Nigerian defense policy and the Nigerian armed forces joint doctrine will go a long way to providing the Nigerian Navy with a good foundation for planning its interoperability strategy.
Admiral Jose Luis Noriega Lores, Peruvian Navy
The Peruvian Navy's Pacific Operations Command annually plans an operational activities program that includes intermediate- and advanced-level exercises so the naval units assigned reach the highest levels of training. Interoperability with other navies and the exchange of doctrine and procedures are crucial nowadays. That is why the Peruvian Navy plans and participates in exercises such as Silent Force, which has been executed bilaterally with the U.S. Navy since 2001 and is oriented mainly toward antisubmarine warfare.
The Unitas series constitutes the best opportunity to accomplish the interaction and interoperability of the armed forces in the Americas. In 2004, Peru hosted the Pacific phase of Unitas 45, which had the participation of units of Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, the United States, and Peru, as well as observers from Bolivia, Canada, and Mexico. In total, 40 surface units, 4 submarines, 38 aircraft, and 13,540 personnel participated.
Peru also helped plan and organize the first multinational Unitas amphibious phase, in which 12 countries participated. The participants formed multinational training battalions that worked separately on the coast and in the jungles of Peru. For three weeks the Marines of the participating countries exchanged tactics, techniques, procedures, and doctrines that helped enhance interoperability.
An important contribution of our Navy, which has South America's oldest submarine force, is the operational deployment of one of our submarines to the Norfolk, Virginia, area. This deployment has been occurring for the past three years. An Angamos-class submarine is sent to the East Coast of the United States to work with units of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet to conduct antisubmarine training prior to deployment for real-world operations.
Always trying to increase its presence in multinational exercises, in 2002 the Peruvian Navy took part in the RimPac exercise with a frigate. It also took part in the Panamax multinational exercise in 2004 with a frigate, a corvette, an AB-212 helicopter, and a special operations squad. Since March 2004, Peru has participated with a company of 150 men of the armed forces (including Marines) in the peace-maintenance operations in Haiti. Thus, the Peruvian Navy has increased its presence in multinational exercises to increase its interoperability with other navies, helping to establish a better national defense and a real cooperative regional defense system.
Vice Admiral Ernesto H. de Leon, Phillipine Navy
Interoperability is not limited to technology and equipment. It involves the establishment of the necessary training, procedures, doctrines, and infrastructure that enhance cooperation with other allied and neighboring navies.
Currently, the Philippine Navy undertakes several activities designed to enhance its interoperability with other navies in the world. Foremost of these is the continued joint bilateral exercises with other navies of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The Philippine Navy regularly conducts joint border patrol exercises with Malaysia. Similarly, the Philippine Navy is one of the main agencies implementing the Philippines' bordercrossing agreement with Indonesia. Complementary to these efforts is the regular participation of Philippine Navy officers in multilateral activities either as observers or participants to acquire the knowledge and latest technologies involved in multilateral operations. The regular Balikatan exercise held between U.S. and Philippine forces also is an avenue for strengthening interoperability with our ally, with whom we have forged the longest-standing treaty in the Pacific.
The upgrading of the Philippines-Australia joint defense dialogue to a full-blown defense cooperation activity also has ushered in a new security relationship with our neighbor to the south. One of the key features of this cooperation is a focus on maritime security; efforts are being made for the conduct of bilateral exercises between the Philippine Navy and Royal Australian Navy. Another development in our bilateral initiative is the conduct of a joint exercise between the Philippine Navy and the Republic of Brunei Navy, the first between the two countries.
Central to the development of interoperability for the Philippine Navy is overcoming the technology gap between its immediate neighbors and other allies through the acquisition of more-modern equipment. The present capability development plans of the Philippine Navy intend to replace obsolete command, control, and communications equipment within the year. We are likewise pursuing the acquisition of more-modern naval platforms as part of our capability-upgrading program.
There are, however, significant challenges that must be addressed. For one, ASEAN countries are procuring their naval defense requirements from a variety of sources without an established regional framework, so interoperability of command-and-control equipment is achieved only on a limited scale and during small-scale activities or joint exercises. In the same vein, doctrines for naval multilateral cooperation need to be developed to deal with the wide range of new operational problems that may be more prevalent in the future.
Fleet Admiral Roman Krzyzelewski, Polish Navy
The Polish Navy believes that cooperating with other nations' navies is essential to facing future problems successfully. We plan to achieve that objective by strengthening our activities in three main areas: the development and modernization process; the reorganization of structures; and the rationalization of training.
The development and modernization process is focused on providing command and control, mine countermeasures, and antisubmarine, antisurface, and antiair capabilities that will enable our Navy to perform tasks outside the Baltic Sea region. Modernized Krogulec-class minesweepers have been operating as Mine Countermeasures Force North task elements since 2002. Logistical support ship Kontmdmiral X. Czernicki, which participated in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, after reconstruction will possess additional capabilities.
Two Oliver Hazard Perry (FFG-7)-class frigates (the General Kaziniierz Pulaski and General Tadeusz Kosciuszko) together with the Gavwow-class multipurpose corvettes still under construction will allow us to be present in NATO standing naval forces and the NATO response forces. Our presence in the international arena also will be supported by the commissioning of ex-Norwegian Kobbenclass submarines. Simultaneously, modernization of the Sassnitz-class patrol boats will help maintain littoral warfare capabilities. It is worth mentioning that the modernization program is based not only on foreign procurement but also on indigenous construction and repair facilities at the Polish Maritime Technology Center and Naval Shipyard.
The reorganization process that began with the activation of the Maritime Operation Center and decommissioning of obsolete ships and deactivation of some heavy tactical units has paid benefits in savings that will be spent on more effective training. We plan to adjust our national training program to the NATO schedule and requirements. Moreover, we plan to strengthen our training relations not only by participating in different events abroad but also by being a host nation for a full range of activities. Lessons from the exercise Strong Resolve 2002 show that Poland has experience it can share.
I am delighted to state that efforts have been made by the Polish Navy that will improve our ability to take part in coalition or allied maritime operations led by different organizations.
Admiral Francisco Antonio Torres Vidal Abreu, Portuguese Navy
The capability to intemperate on a competent and professional basis with other allied navies long has been a concern of the Portuguese Navy, mainly because since 1969 it has been contributing naval assets to the Standing Naval Force Atlantic, and more recently to the European Maritime Force. Today, an important interoperability effort is being developed regarding fleet renewal, doctrine adoption, and the application of communication and information systems.
The Portuguese Navy has assumed a prudent course of action with special regard to the most challenging programs of fleet renewal, specifically: the construction of new platforms; the conversions of its Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates; the Vasco da Gama-class frigates' midlife upgrades; and the ongoing procurement processes aimed at providing the Marines and diving units with new equipment.
As many events have shown during the past few years, especially with regard to peace-support and humanitarian operations, the Portuguese Navy not only will continue to adopt NATO doctrine, but also will contribute to the development of its concepts and procedures, taking advantage of all combined and joint training opportunities.
Communication and information systems interoperability in joint and combined NATO/European Union operations is key to achieving information superiority and situational awareness. Interoperability and cooperative work, pillars of the so-called network-enabled capability, are extremely important issues the Portuguese Navy is pursuing seriously, by incorporating, as far as possible, NATO and commonly accepted standards.
The communication and information systems reorganization has been developing on a three-tiered basis. The first tier is related to the global information grid. The Portuguese Navy is upgrading its communications network, including the NATO shared Broadcast and ShipShore Project, to be interconnected with NATO through national information exchange gateways. In addition, about 80% of the fleet has high-speed data satellite communications capability.
For the second tier, which deals with information management, the reference architecture of the Portuguese Navy information systems includes the NATO Maritime Command-and-Control Information System, NATO secure Wide Area Network, tactical data links, and a ship internal battle management and decision support system (designed by the Portuguese Navy) named Singrar. In the human knowledge tier, the Portuguese Navy is investing in personnel's technical skills and motivating them to work in a cooperative and shared environment.
Rear Admiral Gheorghe Marin, Romanian Navy
Participation in the Partnership for Peace Program, starting in 1994, has significantly enhanced the Romanian Navy's interoperability level with NATO. In this context, the following main goals have been identified:
* Establish command and personnel structures similar to NATO that are capable of planning, organizing, and efficiently conducting our forces to accomplish their missions. In this regard, the Naval Forces Headquarters moved to Bucharest, and the administrative and operational responsibilities have been split (the latter being transferred to the Naval Operational Command in Constanta).
* Standardize the education and training programs within the naval forces. The curricula in the military institutions (the Naval Academy and the Petty Officer School) have been reviewed and updated, and new institutions (the School of Application and the Naval Training School) have been established. Stress has been put on adopting, issuing, and implementing NATO standards, procedures, and manuals.
* Participate in multinational exercises (such as Cooperative Partner, Cooperative Engagement, Black Sea Partnership, Sea Breeze, and Rescue Eagle), conferences, workshops, and working groups, both within NATO and within bilateral relationships. As a result, 69 bilateral activities were conducted that aimed at enhancing interoperability in 2004.
* Raise the level of technical compatibility with the equipment, systems, and ships from NATO countries. Within the past few years, the Romanian naval forces have undergone a sustained modernization process for ships and military equipment. In 2004, the first Type 22 frigate was commissioned within the Romanian Navy; the second will be commissioned in April 2005. The two warships will represent the most modern capabilities within the naval forces, fitted with up-to-date equipment and systems. During participation in the Cooperative Partner series, NATO assessment teams evaluated two mine countermeasures ships; both ships have been certified to be fully interoperable with similar NATO vessels.
* Increase English-language proficiency. In 2004, more then 300 naval forces personnel participated in different foreign languages courses, both in country and abroad.
Interoperability is not an objective unto itself; it is a means for improving the way we cooperate with other forces. The Romanian Navy remains committed to enhancing its level of interoperability to fulfill its national and international missions.
Rear Admiral Ronnie Tay, Republic of Singapore Navy
Despite the advent of larger and faster means of air transport, the majority of the world's trade still is carried by sea. Up to 80% of the approximately six billion metric tons of cargo traded each year is moved by ship. Singapore's livelihood depends on the safety and security of its sea lanes. This requires that the nations of our region-as well as other stakeholders such as Japan, India, China, and the United States-work together. Toward this end, the Republic of Singapore Navy has been actively pursuing a number of key initiatives to enhance our interoperability with other nations' naval forces.
The Singapore Navy has been participating in, and hosting, a large number of exercises with key partners within and outside the region. The Navy exercises regularly with the navies of the Five-Power Defense Arrangement (Royal Malaysian Navy, Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy, and Royal New Zealand Navy), and all five have established a common communications architecture and operational and tactical procedures to deal with threats to our immediate region. The increasing complexity of our exercises with these countries, including the incorporation of maritime security elements, has helped to enhance the common front against potential threats.
Following Singapore's participation in the U.S.-led Proliferation security Initiative (PSI), the Navy has, through involvement in exercises and discussions hosted by various PSI nations, expanded its sphere of engagement and learned from and contributed to the international body of knowledge and processes to counter proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Through these forums, we have established mutual perspectives on the conduct of maritime interdiction and the underlying policy and operational issues. In August 2005, the Navy will be hosting the multinational PSI exercise Deep Sabre, which will bring together the navies of the PSI nations in a sea interdiction and port search exercise.
In the immediate future, we will be cohosting an ASEAN regional forum confidence-building measure with the United States, in Singapore, which will bring together experts from regional military, law enforcement, and port and shipping policy agencies to identify concrete strategies for cooperation. Later this year we also will be organizing Western Pacific Naval Symposium Multilateral Tactical Training Center exercises that will allow participating forces to further enhance interoperability with one another.
The Navy's efforts at multilateral cooperation go beyond these exercises and conferences. The recently established Malacca Strait coordinated patrols involving the Singapore Navy, Royal Malaysian Navy, and Indonesian Navy, as well as our long-standing Indonesia-Singapore coordinated patrols, also provide mechanisms for us to keep each other updated on the maritime situation in our straits. At the bilateral level, the Singapore Navy also has developed standard operating procedures in areas such as antisubmarine warfare, surface warfare, and communications with some of our partners, thus allowing our forces to function together more closely.
Rear Admiral Jorgen Ericsson, Royal Swedish Navy
Interoperability is not just a question of standards on different equipment. It also comprises a wide range of issues, including language, formats, procedures, tactics, and communications. Since the early 1990s, the Royal Swedish Navy has participated in an array of multinational exercises and operations. Recently, Swedish naval units took part in exercises such as Baltic Operations, Blue Game, Allied Effort, and Strong Resolve. Units have been sent to flag officer sea training and the joint maritime course in the United Kingdom, and our submarines have exercised with several NATO countries in the Mediterranean and the North Sea. Our mine-hunting capability has been used to help support the Baltic States in an effort to neutralize the threat from old mines along their coasts. Today, we have come a long way and are fully interoperable in many areas. On operational and tactical levels we use NATO staff and planning procedures, most exercises use English as the command language, and logistical equipment is standardized according to the NATO standard.
We have learned a lot and are grateful to the U.S. Navy, Royal Navy, Royal Norwegian Navy, Royal Danish Navy, and German Navy, among others. There is one important area in which the Swedish Navy still lacks interoperability: communications. As always there is a simple solution to the problem-join NATO-but that is the wrong answer for Sweden, which for the foreseeable future will remain militarily nonaligned. The lack of interoperability in communications worries me, and should worry future commanders of multinational task forces. Swedish naval units are as far as possible prepared to install NATO communication systems and other equipment needed to be fully interoperable, and I am convinced that when deployed in a combined task force we will have access to such systems. That is, however, not good enough. We must be proficient in and train and exercise with those systems prior to an operation.
Not all partner nations have the aim or the necessary funding to implement a NATO standard data link. A lessexpensive way, therefore, is to implement a common interface to cater to basic tactical requirements in national command-and-control systems. This principle has been presented to NATO and has been accepted. NATO Naval Armaments Group is producing a military operational requirement for a deployable command-and-control system to support maritime operations for Partnership for Peace command organizations and operational units-but this will take time.
Admiral Ozden Ornek, Turkish Naval Forces
I Since the end of the Cold War, the missions and tasks requiring the Turkish Navy to operate with other NATO allies have increased substantially. Along with combined NATO exercises, these real-world missions and tasks have enhanced interoperability. Turkish frigates, fleet support ships, corvettes, mine hunters and sweepers, submarines, and fast attack craft have consolidated their interoperability through Standing Naval Force Mediterranean and Mine Countermeasures Force Mediterranean participation as well as through involvement in operations such as Sharp Guard, Maritime Monitor, Active Endeavor, the Implementation Force in Bosnia, the Stabilization Force in Kosovo, and NATO exercises in the Mediterranean.
The Turkish Navy plans and conducts Dogu Akdeniz and Turkish Minex invitation exercises in the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean. The aim of Dogu Akdeniz is to provide training to allied maritime units in responding to security concerns and risks related to a regional crisis. The aim of Minex is to improve interoperability among mine warfare units from different countries. In the Black Sea area, the Turkish Navy plays a major role in increasing interoperability among the littoral navies under the Black Sea Naval Cooperation Task Group (BlackSeaFor) framework. The underlying philosophy of this initiative, when Turkey first introduced it in 1998, was to gather the six littoral navies of the Black Sea (Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russian Federation, Turkey, and Ukraine) under a cooperative framework to accomplish certain maritime tasks through interoperability and procedural standardization. Since 2001, the BlackSeaFor has been activated four times. Each activation was based on a main operative theme such as search and rescue, mine countermeasures, humanitarian assistance operations, and counterterrorism.
Other than the activities of the BlackSeaFor, the Turkish Navy also created another exercise platform to enhance interoperability. The Black Sea Partnership exercise has been scheduled and conducted by the Turkish Navy since 1996 in the Black Sea region, gathering littoral navies under the spirit of NATO's Partnership for Peace initiative. This exercise also provides excellent opportunities to enhance interoperability, ranging from basic seamanship drills to intermediate-level exercises. The level of interoperability achieved in Black Sea Partnership exercises has paved the way to be able to conduct antiair warfare exercises with Turkish Air Force assets, antisubmarine warfare exercises with Turkish Navy submarines, antisurface warfare exercises with Turkish Navy fast attack craft, and live surface gun firing exercises.
Admiral Sir Alan West, Royal Navy
Following the events of 11 September 2001, a new chapter was added to the United Kingdom's Strategic Defence Review, which shifted the armed forces' focus to an increased emphasis on speed of reaction, network-centric capabilities, and greater interoperability with allies. The new chapter identified three military contributions the U.K. armed forces would make to the war on terror: help prevent the emergence of terrorism; deter states from harboring or supporting terrorists; and disrupt or destroy terrorist groups. In concert with the review's new chapter, we conducted a review of our defense planning assumptions that looked at the balance of capabilities in the U.K. inventory and proposed some rebalancing to ensure alignment with the new review, and these were brought together in a Defence white paper published in December 2003.
The ability to work effectively and more closely with other nations' navies, long recognized by the Royal Navy as desirable, has become essential. As a result, interoperability has become a central characteristic of many capability requirements and has progressed along the following lines of development:
* Structure. The Royal Navy's commitment to interoperability is demonstrated by its participation in multinational formations and headquarters. Examples include Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, in the Arabian Gulf, where a Royal Navy officer is the deputy maritime component commander, and participation in Task Force 150 (the war on terror operation in the Arabian Sea), which the Royal Navy commanded recently. U.K. and U.S. submarines also regularly operate under each other's operational control, and land-attack Tomahawk operations are a clear example of interoperability.
* Concepts and Doctrine. The United Kingdom operates a strong bilateral program with a number of nations beyond NATO, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, India, Japan, Korea, Pakistan, and Sweden. Activities and benefits have included maritime security information sharing, intership exercises with increasing levels of complexity to enhance individual ship interoperability, interaction during major Royal Navy deployments to enhance task group level interoperability, and sharing of operational and logistical concepts to share best practices and inform and expose Royal Navy methods. The United Kingdom also is an active member of the Five-Power Defense Arrangement that includes Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, and New Zealand. Closer to home we work closely with France, Russia, and the United States to develop a quadlateral understanding of maritime operations that aspires to better doctrinal interoperability in the future.
* Equipment. There are many equipment projects that enhance interoperability, but I would highlight the close involvement in three U.K./U.S. communication and information systems capabilities. First, the Combined Enterprise Regional Information Exchange System is a webcentric, commercial network solution. It is used extensively by Royal Navy ships deployed on coalition operations and exercises to enable collaboration through its real-time secure chat capability. second, Griffin provides a permanent capability to exchange secure e-mails with attachments between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Third, Bowman is the new U.K. advanced tactical communication system intended to carry a family of command-and-control networks that will provide secure voice and data communications.
* Collective Training. The Royal Navy's sea training package covers a significant number of NATO and European maritime nations by providing unit-level and task group training, allowing the Royal Navy to transfer some of its philosophy to those nations with whom we are likely to operate. As part of that process, the U.S. Navy is expected to become an increasingly regular participant in the Royal Navy's joint maritime courses that focus on task group training. The United Kingdom also will be involved in the working up of the USS Kearsarge (LHD-3) Expeditionary Strike Group in the first multiple battle group in-port exercise that will involve "virtual" Royal Navy ships "operated" from simulators in Britain.
* Personnel Training. The annual Joint Advanced Command and Staff Course trains 22 overseas maritime students from 21 countries. The country list beyond NATO includes Algeria, Brunei, Chile, Finland, India, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Sweden, and Thailand. The wider Royal Naval Training program has included personnel from 11 countries-including Greece, Kuwait, Romania, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Chile, and Canada-in a range of subjects from damage control and specific equipment training to diving and nuclear accident response.
These examples illustrate the Royal Navy's drive toward an increased ability to work with other nations. This already is leading to greater cooperation and understanding, and this in turn leads to enhanced operational effectiveness. During World War II, a U.S. Navy destroyer, lost in an Atlantic fog and new to British signal methods, was seen flying two flags: the church pennant over the interrogative flag. None of the British yeomen of signals could understand what this combination meant, and on being asked, the U.S. ship replied: "God, where am I?" Hopefully, our enhanced interoperability will ensure no such confusion among allies today and in the future.