‘The Dodo did not go extinct because of the Dutch who ate them… but because they were simply not multi-domain’.
With these words NATO C2COE Director Colonel (NLD A) Robert Meeuwsen opened his presentation at the Joint Air & Space Power Conference 2019 in Essen, Germany from 8–10 October 2019. The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Shaping NATO for Multi-Domain Operations of the Future’ and the NATO C2COE C2 Demonstrator project proved to be a great addition to the conference.
The current Joint Force (JFC) Command Headquarters have a big footprint based on static and centralized facilities. This represents a high value target for adversaries, so the JFC headquarters should evolve into a distributed and dispersed structure (Please refer to our 2019-study: Future of the Command Post).
Despite their availability, military decision-making processes in Joint-HQ’s are not supported by state-of-the-art technology. Moreover, there is no dedicated overall enhanced C2-tool at the Operational Level. Therefore, some parts of the decision-making processes are done with outdated and laboursome visualization tools like PowerPoint. This leads to an inefficiency in the C2 processes. Even if they are effective in creating situational understanding, process could be done in less time and with less people involved. Time efficiency and quality (multidomain, synchronization and deconfliction) needs to be improved.
We will apply available knowledge and state-of the-art technology to design and create a modular C2 demonstrator. This platform will be developed modularly with new technologies to include virtual and augmented reality in order to facilitate a distributed and dispersed CP.
A Roadshow after Summer 2020 will demonstrate the potential of this current application to enhance military C2 efficiency and the decision-making process (DMP). This will raise the operator’s awareness of the possibilities from state-of-the-art technologies for supporting military decision making and assist them and the procurement officials in defining what to ask for.
The project will facilitate further development and research of the distributed and dispersed headquarters concept. Via direct customers feedback the project will improve information visualization and will reveal the implementation of augmented systems into the decision-making process.
