Pioneered by the DoD in the 1990s, Network Centric Warfare (NCW) is a military doctrine or war theory that seeks to translate an information advantage, enabled in part by information technology, into a competitive advantage through the robust computer networking of well geographically informed dispersed forces.
The term “Network Centric Warfare” broadly describes the combination of emerging tactics, techniques, and procedures that a fully or even partially networked force can employ to create a decisive warfighting advantage.
Network Centric Warfare generates increased combat power by networking sensors, decision-makers, and shooters to achieve shared awareness, increased speed of command, high tempo of operations, greater lethality, raised survivability, and a degree of self-synchronization.
NCW translates information superiority into combat power by effectively linking friendly forces within the battlespace, providing a much-improved shared awareness of the situation, and enabling more rapid, effective decision-making.
In traditional military operations, a mission is assigned and planned, forces are generated, and operations are executed to concentrate power on an objective. This is a highly coordinated, “stepped” cycle where there are periods of relative inaction, during which forces are generated and actions coordinated alternate with periods of action, when combat power is applied.
However, Network Centric Warfare operations are really about optimizing combat power—that is, combat efficiency.
The advantages network-centric warfare brings to the battlespace are particularly relevant to the tactical and operational levels of war, but they impact all levels of military activity from the tactical to the strategic. Although the construct of an information advantage may seem somewhat intangible, it can be measured, and its impact on military operations can be evaluated in terms of mission effectiveness, survivability and lethality—coins of the realm used by warfighters across the ages.
Want to learn more? Tonex offers Fundamentals of Network Centric Warfare (NCW), a 2-day course that offers a deep exposure to modern network centricity capabilities in military operations.
In this course, discover all you need to know to effectively use network-centric warfare key concepts, and supporting services and systems including C4ISR, command and control (C2) technology, architecture, systems, tactics, and security.
This course is especially designed for engineers, technicians, analysts, and managers working with warfare technology.
For more information, questions, comments, contact us.