Network-enabled capability

Abstract: Military command and control is not merely evolving, it is co-evolving. Technology is creating new opportunities for different types of command and control, and new types of command and control are creating new aspirations for technology. The question is how to manage this process, how to achieve a jointly optimised blend of socio and technical and create the kind of agility and self-synchronisation that modern forms of command and control promise. The answer put forward in this book is to re-visit sociotechnical systems theory. In doing so, the problems of 21st century command and control can be approached from an alternative, multi-disciplinary and above all human-centred perspective. Human factors (HF) is also co-evolving. The traditional conception of the field is to serve as a conduit for knowledge between engineering and psychology yet 21st century command and control presents an altogether different challenge. Viewing military command and control through the lens of sociotechnical theory forces us to confront difficult questions about the non-linear nature of people and technology: technology is changing, from platform centric to network centric; the interaction with that technology is changing, from prescribed to exploratory; and complexity is increasing, from behaviour that is linear to that which is emergent. The various chapters look at this transition and draw out ways in which sociotechnical systems theory can help to understand it. The sociotechnical perspective reveals itself as part of a conceptual toolkit through which military command and control can be transitioned, from notions of bureaucratic, hierarchical ways of operating to the devolved, agile, self-synchronising behaviour promised by modern forms of command and control like Network Enabled Capability (NEC). Sociotechnical system theory brings with it a sixty year legacy of practical application and this real-world grounding in business process re-engineering underlies the entire book. An attempt has been made to bring a set of sometimes abstract (but no less useful) principles down to the level of easy examples, design principles, evaluation criteria and actionable models. All of these are based on an extensive review of the current state of the art, new sociotechnical/NEC studies conducted by the authors, and insights derived from field studies of real-life command and control. Time and again, what emerges is a realisation that the most agile, self-synchronising component of all in command and control settings is the human

Abstract: The principles of network enabled capability highlight the need for seamless information exchange. The service oriented architectural paradigm has been recognized as one of the key enablers to achieve this. At the same time, Web services have become the de facto standard for implementing service oriented architecture. However, these technologies have been developed for environments with abundant data rates, environments which are very different from military tactical networks. In this article, we present possible solutions and remaining challenges on the way toward also realizing service oriented architecture on the tactical level. Our goal is to make it possible to take advantage of the benefits promised by this architectural paradigm at all military levels, ranging from strategic to tactical networks.

Abstract: Through Life Capability Management (TLCM) is the dominant theme of proposed changes to UK defence acquisition, but progress has been hindered by a lack of agreed interpretations for key concepts. This paper provides some clarity for Capability, Network Enabled Capability (NEC), TLCM, and Affordability and notes, in particular, the fractal nature of capability. Through stakeholder analysis and concept maps, we identify some of the major challenges associated with TLCM. These include affordability (which is the motivation for TLCM but may also be its stumbling block); the increased priority of agility, adaptability, and flexibility in capability planning; and the need for appropriate TLCM metrics. The lack of an explicit learning mechanism within the capability planning process is also a major deficiency, because TLCM relies on effective knowledge management. The changing role of industry is considered and the need for an holistic view of capability is emphasised.

Abstract: Service oriented architecture (SOA) is becoming established in computing as a means to integrate processing and data across organisations. This paper proposes that system-level integration can benefit from service oriented architectural descriptions and loose coupling between the problem domain requirements and different system solutions. The problem domain is exemplified as military capability, from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), in particular, network enabled capability (NEC). Representations of military capability in the problem domain can be described in terms of processes. The processes are sequences of functions that can be described as services. Then different types of system solutions can implement the described services. Firstly, the paper presents an overview of conceptual SOA and in the context of military capability compares three levels of service integration: business services, systems services and computing services. Secondly, the paper presents a framework for evaluating the performance and effectiveness of service integration to compare different solutions in delivering military capability.