Work continues on multi-national Common Operating Picture at CE 08

U.S. Marines relay tracks on C2 systemsby U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Brian Hill, Combined Endeavor 2008 Public Affairs

The idea to have a single digital display of relevant operational information shared by many nations and organizations in real time is becoming closer to reality this year at Combined Endeavor.

Traditionally, when coalition partners wanted to share their operating pictures with each other, doing so required installing a separate system requiring additional training and having yet another screen to monitor in the operations center.

Through the ever-increasing capabilities provided by the Multilateral Interoperability Programme, timely and accurate information on the positions of friendly and enemy troops, and the positions and status of important infrastructure such as bridges and roads can be made available to commanders, said Tony Mansfield, command, control, communications and computers system engineer at the Marine Corps Tactical System Support Activity at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif.

"The aim is to achieve international interoperability of command and control information systems at all levels from corps to the lowest appropriate level, in order to support multinational, combined and joint operations and the advancement of digitisation in the international arena," he said.

Sharing is the key term.

"Within our (U.S. Department of Defense) services, we're all sharing (a common operating picture)," said Mansfield. "Now we're sharing that with multiple nations."

The MIP is the standard for data exchange. And a standard is important because the data can then be shared in each nation's own system.

"It's a big advantage to individual nations," said Mansfield. "Because it requires no special training -- their using their own system. The MIP specifications is a powerful interoperability tool."

Countries at Combined Endeavor 2008 using their own system and linked together through the MIP include Afghanistan, Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the United States.

According to Sgt. Michael Hendren, C4I systems analyst, having this common interface specification makes a common operating picture possible and minimizes problems that can arise when different commanders have different pictures of the state of the battlefield, including friendly fire incidents.

"With all the joint ops going on, it's very important to be able to share information," he said.

The MIP came about in 2001 by merging two previous separate programs: the Army Tactical Command and Control Information System and the former MIP. The former MIP was established in 1998 by the project managers of command and control systems in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States.

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