Solution Found for NATO Systems Lack of Interoperability

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Interoperability in coordinating plans and communicating in battle is especially important when several armies are involved. The U.S. Army in Europe needs to ensure a variety of coalition systems could share position location and other situational awareness data across what’s called the Multinational Interoperability Programme (MIP).

During a major exercise in Germany next month, the US Army hope to test a technology that will better enable data sharing and communications between the US and coalition partners. The Army Coalition Interoperability Solution (ACIS) is a response to that urgent need, an Army spokesman, Paul Mehney, said.

ACIS will be independent from national command and control systems allowing data and situational awareness information sharing between coalition nations. It will not act as a common operating picture, Mehney said, rather, it will provide a data exchange between coalition systems to form a common operational picture on U.S. Army systems, reports c4isrnet.com.

Radio systems between partner nations often can’t talk to each other. This is due in part to proprietary systems from each nation and the nature of encrypted communications. This leads to the cumbersome process of having to exchange liaison officers to coordinate communications between nations.

ACIS will be leveraging an existing Army capability for its Command Post Computing Environment (CP CE), an effort to shrink down command post services into a single common operational picture. The Army has partnered with company Systematic to use its SitaWare product that will serve as the backbone.

ACIS will undergo an assessment during the Joint Warfighter Assessment in Germany in May. During the exercise, ACIS will enable compatibility to enhance information sharing across both U.S. and NATO networks, Mehney said. ACIS will be provided to U.S. Army Europe as well as other Army units participating in coalition exercises.