Division hosts systems engineering meeting. (NDIA News).

The National Defense Industrial Association's Systems Engineering Division recently hosted an interoperability conference in Phoenix, Ariz., attended by senior Defense Department and industry representatives.

John Stenbit, assistant secretary of defense for C31 (command, control, communications and intelligence), and Ronald Sega, the Defense Department's director of defense research and engineering, were the speakers. Senior military representatives from the Joint Staff, Joint Forces Command and three services as well as the U.S. Coast Guard, outlined their approaches to interoperability and identified several challenges that require immediate attention.

Stenbit explained his three priorities for achieving interoperability. First, it is important to establish a ubiquitous, reliable network that is nor "band-width constrained," and second, the network must be populated with data. The third priority is to make sure that U.S. systems can counter outside intrusion.

Sega highlighted the need for a fast transformation to a capabilities-based military and suggested ways to achieve this transformation.

Lt. Gen. Peter Cuviello, the Army's chief information officer, said that knowledge management is the way to transform the Army into a network-centric, knowledge-based force. Lt. Gen. Jack Woodward, Air Force deputy chief of staff for communications and information, noted that the service was focusing on architecture and information structure, in an enterprise-wide environment. His message was: "No comm, no bomb." The Navy, led by its chief engineer, Rear Adm. Mike Mathis, presented two case studies, one on time sensitive targeting/precision engagement, and the other on the Navy fires network.

Offering a Joint Staff perspective, Navy Cmdr. Mike Mara told the group that current priorities include the global war on terrorism, joint warfighting and transformation of the military. He said that there should be increased focus on architecture integration, effective combat identification, precision engagement, joint tactical force command and control, joint theatre air and missile defense, as well as dominant maneuvering capability.

Senior representatives from companies such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems and L3 Communications, offered their suggestions on how to meet U.S. military requirements for interoperability.

At the end of the conference, V. Garber, the Defense Department's director of interoperability and principal conference sponsor, voiced gratification that the conference had brought together senior leadership. He said it was important for individuals from the office of the secretary of defense, Joint Staff, Joint Forces Command, services and industry, to discuss interoperability issues and chart a course for future actions.

The group agreed that a workshop on architectures and requirements was needed, and NDIA, taking that as a directive, will organize it later this year. The 2nd Annual Interoperability Conference will be held in March 2003.

Bob Rassa, director of system supportability at Raytheon Electronic Systems, served as chairman of the conference.