ABSTRACT
While capable of mounting large, rapid and decisive operations to achieve certain limited ends, the United States remains tied to its allies to assist it in maintaining international order: as technologically advanced and well funded as the US military is, it simply lacks the manpower to be in all places at all times. 1 At the same time, however, the march of technology presents growing difficulties to America's allies and partners in their ability to support this goal. The US is not ignorant of these challenges. The American military, particularly its Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, VA, has devoted a great deal of effort to studying the problem of coalition interoperability. The change in name in 2005 of the annual Joint Warfare Interoperability Demonstration, which highlights new technology that seeks to improve interoperability, to the Coalition Warfare Interoperability Demonstration (CWID) highlighted the seriousness with which the Pentagon views the issue. Nevertheless, the evolution of military technology and doctrine towards information-centric models presents issues that will be difficult to resolve. The problem stems from the fact that the evolution of NCW, as an operational concept devised to create a competitive edge by taking advantage of technological developments at the tactical level, is now driving larger strategic issues in terms of military cooperation between the US and its partners.
