Composeable FORCEnet: Composeable Command and Control for Superior Decision Making

Abstract : This paper examines one of the most critical aspects of networking the elements of Sea Power 21: how do warfighters operating in a FORCEnet-enabled environment compose the C4ISR elements at their disposal to ensure superior decision-making and enable the Joint Force Commander to achieve the Joint Vision 2020 goal of Full Spectrum Dominance? The key word in this construct is composeable, and the authors' thesis is that commanders must have the ability to compose a command and control architecture that meets their warfighting requirements from a broad array of multi-tiered networked platforms and sensors, dynamic bandwidth capabilities, and tailorable visualizations. In the naval context, this requires that FORCEnet is engineered from the keel up, not as a set-piece bundle of fixed systems, but as a fungible toolbox of capabilities that the commander selects based on the operational mission he/she must accomplish. Composeable FORCEnet provides the framework to achieve a faster speed to capability and it enables warfighters to make the superior decisions necessary to win in battle. (10 figures, 12 refs.)