Devildogg4ever
09-20-03, 07:19 AM
Sep 19, 11:10 PM EDT
By GARY GENTILE
AP Business Writer
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Boeing Co. is urging the unprecedented cooperation of rival U.S. defense contractors to establish a single communication standard that would allow future weapons systems built for the U.S. military to talk to each other.
Boeing executives have invited Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, as well as software companies like Microsoft and smaller suppliers to a meeting to discuss create a standards body that would eliminate competing technologies used in radios and data networks on planes, ships and other weapons platforms.
"There is a cost associated with doing this, but there is a terrible cost to our nation if we don't," Carl O'Berry, vice president of strategic architecture at Boeing, said during a tour of the Boeing Integration Center here Thursday.
Boeing executives said they had not invited the U.S. Department of Defense to the meeting, which is to take place in 30 or 40 days.
O'Berry said industry should take the lead in setting the standards, then present its work to the Pentagon. Not all the major defense contractors have agreed to participate and none have yet agreed to take the next step, O'Berry said.
"It's all very fragile," he said. "Companies have agreed just to have an initial meeting to see if it's viable or not."
The idea, Boeing executives say, is to build more profitable display systems, weapons and other applications that could "plug and play" into a future networked battlefield
Instead of creating a network linking their own products, Boeing wants to see all U.S. forces linked by requiring that future ships, planes and weapons built by rival defense contractors speak the same language. Boeing believes its competitors could be developing distinct technology that might not talk to its own Internet protocol-based devices.
Boeing is working with the Pentagon on a vision of the "integrated battlespace," where soldiers carry handheld devices that gives them locations of fellow troops and enemy forces. The Army's 4th Infantry Division already uses networked "battlefield Internet" screens in its vehicles, which network among themselves and use real-time intelligence to make quick decisions.
A more robust network would require every item in a battle to be constantly linked. Ideally in such a world, "friendly fire" incidents would be reduced, as would wrong turns, such as the one in Iraq that brought Pfc. Jessica Lynch's supply convoy into an ambush.
Boeing's discussions with industry rivals will culminate in a first meeting that could lead to a sharing of technologies to develop a single standard for all future weapons systems.
If the companies agree to proceed, O'Berry said, a standards-based corporation could be formed by the end of the year. Companies would contribute engineers, technology and investment.
"We have a lot of work to do to bring that group together in a consolidated way," he said.
O'Berry would not say who has agreed to attend the meeting. A spokesman for Northrop Grumman said the company has been invited to participate, but did not say if the company would attend. A Lockheed official contacted Friday had no knowledge of the meeting.
The effort is in the best interests of defense companies who will have to address the problem of interoperability sooner or later, said Paul Nisbet, a defense industry analyst with JSA Research.
"It's sort of yielding to the inevitable and getting out in front of it and doing it in your favor rather than going along with bureaucratic solutions," Nisbet said.
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NETWORKED_WARFARE?SITE=NCJAC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
By GARY GENTILE
AP Business Writer
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Boeing Co. is urging the unprecedented cooperation of rival U.S. defense contractors to establish a single communication standard that would allow future weapons systems built for the U.S. military to talk to each other.
Boeing executives have invited Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, as well as software companies like Microsoft and smaller suppliers to a meeting to discuss create a standards body that would eliminate competing technologies used in radios and data networks on planes, ships and other weapons platforms.
"There is a cost associated with doing this, but there is a terrible cost to our nation if we don't," Carl O'Berry, vice president of strategic architecture at Boeing, said during a tour of the Boeing Integration Center here Thursday.
Boeing executives said they had not invited the U.S. Department of Defense to the meeting, which is to take place in 30 or 40 days.
O'Berry said industry should take the lead in setting the standards, then present its work to the Pentagon. Not all the major defense contractors have agreed to participate and none have yet agreed to take the next step, O'Berry said.
"It's all very fragile," he said. "Companies have agreed just to have an initial meeting to see if it's viable or not."
The idea, Boeing executives say, is to build more profitable display systems, weapons and other applications that could "plug and play" into a future networked battlefield
Instead of creating a network linking their own products, Boeing wants to see all U.S. forces linked by requiring that future ships, planes and weapons built by rival defense contractors speak the same language. Boeing believes its competitors could be developing distinct technology that might not talk to its own Internet protocol-based devices.
Boeing is working with the Pentagon on a vision of the "integrated battlespace," where soldiers carry handheld devices that gives them locations of fellow troops and enemy forces. The Army's 4th Infantry Division already uses networked "battlefield Internet" screens in its vehicles, which network among themselves and use real-time intelligence to make quick decisions.
A more robust network would require every item in a battle to be constantly linked. Ideally in such a world, "friendly fire" incidents would be reduced, as would wrong turns, such as the one in Iraq that brought Pfc. Jessica Lynch's supply convoy into an ambush.
Boeing's discussions with industry rivals will culminate in a first meeting that could lead to a sharing of technologies to develop a single standard for all future weapons systems.
If the companies agree to proceed, O'Berry said, a standards-based corporation could be formed by the end of the year. Companies would contribute engineers, technology and investment.
"We have a lot of work to do to bring that group together in a consolidated way," he said.
O'Berry would not say who has agreed to attend the meeting. A spokesman for Northrop Grumman said the company has been invited to participate, but did not say if the company would attend. A Lockheed official contacted Friday had no knowledge of the meeting.
The effort is in the best interests of defense companies who will have to address the problem of interoperability sooner or later, said Paul Nisbet, a defense industry analyst with JSA Research.
"It's sort of yielding to the inevitable and getting out in front of it and doing it in your favor rather than going along with bureaucratic solutions," Nisbet said.
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NETWORKED_WARFARE?SITE=NCJAC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT