So to conduct operations successfully the company headquarters must therefore have such access, but this requires a greater level of connectivity, architecture and organisational structure than a company HQ has historically been equipped. Having access to this sort of resource is increasingly viewed as being critical to mission success.
For example, real time Full Motion Video (FMV) from a variety of platforms, some under the direct control of forward troops, is now commonplace. Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) resources and data is now available on a range and scale and to an audience that would have been unthinkable only a few years ago, providing that audience has sufficient connectivity, particularly bandwidth, and a suitable means of handling and displaying the data. Many of these Forward Operating Bases (FOB) are garrisoned at company level and from them operations are now planned, mounted and controlled. Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, notably the latter, have been characterised by the deployment of forces into fortified, dispersed locations close to the local population, separated from each other and from their superior headquarters by difficult terrain which makes terrestrial communications tenuous or non-existent.
This technological devolution has been driven by a number of factors, both technical and environmental. So to conduct operations successfully the headquarters must therefore have such access, but this requires a greater level of connectivity, architecture and organisational structure… This feature looks at some of the developments intended to improve the lot of those disadvantaged commanders at the tactical edge, and concentrates mainly on developments in the US Army. Things now get done at company level that once were the preserve of battalion HQ, and the same is true of battalions instead of brigades. These are the organisations and the commanders who are involved in the immediate battle but who historically have had restricted access to information through a combination of technical limitations and doctrine. A constant theme in ground force command and control (C2) over the last few years has been what could be described as “technological devolution”, the provision of better connectivity, C2 systems, information and decision support to lower tactical levels: the battalion headquarters (HQ) down to the individual soldier, sometimes known as “disadvantaged users” at the “tactical edge”. (US Army/Claire Schwerin)Ĭommand and control (C2) of military forces differs according to the environment in which they operate – ground, maritime or air – but in all cases it is fundamentally about the coordination and synchronisation of activity to achieve objectives.
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