Network Centric Warfare +UCB's

[littleme]

Can anyone tell me what Network Centric Warfare is? Or give me some info on it? Been told to research it for my OASC interview at the end of next month and at present it means nothing to be whatsoever! Also the mention of UCB's, which again means even less to me than NCW! Can anyone enlighten me?!

Cheers!

Littleme

[joe2812]

http://www.mors.org/publications/phalanx/dec00/feature.htm

Should help, good luck at OASC :ok:

[FFP]

Jeez, gone are the days when knowing your age in years and months before you went in was considered A level prep !!!

[airborne_artist]

As are the days when an HF hand speed morse link that worked for a couple of hours at night was reckoned to be the height of communications sophistication.

[JessTheDog]

Try "Network Enabled Capability," the UK version, also known as Not Enough Cash!

You should at least cast your eyes over the defence white paper. I wouldn't believe it, but at least understand and repeat at the appropriate time!

[BEagle]

NCW and UCB are both examples of the worst TLA pieces of jargon-speak. Regrettably, this sort of cr@p spews out of unworthy, expensive and totally over-rated ivory towers such as AWC and that purple pratt-palace near Watchfield with predictable regularity. Whereas, in fact, any communications system, whether speckled Jim or gucci noughts-and-ones jobber, is inherently a SFS.

It's all to do with trying to replace people and jets with computers, in order to save cash. Most of it is utter sci-fi bolleaux, but it keeps QUANGOs such as KwintyKwoo - aka QueerA - in business sucking funds from do-able real world projects.

If you can keep a straight face, swot up from http://www.ucb.co.uk/ so that if some DORIS-tart asks you what you know about UCBs, you can surprise them!

Alteratively, just try: "Look, you f*ckwit, I just want to fly cool jets and go bomb people. Stop ar$eing about with triv, sign me up so I can go and sink a few beers with the real aircrew mates and not bore my tits off having to suffer you desk-sucking blotter jotter PONTIs with your scribbldegook and numptyspeak which means f*ck all in the real world!"

[FFP]

Like I said, know your age in years and months.

That'll do it :ok:

[airborne_artist]

The really sad thing is that the youth of today are expected to be talking in these nonsensical, PC, w*nkspeak TLAs at their first interview, for God's sake.

What ever happened to recruiting guys/lasses who were bright, good at sport, keen to get on and reasonably articulate?

[littleme]

Thanks for the help guys - really appreciated. Didn't realise NCW was the US version and that NEC is the UK version - will only be looking into the UK one! I've added it to the pile of other reading I need to get done, there is SO much I don't even know where to start. Having been last year I can judge on somethings I can get away with not knowing (which isn't much!).

BEagle - sometimes I wish I could sit in the interview and recite you're speech, however, don't think they'd appreciate it!

And airborne artist, I am 100% with you on that one, it really is riduculous when you look at it....sport used to be a major thing in the RAF, but now, it seems it doesn't count for much & if you don't play a team sport it is often frowned upon as it's not enhancing you're team work capabilities! So many things are over-looked these days...it makes me SO cross!!

Oh well.....I MUST stay positive & finger's crossed for second time lucky!

Cheers again. Littleme ;)

[whowhenwhy]

Considering the time of your post Beags I'm guessing that you had been drinking for some considerable time. Quite an unusually lengthy and verbal diatribe from your good self. I always thought you fell into the camp that said why use 50 words when you can use 3. "It's all w*nk!":ok:

[Toddington Ted]

Oh dear, I "work", at a desk that sucks, in one of those "over rated" ivory tower places, well one parents us anyway, and I don't really understand what Network Enabled Capability is either. So I asked a very clever wg cdr fast jet aircrew mate and he said something very like BEagle did (with expletives that I hadn't heard for years) but added that only one country in the world actually possessed NEC of a sorts and it wasn't the UK!
Regarding sport, Airborne Artist, you know that I have always been frightened of participating in it, even when I was in the Grey Funnel Line all those years ago(!) but I quite like watching this Olympic girls volleyball stuff!

[MightyGem]

Of course, you could try reading some of Tom Clancy's latest books.

[BEagle]

whenwherewhywhathtef*ck, no you libellous so-and-so, I had most certainly not been drinking for quite a while!

More like drowning in a sea of despair after learning that aircrew selection nowadays seems to require knowledge of the esoteric and arcane gibberish spouted by purple pratt-palace people.

I seem to recall being asked a bit about the Borneo confrontation, plus identify a Victor on the wall photo. The group sessions were fun - used a bit of the 'pose, pause, pounce' I'd been taught as a CCF signals instructor which got the interviewers' attention.

But nothing whatever about BMCs, PDAs, RSJs or whatever that TLA was.

"Enjoy the CCF?" "Yes sir - except the hairy battledress. Far sooner wear a flying suit!"

"Hmmph. Play sport?" "Yes sir, but chasing balls about in the mud on freezing cold days doesn't actually appeal that much"

"So what does appeal to you?" "Flying an RAF fighter, sir!"

That was back in the days before they stopped asking direct questions!

Yup - when were you born? So how old does that make you in years and months? What means of transport did you use to get to school? All those old chestnuts are no doubt still being asked!

[airborne_artist]

Toddington Ted

Agreed, you were never the keen sporting type, but your stout physique provided you with plenty of warmth on the aircrew survival course, while the Welsh racing snake succumbed to hypothermia on the second night and proceeded to grizzle his way through the rest of the week.

You as I recall chortled your way through the New Forest stroll, lost an admirable 14 pounds, and swiftly replaced it with copious quantities of Sam Smiths once we arrived at Leeming.

[Mach2]

You're out of date, I'm afraid Beags. OASC stopped asking "How old does that make you in years and months" ages ago ( at least 3 years!). And now they've stopped asking what your Mum and Dad do, and how many siblings you have (Infringment of privacy, or something!!)

[BEagle]

So what 'settling in' questions do DORIS-tarts ask nowadays? Explain the linkage between network centric warfighting and Pythagorean metampsychosis?

I did a station commissioning board once. Some anal blunt pratt asked the very smart young SNCO sitting in his best blue who was the boss of Norway.....:rolleyes:

As a famous, sadly now dead, ex-CFS Commandant once said "Just ask 'em if they want to fly green aeroplanes which kill people!".

[Archimedes]

And as one of the pratts at the purple palace, I have a very similar tale to Ted's.

Mention of NEC is usually accompanied by profanities, the questionning of the parentage of those who proclaim the virtues of NEC, reference to the technological marvel of BOWMAN, reference to 'no cash' , outbreaks of deep sarcasm etc, etc, etc.

IF you have the money, NEC is great. If you don't, it's merely the smokescreen behind which the Secretary of State for Defence can disguise defence cuts* while trying to claim that this is appropriate realignment of defence spending to invest in excting new technology that no-one outside the world of defence (i.e. 99% of the electorate) really understands.

(*I'm sorry, even if the funding has increased, losing four FJ units ahead of time, four army rgts and £1.1 Billion from the SH budget is a cut in my book!).

[BEagle]

Ah - but Archie (that Archie??), you don't understand. No doubt pr00ne will soon be along with one of his former Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf 'Comical Ali' explanations about how his New Labour luvvies haven't cut anything at all..... :*

[mbga9pgf]

PM me. Have a defence paper on it which neatly sums up what NEC/(NCW Lite version) actually is, in laypersons terms....

Mbga

[ChristopherRobin]

Lots of stuff on NEC at the MOD Website (http://www.mod.uk/issues/nec/)

...although how we can produce systems that talk to one another from organisations that don't is beyond me...

[pr00ne]

BEagle,

Not at all, sorry to dissapoint.

I took issue with all those who were spouting nonsense about cuts in defence expenditure when it was being increased. I was especially disgruntled with those of a Tory ilk who KNOW that if they were in power they would be cutting ALL forms of Public sector expenditute to fund tax cuts.

I do not think we need the current number of fast jet units and surface warships, but I DO NOT defend this white paper or what is being done to the capability of the UK armed forces. The SH debacle is what finally did it for me, the one area where an increase could be reasonably expected is now to be cut.

So BEagle and Archimedes, do not expect me to come dashing to the rescue when the cuts in capability are attacked, I think we spend just about the right amount on defence, not sure we have adeqauately covered the costs of Iraq, and damm sure we have constant procurement cock ups that NOONE is responsible for either in uniform or in Whitehall in suits.

[Archimedes]

Pr00ne,

Just for clarity, I was being critical of dear old Buff ('no cuts at all, guv'nor, just clever realignment and use of clever tecnology...')rather than your point of view.

[Cyclone733]

NEC? This is the kit that prevents mis-identification of targets (when bits of it are not still on the way to theatre)?

[Spotting Bad Guys]

Having worked in one of the 'ivory towers' myself, I've also heard much nonsense spouted about NEC - mainly by the likes of those whose sole employment seems to be to produce papers, 'discussion pieces' and 'lessons identified' (clearly we don't actually learn anything any more.)

However, the idea of enabling each of the platforms to feed a 'ring-main' networked system is sound; the problem we have is that we have too many single-service, stovepiped single-point-of-failure legacy systems, most of which are totally hamstrung by over-restrictive security protocols and/or totally inadequate procurement and support contracts. We are further hampered by a lack of bandwidth, exacerbated by the desire of HQs at every level to see every single piece of imagery/WSV/powerpoint brief produced by their subordinate units.

Things will not improve until we have a complete 'system of systems' by which information can be exchanged rapidly and effectively, or - even better - we all migrate to one system in the same way the US forces work. Perhaps now we actually have an IT trade things might get better, faster!

SBG

[Gainesy]

Look, you f*ckwit, I just want to fly cool jets and go bomb people.

Many thanks BEags, just guffawed tea all over my keyboard!

As to NEC, that's rich, from an organisation whose 'phone network does not, er... network.

[BEagle]

Ah - but Gainesy, remember the days pre-DFTN when weird and wonderfully named places would announce their presence as some dear old bat in a manual PBX plugged into the patchboard...."Rothwell Haigh?.....Central" - and the occasional screech of "ARE YOU WORKING??" if you paused for thought in the middle of a call!

[Gainesy]

Sure do.

I once managed to get a "Service Call" routed halfway round the world via all sorts of weird places, about a dozen PBXs, from Akronelli to UK, only for the old bag at Bawtry to refuse to connect to my mother's place six miles up the road.

On Christmas Eve. :mad:

But at least it worked. Then.

[BEagle]

I was once told that the way to get a call to Germany past all the old bats in those weird exchanges was to dial (in those days) 86100, then when the MoD operator answered, say "Rhine Army thankyou". There would then be a few clicks and clunks, followed by "Rhine Army". You then said "Oh, Wildenrath RAF please" and waited for a bit longer until Wildenrath answered. Then ask for the extension. It worked top banana!

So one Happy Hour-fuelled evening one of our wheels was moaning about not being able to speak to Deci. So I tried the old Rhine Army dodge and eventually got through to a voice which yelled "PRONTO!!!". "Err, officer Inglese pleezy", quoth I. "NO COMPRENDO" responded Luigi Fellatio at the other end. Suddenly had a brainwave and remembered that the lovely little Air Trafficker recently posted in had once been an au pair (and also had a nice p..r!). "Fiona, could you parliamo Italiano with this mate please?" Much Italian, gesticulations and shouting before finally she turned round with a beaming voice and said "I've got him!" Fetched the sqn wheel....."Hello......ahh, yes, err, sorry sir..." he stammered.

It seems that the ever helpful Luigi, aided by the lovely Fiona, had succeeded in getting the Decci UK station master out of bed - we'd forgotten that it was 2230 and that Italy was an hour ahead!

So back to the pub we went!

[littleme]

And that links with Network Centric Warfare....how?!? ;)

[tucumseh]

Hello littleme

I’m too late, but I hope your interview went well and the often hilarious cynicisms helped.

The MoD website tells you what NEC is, or at least what they aspire to. An aspiration does not become policy or practice without subject knowledge, personal commitment (from Whitehall) or funding.

I see NEC as an output. The input, in addition to these 3 components, must also include system of systems integration. This facilitates NEC. (Being a little simplistic here but you get the idea).

Now the cynics would say that the Army, who lead on BOWMAN (which is merely a largely unintegrated and outdated bearer of information), lacks a background in SoS integration. Except of course in aircraft, which cannot fly without it. That is why RN, RAF and AAC types will tell you NEC is just a new name for what they’ve been capable of for decades (but within narrower boundaries).

The Army’s problem (shared with RAF Regt, RM and various other foot soldiers) is that they have a plethora of legacy kit (systems) which, while occasionally fit for purpose as stand-alone systems, have never been integrated with each other. Expensive retrospective work (modifications etc) is required to (a) bring these systems up to scratch and (b) integrate them with each other. This should be almost finished if NEC is to co-incide even broadly with the BOWMAN timescale. Is it? It had better be, as the cuts have already been announced to offset the cost!

One must have a management process to sustain NEC. That is, having established a new baseline, how do you maintain/raise it when new systems come along? Given the air side cracked this long ago, it is clear who the MoD should be looking to for leadership. This management is the difficult bit, despite what technophobes tell you.

This is not to say the air (or sea) areas have got it right all the time, because you must always have the knowledge, commitment and funding; not things the MoD is known for or enjoys. The natural outcome of not having these is often discussed in this forum, although perhaps the contributors don’t always draw the link to (lack of) integration, configuration control etc.

I’m not quite as cynical as others, but I’m not optimistic that the MoD (or their bosses, the Treasury!) understands that you don’t just go out and buy NEC off the shelf. However, the MoD has a perfectly good Defence Standard which describes in infinite detail how to arrange and manage the process. It just doesn’t mention the term NEC (as it was last updated in 1990, which is as good an indication as any that the MoD lacks expertise). For this reason, I doubt if more than a handful could link the two. They also have a set of robust rules to ensure the output of this process is maintained and sustained. Again, I doubt…….. So, we can look forward to a bout of wheel re-invention, which inevitably causes delay.

[ORAC]

Tucumseh. they are working on it. JETTS (http://www.publictechnology.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1506), NITEworks (http://www.niteworks.net/)

[littleme]

Tucumseh,

No, you weren't too late, I do not attend OASC until mid-October. Not long to go! Just getting organised in advance!

Cheers

Littleme :ok: