Leaders from across the Army met at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Oct. 18-20, to discuss specific near-term Army network and Mission Partner Environment (MPE) challenges as part of the Mission Command Network Summit. This Department of the Army G-3/5/7-directed event, “Enabling Echelons Above Brigade Operations,” builds on the Common Operating Environment (COE) Transport Convergence Summit held earlier this summer and will inform next month’s Network Synchronization Working Group (NSWG).
The general officer-led session on Oct. 20 began with a series of stage-setter briefings to establish shared understanding among the participants. Early discussion focused on the concept of “information advantage” as a key element of success in future operations. Later, leaders focused on a vignette-driven scenario to address the implications for specific areas: MPE, information sharing, and transport. The objective was to identify shortfalls and provide possible solutions as the scenario played out.
Attendees, both virtual and in-person, included general officers (GOs) and other senior representatives from the Army Staff, Forces Command, Training and Doctrine Command, Army Materiel Command, Army Futures Command, Army Service Component Commands, direct reporting units, joint and sister services, and allies and partners.
Outputs from this event and the COE Transport Convergence Summit will be turned over to action officers and leads who will work these issues along the network modernization lines of effort (unified network, COE, interoperability, and command post) to refine volume two of the Mission Command Network Implementation Plan. This work will be done as part of the NSWG scheduled for November.
“The effort put forth at this week’s Mission Command Network Summit, combined with the follow-on working group, will set us up for success going into 2022 as we shift focus to information advantage,” said Jeff Witsken, Mission Command Network Integration director. “Each network event we hold builds on the one before, culminating in the summit and the NSWG. Previously, we held the NSWG concurrent with the summit, trying to anticipate solutions and questions. This year, we believe holding it after the summit and after the GO input is a smarter model and will allow us to provide more fidelity in our work moving forward.”
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