In The News:
- Boeing, U.S. Army Celebrate 1st Flight of AH-64D Apache Block III Helicopter
- Boeing to Demo Net-Centric Upgrade on AWACS Aircraft at Empire Challenge
- Boeing Team Receives Howard Hughes Award for Network-Centric Rotorcraft Demonstrations
- Boeing, US Army Transmit Sensor Data from JTRS Radios to FCS Vehicles for 1st Time
- All News Releases >>
Overview
Network-Centric Operations, or NCO, is a form of collaboration in which the entities in an activity are linked or networked by a communications and information systems infrastructure that lets them share relevant data across geographic borders.
This network could comprise fixed assets such as the global wireline pathways and routers of the Internet, or mobile assets able to form ad-hoc networks using wireless connections. As part of such a network, users can obtain shared situational awareness or a common operating picture of the activity at hand. They are able to inform each other about their individual roles, needs and capabilities, and pool their capabilities and dynamically reallocate their resources based on real-time operational demands. This collaborative synergy enhances decision making and increases the effectiveness of each individual element so that the total system is more effective than the sum of its parts.
With such network-enabled systems in place, an unprecedented enterprise environment is created where, in real time, sensors collect and share data via the network, and the network's Intelligent Agent functions sift that data for relevant information. Other components of the network then present that knowledge to users in precisely the format required to help them make faster, better decisions that increase their effectiveness.
Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is developing and integrating a number of transformational programs, systems, and systems-of-systems that will provide its customers with new network-centric warfare capabilities. Conflicts since the first Gulf War have demonstrated that a networked force improves information sharing; shared information enhances situational awareness; enhanced situational awareness enables greater speed of command (decision making); and the result is increased mission effectiveness. Additional military benefits can be achieved through network-enabled logistics and supply chain management practices that emulate the successful processes already used by large commercial retailers.
Boeing, as the world's largest aerospace enterprise, is committed to providing network-enabled systems and systems-of-systems that support its customers' transformational goals. Through the development and deployment of a common communications and information architecture framework, Boeing is committed to ensuring that its products support system-of-systems interoperability, which is a cornerstone requirement for NCO. And through networked distributed simulations involving live platforms and such Boeing laboratories as the Boeing Integration Centers, the Virtual Warfare Center and the Center for Integrated Defense Simulation, Boeing conducts frequent demonstrations of the increased effectiveness of a networked force.