Network Centric Warfare is an exciting reality

"We are leveraging the explosion of information technologies to enable a fundamental change in the way our navy will operate in the 21st century. It’s called Network Centric Warfare, and it may be the most dramatic change in naval warfare since the advent of carrier aviation. By netting sensors and shooters in a seamless information and battle-management grid, we will achieve dominant battlefield awareness and by combining forward presence with network-centric combat power, we will close timelines, decisively alter initial conditions, and head off undesired events before they start, locking out our adversaries options, and locking in our success.

We call this “speed of command” and it gives us the ability to rapidly collect information, assess the situation, develop a course of action, and swiftly execute with overwhelming effect. Information dominance will give us the speed, deception and surprise necessary to create and exploit enemy vulnerabilities, to seize rapidly fleeting opportunities, and to shift the tactical and operational situation to our advantage. We will apply combat power in a high-tempo continuum, not in incremental steps, to keep the enemy disoriented and reactive, unable to take the initiative or carry out a coherent plan of action.

Network Centric Warfare is an exciting reality."

Former Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Jay Johnson in 1998 at the Current Strategy Forum