ARTICLE

April 2004

Government, Not Industry, Should Be in Charge of Interoperability

by Sandra I. Erwin

Government agencies, not contractors, should be responsible for making weapons systems interoperable, senior military officials said.

The Defense Department now mandates that interoperability among land, air, sea and space systems be treated as a key performance measure in weapons programs. So far, however, the Pentagon has struggled with how to implement interoperability, because most weapon systems were not designed to “talk” to one another.

Although contractors have proposed different versions of software architectures and networking technologies, intended to bridge the interoperability gap, industry cannot be expected to provide the answer, according to Naval Sea Systems Command officials.

The interoperability of warfare systems is a job for the government, not for industry, said Rear Adm. Brad Hicks, head of the Naval Surface Warfare Center. “Not one industry guy owns the whole thing, so how do we ensure interoperability of combat systems?” he asked during a media roundtable at NAVSEA headquarters.

The fundamental dilemma is that interoperability often conflicts with the interests of corporations. Companies have legitimate concerns about the disclosure of their intellectual property, so should not be a position to manage and set requirements for interoperability, said Hicks. “We have to do that” in the government. “In fact, we’re taking a greater role there. We have to be the forcing function to make sure stuff works together. Joint interoperability is the bane of everybody’s discussion today and how we can do it better. We have to have the competence and the infrastructure to support that.”

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