Editor’s note: During the last two weeks, Coalition Warrior Interoperabilty Demonstration (CWID) participants provided their candid observations from the demonstration. Navy Cmdr. Robert Green gives his final entry from the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division in Dalgren, Va.
Last Thursday was the final day of execution of the Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (CWID) 2010. Friday morning started with the hotwash where each site gave their perspective on how the demonstration went and brought up some issues to improve the next one. The next step is the preparation of the final report which will provide a formal assessment of the interoperability trials based on comments and feedback from those who used them.
Everyone agreed that CWID 2010 was a success. Did every technology perform flawlessly? No. In fact some were deemed, in the words of a warfighter, “not ready for primetime”. That is still a success. While many of the interoperability trials performed as expected and can offer something of value to the warfighters and commanders, others are still lacking required functionality and need additional work. Finding these things out at this stage saved everyone untold amounts of money and those in the field from having subpar equipment. Many of these trials came to CWID knowing they still had some work to do and were looking for feedback from the warfighters to take the next steps. They got it.
As this CWID ends, the next begins. Plans are already underway for CWID 2011 and I am sure it will bring many new technologies that will benefit the U.S. military and our coalition partners.
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