Across many of the services, leaders are coming to grips with systems and gear that have been fielded quickly over the last 16 years that, while did what they were supposed to in the heat of battle, do not talk to each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These stovepipped systems have not only created interoperability challenges between the joint force but within the services themselves, creating significant inefficiencies on the battlefield that could slow the decision cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the Marine Corps, preventing this from happening going forward will involve accountable standards and enforcement of policies, Brig. Gen. Dennis Crall, director of C4 and the chief information officer of the Marines, said during a panel discussion at Modern Day Marine September 21 in Quantico, Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re not doing well is [that] there\u2019s always an exception to the rule. That exception to the rules sometimes comes in how urgent, deliberate needs are fielded by the Marines quickly,\u201d Crall said. \u201cThere\u2019s always a tradeoff; if you want it bad, sometimes you get it bad,\u201d and while there\u2019s a place for that, the Marine Corps to make sure that any exceptions to the rule are accompanied with capabilities to make sure systems work together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Crall also noted that in development \u2014 whether it\u2019s software, applications or hardware \u2014 the service is looking at developer tool kits and standards so they don\u2019t catch themselves at the end of the fielding process trying to make systems interoperable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One beneficial thing that has occurred, according to JB Wilson, who works on the staff of the newly established deputy commandant for information, has been the development of the force development strategic planning. This will enable the service to mature science and technology, research and development and, through the Marine Corps Rapid Capabilities Office, get those requirements in and transitioned to the acquisition community faster and a lot more strategically, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When it comes to interoperability with the joint force, Crall said the Marines need to take better advantage of and leverage systems developed by other services. The commandant, he noted, often says the Marine Corps have a not-built-here problem when adopting good things the other services created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne way to make sure we\u2019re interoperable in a true sense is having identical equipment. But sometimes because the shade of gray is a little bit different, it doesn\u2019t have a globe and anchor on the side of it [referencing to the Marine Corps insignia], we start the entire process over only to find out we bought two or three or five or nine of the exact same thing,\u201d he said. \u201cThe difference is it\u2019s far more expensive that way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To speed up interoperability, the Marines can look at organizations like the Joint Communications Support Element, Special Operations Command and the other combatant commands to see what they\u2019re already fielding and if there\u2019s utility for the Marines, and then get on those contracts to meet needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As the services are grappling with interoperability challenges involving a bevy of equipment fielded rapidly over the last 16 years, the Marines are trying to address this issue by creating standards and enforcing policies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":39794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"10":{"categories":["modern-day-marine","digital-show-dailies"],"primary_category":"modern-day-marine"}}},"categories":[8,16],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3268],"class_list":["post-14129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c2-comms","category-it-networks"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"QHZ642NHEZCLFH45NHZVAULFAA","arc_canonical_url":"\/c2-comms\/2017\/09\/22\/heres-how-the-marines-are-looking-to-make-systems-more-interoperable\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n