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United States military forces are and will continue to be involved in coalition operations involving NATO and NATO allies. To remain successful, these coalition operations will need a greater degree of interoperability than required in the past. This can only be achieved if the U.S., NATO, and NATO allies utilize the same set of specified standards and, to the greatest degree possible, the same set of tested interoperable products.

To achieve this goal, MITRE is supporting the U.S. Mission to NATO in NATO’s efforts to develop a NATO Consultation, Command, and Control (C3) technical architecture for implementing a Bi-Strategic Command (SC) Automated Information System (AIS). The Bi-SC AIS will provide a single core capability for the command, control, and information systems for both of NATO’s Strategic Commands—Allied Command Europe (ACE) and Allied Command Atlantic (ACLANT).

NATO policy requires the Bi-SC AIS be implemented with the mandatory core set of standards and products specified in the NATO C3 Technical Architecture (NC3TA). MITRE is actively supporting U.S. efforts to align our national systems (e.g., Global Command and Control System (GCCS)) with the Bi-SC AIS in order to support multinational operations. To promote interoperability, Bi-SC AIS must be implemented with the standards specified in the NATO Common Standards Profile (NCSP) and the products specified in the NATO Common Operating Environment (NCOE). These are volumes 4 and 5 respectively of the five-volume NC3TA, which includes:

• Volume 1: Management
• Volume 2: Architectural Models and Description
• Volume 3: Base Standards and Profiles
• Volume 4: NATO Common Standards Profile (NCSP)
• Volume 5: NATO Common Operating Environment (NCOE)

As part of our support on this initiative, MITRE is chairing the NATO Ad-Hoc Working Group for NCOE, which has the responsibility for developing the NCSP and NCOE. Volume 4: NCSP, provides guidance on mandated and emerging standards for NATO information system acquisition. Volume 5: NCOE, is a NCSP standards-based computing and communications infrastructure, composed of selected off-the-shelf products and supporting services, that provides the structural foundation necessary to build interoperable and open systems.

Version 2 of the NC3TA was completed in December 2000 and; approvedal by the NATO C3 Board (NC3B) is expected in May 2001. Once With NC3B approvaled, the standards in the NCSP and the products in the NCOE will have become mandatory for the Bi-SC AIS. By aligning NATO’s NCSP and NCOE with the analogous U.S. Joint Technical Architecture (JTA) and Defense Information Infrastructure (DII) Common Operating Environment (COE), the NATO Bi-SC AIS will be interoperable with GCCS and thus facilitate U.S. leadership or participation in any NATO-led operation.

Version 2 of the NC3TA was completed in December 2000 and approval by the NATO C3 Board in May 2001. With NC3B approval, the standards in the NCSP and the products in the NCOE are mandatory for the Bi-SC AIS. By aligning NATO's NCSP and NCOE with the analogous U.S. Joint Technical Architecture (JTA) and Defense Information Infrastructure (DII) Common Operating Environment (COE), the NATO Bi-SC AIS will be interoperable with GCCS and thus facilitate U.S. leadership or participation in any NATO-led operation.

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