Future Mission Network
BERLIN/GRAFENWOEHR (Own report) - The Bundeswehr is training for global computerized combat operations. During "Combined Endeavor," the world's largest cyber maneuver, which ended last week at the Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany functioned as lead nation, providing its state-of-the-art military communication systems. According to personnel in charge, "Combined Endeavor" serves as a "blueprint" for "real missions" - such as the one in Afghanistan. A mobile IT network was deployed that can link the military bases of the occupation forces in any war zone and ensure battlefield "Information Dominance." New software, allowing the NATO countries' artillery units to share data in "combating enemy targets," was also tested. The training included not only NATO members, but also nations, such as Austria and Ireland, which are formally neutral, as well as East European and Asian countries of the "Partnership for Peace" coalition. By including so-called outposts via satellite, "Combined Endeavor" stretched from Iceland all the way to Georgia - thus revealing its anti-Russian orientation.
Lead Nation Germany
The German Armed Forces announced that, "between September 12 and 26," it had participated in the "world's largest command, control, communications and computer systems exercise" using state-of-the-art computer systems.[1] Held this year at the Bavarian Grafenwoehr Training Area, the multinational "Combined Endeavor" maneuver has been taking place regularly since 1995. 1,200 IT specialists tested communications technology for global military missions. According to the personnel in charge, the maneuver serves as a "blueprint" for the "real missions taking place for years." Alongside France and the USA, Germany took on the role of "lead nation" in "Combined Endeavor." According to the Bundeswehr, it had also provided "networks" for a brigade that not only included Finland and Slovakia but also the formally neutral countries of Austria and Ireland. "Close cooperation" with all these countries is planned "in the coming months," explains the Bundeswehr: "Whether in the EU Battle group, the NATO Response Force (NRF) or in Afghanistan, the experience gained through this exercise will form the basis for future joint command support."[2]
Information Dominance
At the occasion of "Combined Endeavor," the Bundeswehr introduced a "mobile communication system." This system provides a "core network" for units operating in any war zone with the possibility of linking in to military bases and command posts. The objective is primarily to achieve "Information Dominance" on the battlefield: "Rapid and correct information is the basis of warfare. (...) 'Combined Endeavor' insures that all the information a commander needs will reach him immediately and securely in a multinational environment." By its own admission, the Bundeswehr is seeking to develop a shielded "Future Mission Network," which will, for example, integrate voice over IP, video teleconference systems, chats and encryption of emails and information. This means that it will be possible in missions of the future for all of the "applications at the disposal of private users," to also "be deployed by the Armed Forces on a global scale," explains the Bundeswehr.[3] The already operational "Afghanistan Mission Network," enabling ISAF troops to retrieve all relevant data down to the tactical level of direct warfare via a shared IT platform with standardized applications, could serve as a model. (german-foreign-policy.com reported.[4])
Data Exchange for Live Fire
According to the Bundeswehr, the introduction of the new ASCA (Artillery Systems Cooperation Activities) software is a prime example for the "futuristic networking of nations, with a direct influence on warfare." It provides artillery units of the participating NATO countries - Germany, France, Italy, Turkey and the USA - a "comprehensive data exchange." Not only "status and weather reports" are transmitted but, above all, information on "combating enemy targets." ASCA is "significantly contributing to network-based operations." Following "live fire drills" carried out during "Combined Endeavor," "full operational capability" of this computer program will soon be reached.[5]
Cyber War
A supplementary focus of the "Combined Endeavor" maneuver was Cyber warfare. Colonel Lemuel Thomas of the United States European Command (USEUCOM) explained what the so called cyber war is all about: "Our enemies are fast, intelligent and creative with malicious software. We must be even faster, more intelligent and more creative to respond effectively to these dangers."[6] In workshops that were organized by major IT companies - including Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Rohde and Schwarz - the participating military personnel acquired expertise in "cyber security." Since some time already the Bundeswehr has several cyber warrior units. Last April, the Bundeswehr University in Munich established a new research center for "integrated cyber defense." Since 2002, the Bundeswehr has a "Computer Emergency Response Team" (CERT) comprised of 40 IT specialists, which, according to press reports, focuses on "network monitoring," "vulnerability analysis," as well as "computer forensics" and has established a "warning and information service" for "malware."[7]
Digital Attacks on Foreign Networks
It has recently become known that the German Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) and the Bundeswehr's Strategy Reconnaissance Command (KSA) have established special IT units. Whereas MAD is hunting "extremist insider perpetrators,"[8] the KSA's cyber unit is focusing on the "latest methods of intruding, monitoring, manipulating or destroying foreign networks - including digital attacks on foreign servers and networks."[9] It is not surprising therefore that the Bundeswehr's IT specialists served as instructors in the "Combined Endeavor" maneuver. As one of them declared, not without pride, "many participants" are using the expertise acquired in the seminars as the "last professional preparation for their foreign deployment."[10]
Against Russia
"Combined Endeavor's" radius of action stretched "from Iceland, to the far West, all the way to Georgia, to the East," according to the Bundeswehr.[11] The linkage via satellite and high frequency radio to multiple "outposts" in Eastern European and Asian countries members of the Partnership for Peace" coalition, illustrates the maneuver's thrust: against Russia.
[1] IT-Übung Combined Endeavor 2013 - 39 Nationen überprüfen Einsatzfähigkeit; www.streitkraeftebasis.de 27.09.2013
[2] Combined Endeavor 2013 - Fazit für Deutschland als Führungsnation; www.streitkraeftebasis.de 27.09.2013
[3] Future Mission Network - Gemeinsam in die Zukunft; www.streitkraeftebasis.de 23.09.2013
[4] see also Systemintegration
[5] Französische Artillerie und Deutsches Joint Fire Support Team im gemeinsamen Einsatz; www.streitkraeftebasis.de 19.09.2013
[6] Nur so stark wie das schwächste Glied; www.streitkraeftebasis.de 26.09.2013
[7] Vom Kampf in der fünften Dimension; www.bundeswehr-journal.de 03.05.2013
[8] Bundeswehr befürchtet Cyber-Attacken von innen; www.stern.de 13.05.2013
[9] Vom Kampf in der fünften Dimension; www.bundeswehr-journal.de 03.05.2013
[10] Nur so stark wie das schwächste Glied; www.streitkraeftebasis.de 26.09.2013
[11] Future Mission Network - Gemeinsam in die Zukunft; www.streitkraeftebasis.de 23.09.2013