By Owen Oppenheimer
In late 2022, generals from both the United States and the United Kingdom inked an agreement to work towards improving their respective command and control (C2) capabilities. The collaboration agreement will allow for faster and more efficient information sharing and decision-making among allies needed to manage 21st-century conflicts. Additionally, the move was one of the first steps in the rebranding of the Pentagon’s Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) initiative into what is now the Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) program.
The new, “combined” program signals a shift from the idea of an exclusively joint (interservice) interoperability initiative to one that invites international collaboration from our allies. “We really wanted to send out the signal that we operate and fight with our allies and partners all the time,” Margie Palmieri, the Pentagon’s deputy chief digital and artificial intelligence officer, said. This ability to operate jointly is essential to combat technologically advanced rivals like China and Russia.
The origin of the CJADC2 is rooted in three separate C2 projects: the Army’s Project Convergence, the Air Force's Advanced Battle Management System, and the Navy’s Project Overmatch. These programs were originally referred to as JADC2 following the agreement between the Army and Airforce to collaborate in C2 development. While the Navy has not officially joined JADC2, former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday said it has plans to “plug into JADC2 once it’s up and running.” This integration could speed up interservice operational planning significantly.
Since its development, the Department of Defense (DoD) has held two JADC2 exercises. The first one took place in 2019 in Florida with Air Force and Navy aircraft, a Navy destroyer, an Army Sentinel radar system, a mobile artillery system, as well as commercial space and ground sensors. This was the first successful use of the system between the three branches. The second test took place in 2020 in the Black Sea and involved special operations personnel from eight other NATO countries for the first time. This, combined with this year's Bold Quest Island Marauder 2023 interoperability exercise involving seventeen partner nations, cements the Pentagon’s view of needing a combined JADC2 system.
With the invasion of Ukraine, the ability for international military cooperation is of paramount importance for the United States and its allies. CJADC2 is merely the first step in crafting a more effective global peacekeeping force. When integrated with allies, the United States will be able to share intelligence, make quicker decisions on the battlefield, and coordinate those decisions across domains of land, air, and sea.
International involvement from partners is key to ensuring C2 integration efforts are successful. “It has to be done with our closest allies and partners. … We won’t do it without other nations along with us as well,” said Army Futures Command Commanding Gen. John Murray, clearly showing the DoD's commitment to international collaboration.
Battlefields are evolving quicker than ever, and CJADC2 has the potential to give the U.S. government an “information advantage at the speed of relevance,” especially when dealing with time-sensitive crises like the conflict in Israel. It also allows the U.S. to coordinate with allies during large-scale conflicts such as a Russian invasion of Ukraine or China’s assaults on Taiwan.
However, the system is not without its faults. One of the program's weaknesses is its failure to sign an agreement with Canada, which is currently working to develop its own program called C4IS. The parallel development of two separate C2 systems threatens to hurt the North American Aerospace Defense Command’s (NORAD) interoperability and potentially hemispheric security as a result.
Better integration offers advantages for the U.S. and its allies. With international adoption of its C2 systems, the state can secure hemispheric defense and contest all domains from the outset of a conflict. With the United States losing its post-war global hegemony, rapid responses are required, and effective international mobilization is becoming increasingly important to maintain global influence
While CJADC2 is moving forward at an impressive rate, the program must be accelerated even further to ensure it is ready for the modern battlespace. International integration specifically needs to be sped up. With only the United Kingdom and Australia involved thus far, there will be significant gaps in international readiness and coordination efforts if conflict arises.
The entirety of the United States' foreign policy, defense, and intelligence apparatuses need to focus on integrating Central Europe and the Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance as fast as possible. In a reality where wars are fought and won around information, the successful rollout and international adoption of CJADC2 can make all the difference in victory.
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