Test and demonstration environment for net-centric operations

The DoD is changing the way it conducts wars. The net-centric operations and warfare reference model (NCOWRM) incorporates a new doctrine, a shift in paradigm, thus indicating a new direction towards increased reliance on network-resident data. The global information grid (GIG) is emerging as the infrastructure to enable global connectivity and net-centric operations. As net-centricity dominates military doctrine and new systems are designed to meet the challenge of real-time data collection and data sharing, a test and demonstration environment is needed to visualize the new ideas, test the net-centric system features, and demonstrate the effects that can be gained. This paper will describe a test and demonstration environment where GIG-oriented system features are tested, GIG enterprise services are evaluated and net-centric operations are validated.