Interoperability, eXploration, eXperimentation, eXamination, eXercise
Managed by NATO Allied Command Transformation and hosted by the Alliance’s Joint Force Training Centre in Poland between 12-29 June, the Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exercise (CWIX) features over 1,000 participants from 26 nations and 88 commands, gathered to challenge assumptions and test NATO’s abilities to create an interoperable Alliance that is stronger than the sum of its parts.
Through a collaborative environment, CWIX equips participants to test advanced technical tools and keep a critical advantage over potential adversaries, including in the cyber domain. These tests help NATO achieve its core tasks and, ultimately, protect North American and European populations.
Interoperability is confidence that different systems will perform together properly when needed. In addition to greater efficiency, improving interoperability provides significant cost benefits to NATO nations as members pool and share resources. CWIX is the arena for NATO nations and partners to collaborate and develop best practices, build mutual trust and test interoperability. “Try. Fail. Fix. Try Again,” is the mentality at CWIX and it has been proven to foster faster delivery of capabilities for deployment.
Innovation. NATO must get the right information to the right people at the right time. In a multinational operation, this is a complex process that requires information from different platforms to be merged and analysed. CWIX emphasises the importance of interoperability to improve the exchange of information and situational awareness. Ultimately, this leads to faster decision-making, which provides commanders with an edge.
Cyber. Consistent with NATO’s new cyber domain, CWIX engineers and testers design capabilities which are interoperable. CWIX enables understanding and prepares nations to react to cyber-related issues as a federated Alliance, aiming to leverage the full capacity of allies and partners through a persistent, federated and networked approach which is robust and resilient and strengthens NATO’s deterrence and defence posture.
“By federating national security centres on a classified NATO network, employing the Cyber Range for preliminary testing – and it is the first time it has ever been done – the exchange of information can be made possible to improve our common defence as well as integrate cyber effects provided voluntarily by Nations,” Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, Gen. Denis Mercier, stated.
Tim Mahon