WELCOME TO ALLIED COMMAND TRANSFORMATION

NATO's Strategic Warfare Development Command

Allied Command Transformation Leads the Execution of the Annual Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exercise

June 5, 2023

From June 5-23, 2023, Allied Command Transformation will improve NATO’s interoperability by leading the execution of the annual Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exercise from the Joint Force Training Centre in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

Allied Command Transformation is committed to delivering fully interoperable Communications and Information Systems to improve the cross-domain exchange of information needed for Multi-Domain Operations and NATO’s ongoing Digital Transformation. One aspect of this effort is the Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exercise, better known as CWIX, which improves the interoperability of Alliance and Partner command and control systems by testing them in a coalition scenario. In doing so, CWIX improves the readiness, resilience, and agility of operational Communication and Information Systems by ensuring that NATO Allies and Partners can operate effectively together to keep the Alliance safe.

CWIX kicked-off June 5th in Bydgoszcz, Poland, and will run until June 23rd, 2023. This exercise is designed to solve interoperability challenges by testing NATO and National Communication and Information Systems, with particular emphasis on those that will deploy within a NATO Response Force. It is also designed to stimulate innovation and improve the interoperability of people, processes, and technology, to enhance commanders’ decision-making through the exchange of information and the provision of situational awareness. Allied Command Transformation leads the execution of CWIX, with the technical testing of fielded, developmental, and experimental systems in a coalition scenario running concurrently in several Nations.

As the Alliance’s Premier Interoperability Exercise, CWIX provides a cost-effective way of improving interoperability between NATO and Partners by providing a purpose-built testing and training environment to ‘try, fail, fix, and try again.’ As the current Exercise Director, Commander Robert Koch, noted, “The Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exercise has been a cornerstone for achieving interoperability between our diverse systems and services for decades, but in light of NATO 2030, a Multi-Domain Operations-enabled Alliance, and the realization of the New NATO Force Model, the Exercise is more important than ever. This is reflected in the greatly increased scope, rapid growth, and new requirements that Nations are placing on it.”

Allied Command Transformation is driving CWIX’s development in line with the NATO Warfighting Capstone Concept and the Concept for the Deterrence and Defence of the Euro-Atlantic Area. The focus of this year’s exercise is to help the Alliance better understand the interoperability challenges of Multi-Domain Operations. This challenge is critical to overcome, as the Officer Conducting Exercise, Brigadier General Thorsten Jorgensen, stated, “Interoperability is key in meeting the ambition of a Multi-Domain Operations enabled Alliance by 2030. CWIX provides us a great opportunity to better understand and mitigate the interoperability challenges related to digital transformation and Multi-Domain Operations.”

Similar to past years, a core focus area of CWIX 2023 is Federated Mission Networking. Nested within the larger exercise, this seeks to de-risk the exchange of operational information between nations, ahead of more advanced exercises and confirms the capability of Allies and Partners to successfully federate networks. In addition to this focus area, this year’s exercise includes focus areas on NATO’s newest Domains – Space and Cyber. In doing so, this exercise provides the opportunity to integrate Space and Cyber as operational domains and furthers NATO’s efforts to transform into a data-driven Alliance.

As part of the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation’s Interoperability Continuum, CWIX takes place alongside the TIDE Sprint and the TIDE Hackathon. Altogether, these events provide a venue for subject matter experts to develop Communication and Information Systems to ensure the interoperability of NATO’s systems now, and into the future.

To learn more about the TIDE Sprint, Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exercise, and the TIDE Hackathon, click here.