Bydgoszcz, Poland – The 2024 edition of CWIX, short for Coalition Warrior Interoperability eXploration, eXperimentation, eXamination eXercise, kicked off at NATO’s Joint Force Training Centre. CWIX is an annual NATO Military Committee-approved event designed to bring about continuous improvement in interoperability.
CWIX24 is another record-breaking exercise with more than 2,500 participants testing over 490 capabilities. Over the course of the exercise, NATO and nations test a range of Command & Control capabilities and IT services. The exercise is also used to explore current, near-term, future, and experimental capabilities. At the forefront of the Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exercise is an emphasis placed on using systems that will be deployed on any NATO-led operations in the future. In practical terms, it allows NATO, its members, and partners to experiment, test, and de-risk their deployable systems in a controlled environment before their use on any mission.
Interoperability and readiness – two of the CWIX core pillars – are crucial to the success of the Alliance as they allow national forces to deploy together, be effective from the very start of an operation and communicate effectively as one Multi Domain-enabled fighting force. CWIX also exploits the human element of interoperability: building trust and confidence in people, processes, and technology, while fostering a focused, collaborative environment across Nations, branches, and domains.
For 25 years, CWIX has continuously driven interoperability forward while adapting to meet the Alliance’s needs amidst shifts in the global security landscape and advancements in technology.
In 1999, the Joint Warrior Interoperability Demonstration used a permanent infrastructure that became what is now called the Combined Federated Battle Laboratories Network, as established by the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Board. For the first time, the Joint Warrior Interoperability Demonstration connected United States, Austria, Canada, France, New Zealand, Spain, Turkey, and Great Britain directly to SHAPE for testing. To this day, CWIX leverages the Combined Federated Battle Laboratories Network to provide nations a stable, multi-domain, secure testing environment.
As the Joint Warrior Interoperability Demonstration evolved into a coalition programme, in 2004 it was renamed the Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration, which focused on technologies ready for operational use within one year. In 2009, it was again renamed to reflect its expanded scope as an exercise, to the Coalition Warrior Interoperability eXploration, eXperimentation, eXamination eXercise.
Allied Command Transformation provides direction and management to the CWIX testing programme, while NATO and Partner Nations sponsor interoperability capabilities with specific objectives defined by Allied Command Transformation and National Leads. CWIX focuses primarily on testing and improving the interoperability of NATO and National Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence systems, with particular emphasis on those that would be deployed within the NATO Allied Response Force.
The exercise supports the development of Multi-Domain Operations and Digital Transformation by focusing on standards and specifications; tests the exchange and fusion of information and data across all domains, focusing on data centricity; de-risks interoperability to provide Command and Control for current missions; designs interoperability into near-fielded and emerging systems; and continues to experiment with space information and how it can be exchanged and fused.
Improving interoperability between NATO and partner nations is critically important to advance NATO’s Warfare Development Agenda. CWIX provides significant operational and cost benefits as nations pool and share resources; enhance readiness, resilience and deterrence; and identify identifying innovative ways to address emergent security challenges. CWIX ultimately saves time, money and lives, allowing the Alliance to act as “One NATO”.