Trident Warrior ’05 Strengthens Navy’s Communication Capabilities

The Navy began a two-week exercise Nov. 28 with navies from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain to improve the way it communicates between its ships, shore facilities and its coalition partners. “Trident Warrior is the Navy’s major FORCEnet experimentation venue,” stated Trident Warrior ’05 Director Cmdr. Tony Parrillo. “It is experimentation with computers and networks to help build greater warfare capabilities for the Navy.” According to Capt. Sinclair Harris, commander, Amphibious Squadron 4, FORCEnet is what ties all of the military components together. “FORCEnet is the network with which all the submarines, planes, Marines on the ground, ships at sea and coalition partners are able to transmit and receive information via e-mail or chat or links of different natures,” he stated. The Trident Warrior process takes approximately 12 months, according to Naval Network Warfare Command. Members of the Trident Warrior team look at what technology will be needed in the upcoming years. Then they look at the gap between what is needed and where the Navy currently stands, and they are able to set the experiment priorities. Harris explained the significance of Trident Warrior. “Communications is everything,” Harris said. “It’s the ability to pass information down to our units that are supporting us and are working in our group, and up to our bosses so that they have a feeling of assuredness that we’re doing the right thing in a timely fashion, and we’re answering their questions, as well.” Canada sees great opportunities in training with the U.S. Navy. “What is really important is our operators are beginning to get the appreciation and the understanding of the advances that technology brings,” said Cmdr. Paul Dempsey, commanding officer, HMCS Montreal (FFH 336). “Ships are extremely limited at sea due to bandwidth in exchanging information, and these technologies are going to enable us to take better advantage of the bandwidth we have. We can bring capability to the mission at a faster rate.” By experimenting with new technologies, the Navy will have greater war fighting capabilities and increased communications with its coalition partners. “In the foreseeable future, the U.S. Navy will never be fighting individually," Parrillo said. "We’ll always be fighting as part of a coalition, so it’s nice working with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.K. They bring a lot of capability to the fight." Source: NavNews