THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 12, 1994 TAG: 9409120068
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
While the big money still goes to new ships, planes and tanks, the Pentagon is quietly placing a side bet that the decisive edge in the next war will belong to the commanders with the fastest microprocessors and best software. And that technology could find its way to Norfolk.
The Navy is creating a separate command for information warfare - the Naval Information Warfare Activity - and said it signals a determination ``to focus the Navy's considerable resources on this new challenge.'' A Fleet Information Warfare Center to train information warriors and develop warfare doctrine is to open by January, probably in Norfolk.
Information about the enemy - his weapons, tactics, training, supplies - has always been important to wartime commanders. In World War II, for example, the Navy's ability to crack Japanese codes was critical to U.S. victories in the Pacific.
But some military thinkers believe advances in computer technology herald the dawn of an age in which computers, modems and communications satellites will become weapons rather than just machines that control or guide other weapons. They envision battles in which the owner of one set of information systems gains victory by using them to destroy or disable the enemy's systems, rendering the foeunable to fire missiles, launch airplanes or direct troop movements.
The Navy moves follow a decision by the Air Force last October to restructure its information warfare activities. The Army is expected to announce creation of its information warfare organization this fall.
``Every single month, information technology goes down in cost and up in value. There is nothing else like it,'' said Vice Adm. Arthur K. Cebrowski, who as director of space and electronic warfare for the Navy is the service's point man in the effort.
The processing capacity of available computers has increased by a factor of 4,000 in the last decade alone, Cebrowski said. He compared the exploding technology with the advent of gunpowder and nuclear weapons, which forced military thinkers to revise their basic assumptions about warfare.
Because the amount of information and the speed at which it can be processed continue to grow explosively, the military must adjust its thinking in a hurry, he said.
After naval aviation was founded in 1913, the Navy had until the outbreak of World War II - more than 25 years - to develop aircraft carrier doctrine and tactics, Cebrowski noted. ``I don't have that kind of patience and I don't think the world has that kind of patience anymore,'' he said.
The Navy's development of information warfare will move on two tracks, Cebrowski said. One objective will be to provide commanders with complete, immediate and secure data on enemies and battlefield conditions and to use powerful computers to test instantly how various battlefield scenarios would likely play out. The second aim will be to develop technologies to destroy, deceive or disable enemy information systems.
The Naval Security Group, the same outfit that cracked Japanese codes, will be the cornerstone of the Naval Information Warfare Activity, Cebrowski said. The Information Warfare Activity has set up operations at Fort Meade, Md., just outside Washington.
And on Sept. 27, representatives of the Navy's various fleet commanders will meet at Dam Neck in Virginia Beach to lay the groundwork for establishing the Fleet Information Warfare Center.
Cebrowski said Norfolk is a strong contender as the site for the fleet center because of its proximity to the Pentagon and Fort Meade and its status as home of both the Navy's Atlantic Fleet and the U.S. Atlantic Command, which has overall control of all military forces in the eastern United States. by CNB