Skip to content
Artwork for Command and Control
Command and Control · Monday · 38 min

C2 Outside the Human Comfort Zone?

There is a tension between modern trend in centralising C2 (to govern the best use of resources) versus the now largely historical reliance on 'mission command'. Solutions are confounding Western commanders: according to Eva Sula there are additional dilemmas that are arising from the evolution of C2 in combat conditions – not least of which is how to import, verify, and use the vast data sets that each sovereign state holds (and is not releasing). The gap between political - and military – proclamations about co-operation, collaboration, and federation and the reality of sharing data, system information, and national controls is making the very idea of shared situational awareness less than feasible. The lessons from Ukraine (and from Russia) in evolving C2 systems are clear but it is also apparent that C2 will have to work outside areas of connectivity. Very large areas. And none of that is dealing with the absence of human agency in decision-making that US, Israeli, and Russian C2 systems have built in to the baseline operating systems. The tensions being exposed in C2 are now multi-faceted and appear to be growing. Many are appreciated, some ignored. It is, according to Eva, beyond the human comfort zone.

0:00-38:26

transcript

No transcript — this publisher did not publish one.

show notes

There is a tension between modern trend in centralising C2 (to govern the best use of resources) versus the now largely historical reliance on 'mission command'. Solutions are confounding Western commanders: according to Eva Sula there are additional dilemmas that are arising from the evolution of C2 in combat conditions – not least of which is how to import, verify, and use the vast data sets that each sovereign state holds (and is not releasing). The gap between political - and military – proclamations about co-operation, collaboration, and federation and the reality of sharing data, system information, and national controls is making the very idea of shared situational awareness less than feasible. The lessons from Ukraine (and from Russia) in evolving C2 systems are clear but it is also apparent that C2 will have to work outside areas of connectivity. Very large areas. And none of that is dealing with the absence of human agency in decision-making that US, Israeli, and Russian C2 systems have built in to the baseline operating systems. The tensions being exposed in C2 are now multi-faceted and appear to be growing. Many are appreciated, some ignored. It is, according to Eva, beyond the human comfort zone.

more episodes

All episodes