Switzerland takes part in Combined Endeavor for the 11th time

As you have read previously in this blog, Combined Endeavor is the world’s largest international Command, Control, Communications & Computers (C4) exercise. Participants of CE09 include nations within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Partnership for Peace (PfP) or other International Organisations. In recent years most NATO and PfP Nations have been taking part in Peace Supporting Operations (PSOs). Over 1000 participants from more than 40 nations take part in two weeks of intensive technical testing.

The last year’s experiences and results provide a foundation, upon which current priorities and projects are taken in account for. The delegation Chief then coordinates and establishes a direction in which to proceed. The testing procedure is refined and set during a series of four Planning Conferences throughout the year. This is coordinated by the USEUCOM (US European Command). After the Planning Conferences the testing procedure is laid down and released.

Switzerland is taking part in CE for the 11th time. For all 24 participants of the Swiss Delegation, our focus is on the preparation and verification of communication links between our C4I system FIS HE and coalition nations. We plan to test the Core Services (CS) based on a PSO Scenario. Additionally, the tests will include data transfer over Standard Email (SMTP Interface), and over the newly introduced MIP2.0 Baseline Gateway. There also other tests i.e. for Video Conferencing (VTC). The efforts to achieve the partnership goals set within NATO/PfP, as well as the human interoperability beyond political borders, are our main vision and objective.

There are two aspects to interoperability: There’s the technical and the human Interoperability. On a technical level, interoperability can be understood as the capability of a system to efficiently collaborate with different systems of other organisations and nations. But - in order to establish these goals, a large amount of human interaction is essential. Human interoperability can be considered just as important as the technical requirements in achieving a goal.

Combined Endeavor is a great platform to get an overview of where we stand. It is a great opportunity to gain practical experience concerning the interoperability of our systems. The acquired knowledge is important for the conceptual planning of international operations, as in Kosovo, and of course for teaching and training purposes.

LTC Ruedi Amrhein
Swiss Delegation Chief