Task Force Stryker network-centric operations in Afghanistan

This case study examines the real-world application of the network-centric warfare concept during combat operations in Afghanistan. Network-centric warfare broadly describes the combination of strategies, emerging tactics, techniques, and procedures, and organizations that a fully or even partially networked force can employ to create a decisive Warfighting advantage. A great deal has been made of the asymmetric advantage of terrorists, insurgents, and guerrillas. In a networked environment with properly trained leaders, soldiers, and units, such advantages are fictional. Network-centric organizations are supposed to increase their combat power by doing a better job of synchronizing events and their consequences; achieving greater speed of command; and increasing lethality, survivability, and responsiveness of the formation. These capabilities can be a reality in today's operating environment. The main problem with network-centric operations is that there remains a great deal of skepticism among counterinsurgency pundits and others about the concept and the technology necessary to operate in such a fully networked environment.