News From USJFCOM: Command, experimentation partners plan campaign design


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Multinational Experiment 6 At A Glance

The following are involved in MNE 6
Participants
• Austria
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Hungary
• Italy
• NATO
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Republic of Korea
• Singapore
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• United Kingdom
• United States

Observers:
• Australia
• Canada
• Czech Republic
• Japan
• Netherlands

Command, experimentation partners plan campaign design

U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) and representatives from more than 18 countries and NATO launched Multinational Experiment 6 (MNE 6) as they finalized the campaign's design.

(SUFFOLK, Va - March 18, 2009) -- U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) launched Multinational Experiment 6 (MNE 6) earlier this month when representatives from more than 18 countries and NATO met here to finalize the campaign design.

MNE 6 is a two-year effort to improve the capability of multinational coalitions to conduct irregular warfare operations. This is accomplished through the application of defense, diplomatic and developmental aspects of governmental and non-governmental organizations to deal with security challenges.

“MNE 6, like all concept development and experimentation (CDE), is a starting point for solving problems facing the Defense Department,” said Navy Rear Adm. Dan Davenport, USJFCOM CDE director. “What’s unique about this experiment is that it consists of multinational innovation and is a focused effort to provide foundational solutions for all members of the coalition both in terms of concepts and capabilities”

Army Lt. Col. Mikko Lappalainen, Finland’s MNE national director, highlighted the value the experiment.

“New challenges require new approaches,” he said. “It is critical that there is a CD&E-platform like MNE 6 where we are allowed to be innovative but we still remain in connection with the field.”

And comprehensive approach is not new to Finland.

“Finland has used the comprehensive approach for many years,” Lappalainen explained. “We can provide insights while at the same time we are learning new ways to apply the approach in the multinational environment.”

MNE 6 participants are working to achieve several outcomes including better synchronization of coalition efforts and better information strategies to communicate more effectively with internal coalition members and with those outside a coalition.

The experiment also will develop better methods to assess coalition progress and improve all coalition members’ ability to see and understand the operational environment in a common way.

Although USJFCOM leads MNE 6, the experiment’s strength comes from partner nations and NATO leading the efforts for each outcome and respective objective.

“We need to have solutions that work for everybody who will be involved in coalition operations, for all the players,” Davenport said. “So it’s necessary to get the different expertise and perspectives and their requirements incorporated throughout the experiment to make sure we get solutions that work.”

According to Army Col. Joerg Neueuther, the German national government lead for multinational CD&E, the multinational experiment series is true concept development and experimentation (CD&E).

“In this multinational venue, we come with no preconceived notions or national mandates,” said Neueuther. “We start from scratch. We develop and test concepts together. We make recommendations on what we discover to someone who can implement them.”

Several limited objective experiments and workshops for each objective will be conducted at locations worldwide until MNE 6 concludes in December 2010. The national directors will present the MNE 6 campaign design for approval by the MNE Executive Steering Group at the end of March 2009.