New information and new situations can be fed into the network and all on the net can access these. The system is having teething problems. He said as the crews use the system, they are becoming more familiar with its capabilities. It is entirely possible, he said, that the warfighters might come up with uses for the system that the technical experts did not foresee. The system does crash, he said.
Individual consoles lose communications with the network.
And the 'carbon units' jump off their tanks to pass information to others. Officials said they would take the lessons learned from the exercise and apply them to newer issues of the system. Army officials said the system is part of a heavy division now, but it could be fielded by the lighter divisions envisioned for the future. More than 18,000 personnel will participate in a combined U.S., Australian and Canadian military training exercise, Tandem Thrust '01. The exercise will take place in the Shoalwater Bay Training Area, Queensland, Australia, May 3-29, 2001.