RAF communications leader visits Global Cyberspace Integration Center Published July 15, 2009 By Lt. Col. Susan Pfister-Hawkes Global Cyberspace Integration Center LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (AFNS) -- The Royal Air Force assistant chief of staff for communications met with the Global Cyberspace Integration Center director to gain a better understanding of missions and issues faced by military forces from the U.S. and England July 14 here. RAF Air Commodore Mark Neal talked with Stan Newberry as GCIC members delivered briefings on tactical datalinks, joint expeditionary force experiment, and Integration Operations Tools Access. Additional presentations included a video on GCIC's past and present efforts toward coalition integration and interoperability. The air commodore also viewed a demonstration of the Multi-sensor Aerospace-ground Joint ISR Interoperability Coalition workstation, called the MAJIIC workstation, which is a nine-nation partnership providing near-real time, net-centric access to data from multiple sensors regardless of source, command echelon, or national boundary. "We face the same challenges (regarding command and control) and sharing information," Air Commodore Neal said. Throughout the visit, the air commodore and other RAF representative explored opportunities for continued work between the U.S. and England. Air Commodore Neal agreed with Mr. Newberry's assertion that "there is too much focus on the platform, and not the capability. Persistent coverage is key." The value is "rather than sorting for a needle in a haystack of information, advances in technology allows an operator to choose what values for data," Air Commodore Neal said. With the goal to maximize the military use of coalition intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance resources, and to enhance battle space awareness and ISR support to joint and coalition operations, MAJIIC continues to evolve. Currently, NATO is directing its Consultation, Command and Control Agency to deploy five coalition shared databases to Afghanistan's international security assistance force beginning this summer. GCIC's mission is to lead U.S. Air Force innovation, integration, and standardization of current and future command and control systems across air, space and cyberspace to enable decision superiority: the cornerstone of winning today's and future wars.