Net-Centric Warfare

Net-centric warfare (network-centric warfare, NCW) is a doctrine holding that linking sensors, decision makers, and shooters into a shared information network produces faster, better-coordinated combat power than platform-centric operations. Articulated in the late 1990s by US Navy Vice Admiral Arthur Cebrowski and John Garstka, it argues that information sharing builds a common operational picture, speeds command decisions, and lets one unit’s sensors cue another unit’s weapons. At sea it underlies the common sea picture, cooperative engagement, and over-the-horizon targeting across dispersed forces.