What is CISMOA?
17 Dec 2009 Jason Verdugo: The Communication Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement or "CISMoA" is another facet of bureaucratic and sometimes political attributes of doing business and allying with the United States. The CISMoA should not be confused with the EULA which is a totally different agreement covering the use of systems purchased. The CISMoA provides guidance on how the systems will function with other systems. The CISMoA however, can be abused as an agreement and become an extension of /or a replacement for a EULA which can defeat the entire purpose of any cooperation and the purpose of the CISMoA.
The recent exercises between the Indian and U.S. militaries were a success and both sides are continuing to get acquainted with each others people, equipment, and doctrine. There were probably issues with interoperability that were uncovered for which, neither side is telling. They will however work to fix any technical and collaborative issues, so that when the next joint exercise occurs, at least those first problems will be fixed.
In the 21st century, communications equipment aren't just some solid state radios where each side only needs to know a particular frequency to communicate on. Communications equipment are highly complex pieces of computerized hardware running equally complex software and encryption products. Sometimes it's difficult to get the same equipment with the same country to work properly much less trying to conduct joint operations with different countries using different equipment.
The CISMoA attempts to facilitate agreements on how each nation's radios will communicate with each other effectively. For example, India troops may want to call in an air strike with U.S. air assets, this will require Indian ground radios to be compatible with U.S. strike aircraft radios to include encryption. Likewise, U.S. Special Ops may want to call in Indian long range artillery. The U.S. SpecOps on the ground will need their radios to communicate with Indian ground based artillery batteries.
Communications such as these are only a fraction of what CISMoA can cover. Going back to the air strike scenario, if laser guided bombs are employed, the Indian ground troops may require a laser designator. It's not just point and the aircraft shoots as the press and media will have you believe. That laser designator must be set to a specific agreed upon frequency of invisible laser light. The laser guided bombs loaded on the aircraft will also be set to accept that specific frequency. You can't have the enemy using a similar frequency of laser light to direct our bombs back on us (unlikely). If the frequencies do not match, the bombs won't register a signal.
Another real world example is with the Patriot missile system that the U.S. has sold to Japan. It turns out that the frequency the U.S. system uses to send a launch command to the missiles is the same frequency used by Japanese commercial cell phone carriers. OOPS! This required a tweaking of the Patriot systems in Japan to use a different frequency that likewise while good for military use in Japan, can not be used inside the U.S.
A current real world problem for which the U.S. and other allies in the war theater's (possibly even Indian units) are experiencing issues with unmanned air vehicles (UAV's) communications. The frequencies are becoming ever more difficult to manage and they are jamming each other, making command and control more and more difficult if not impossible. Actually, the U.S. lost another Reaper last week in Afghanistan for an "unknown" reason which has already been traced to a loss of comm link.
A further problem is the creation of device to defeat the improvised explosive device or IED. The U.S. Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization or JIEDDO based out of the Pentagon has poured billions of dollars in development & deployment of specialized electronic equipment. One such device is used to jam the cell phones and other devices used to remote detonate IED's. Unfortunately one of these devices uses the same frequency that the Blackhawk helicopter uses for firing IR countermeasure flares. OOPS!
Ultimately the term for this is called "Spectrum Management" and the U.S. and her allies try diligently to prevent problems like this from occurring. CISMoA helps, but in a fluid theater of operations with many different nations with many different types of communications platforms operating, this is showing to be impossible.
CISMoA may also cover electronic warfare or EW. (see the EW article link). EW, if properly employed can be a powerful weapon against your enemies. However, since it's an area weapon with broad reach, if the management of operations and spectrum are not perfect, then you may jam your own forces and/or your allies to your own detriment.
At least with India and the U.S. there will be fewer different systems and only two players. Theoretically spectrum management should be easier and more feasible.
CISMoA does not just cover hardware and software; it also covers doctrine and interaction. We can share a command center which could be transferring Indian commanders to U.S. ships or transferring U.S. Commanders to Indian ground command facilities. These commanders will be responsible for their respective forces. They will need to know how each other works. One Generals decision to bomb a target may be in conflict with the other Generals plan to take the target, hence, friendly fire incident. Or one General may want to continue negotiating while another General might want to bypass a village instead. CISMoA tries to create a framework for commanders to operate in so that they don't have to halt operations and call Washington or New Delhi for guidance. One regulating factor for a CISMoA can be the Rules of Engagement or ROE.
An example is the ongoing media blitz of the German commander in Afghanistan who called in an American aircraft to conduct an airstrike on a fuel tanker truck that had been compromised. Needless to say there was a lot of death and destruction. The communications and weapons performed exactly as designed and agreed upon, however the politics and media have twisted the event from a proper combat decision of a valued commander to a television treasure trove that the Taliban and or Al-Qaeda can take to the Pakistani mountains.
A CISMOA can be a powerful tool to help operations, but it can be horribly tainted and twisted into a hindrance or a scapegoat of policy because of politics.
http://www.8ak.in/8ak_india_defence_news/2009/12/what-is-cismoa.html
