Fatores de comando e controle aplicáveis nas operações combinadas: o sistema militar de comando e controle

Abstract

The use of command and control in joint operations is considered as an essential activity to integrate man and machine in an extreme situation, classified as crisis or conflict. Aiming coordination and synchronism of the actions, executed in a decentralized way, it contributes for the success of the mission's accomplishment. In this context, the information value is emphasized as a vital ingredient for the command and control practice, which requires selective measures of qualification to be complete, timeliness and relevant. The information, as a source of power, is categorized as a specific modality of war, known as Command and Control Warfare. The continuous improvement in the command and control, as a consequence of the new and sophisticated technologies, leaded to a transformation that became the modern Network-Centric Warfare. In this challenging environment, the concept of a command and control system must consider the desirable configuration and the need to dominate the associated processes. Moreover, the human behavior is analyzed under the optics of the personality, the physical and emotional conditions and the lessons learned, taking in account the paradigms of its organization, which influence the decision making process. By means of interviews and bibliographical research, it is reviewed the historical evolution of the national Military System of Command and Control and the consolidation of the respective normative and doctrinal basis. The structure and the importance of the satellite communications, essential for the connectivity of that system, is explored. It is showed that successive exercises of Brazilian joint operations, with increasing complexity, provide the rise of interoperability level. The present time of the subject motivates the research in order to improve the knowledge, under the theoretical and practical aspects of the command and control, approaching the handling of the variables involved. Studying how that activity is conducted, fundamental in joint operations, is the best way to contribute with suggestions for its improvement.