Abstract
Perhaps the most important and most debated topic in the military in recent years is that of network-based war. As it is known, this concept was created, developed and applied by the U.S.A. It is a result of the revolution in military affairs and completely revolutionized the military art. We are going, therefore, into another era in terms of technology, physiognomy and war strategy. It is said that Network Centric Warfare is to war what electronic commerce is for business.
What are the implications of this new concept (that seems to affect only the military) for the civilian field in general and for the automotive industry in particular? If we think only to the overall trends of modularization of vehicle production and to setting up networks of "cluster", we realize that the similarities in the evolution of the two systems are very numerous. In addition, principles of the military field can be successfully applied in automotive industry.
This work is a review of the basic principles of war based on network, of the direct implications on logistics support for armored vehicles, of the automotive industry implications and the possibilities to apply the NCW principles into the civil field. There will also be given two examples of network-type cooperation: the first is between engineers and designers in order to achieve the concept car Cadillac Converge and the second is between the U.S. Energy Department and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China for improving the electric engine. This means that the political and technological world powers have realized the importance of cooperation in the network. Perhaps the most important manufacturers of automobiles do not realize, but the methods and the means used more and more into automotive industry are common as a principle with specific NCW principles.
Keywords: NCW (Network Centric Warfare), military strategies, civilian strategies, cooperation, collaboration