Defence

Twenty-seven US and European aerospace and information technology companies, including Lockheed Martin, have agreed to develop and adopt a set of industry standards critical for the military concept of network-centric operations to move forward.

Although publicly unveiled on 28 September as a united effort, the origins of the Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium (NCOIC) had been clouded by division within the industry, with Lockheed Martin refusing to join until a few weeks before the announcement.

Unity prevailed after Boeing agreed to withdraw a proprietary architecture as the blueprint for the standards group to follow. Forming the NCOIC was largely a Boeing-led initiative, and Boeing vice-president of strategic architecture Carl O'Berry is the group's first chairman.

Boeing has agreed to adapt its proprietary architecture to the standards created by the NCOIC.