U.S. Navy photo by MC2 Christopher Dollar Army personnel participate in a two-week Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (CWID) at Naval Support Facility Dahlgren. CWID is a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staffs annual event and part of the global CWID Enterprise which includes NATO and other multinational partners. The demonstration evaluates technologies and capabilities for exchanging information among coalition partners, military services, government agencies, first responders and U.S. combatant commanders.

Bacchus was one of the top military officials of the 2009 Coalition Warfare Interoperability Demonstration (CWID) held June 15-25 at Naval Support Facility Dahlgren, an annual event where technology is the star player.

Among the new gadgets shown off this year were such things as a location device which interacts with Google Earth and can relay a person’s exact coordinates so that ‘‘lost in the woods” becomes impossible. Indeed, there were more than 40 trials of new software and other technological projects that could or will impact the warfighter of the future, be he or she Navy, Army, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard or even the military units of other nations interested in alliance with the United States. That is what the ‘‘coalition” part or ‘‘C” in CWID is all about.

A striking example of such was a trial of the Sea Surveillance Information System which was prepared by the navy of the nation of Finland.

‘‘This software system can track any vessel through the use of its (electromagnetic emitted sensors and signals),” explained Finnish Navy Lt. Cmdr. Juka-Mikko Ravanti as he demonstrated its use in a hypothetical exercise off the coast of Somalia, with a palpable application use in anti-piracy operations. He also pointed out its need in his own nation.

‘‘The Baltic is very important to us,” he said. ‘‘Most of our trade comes through the Baltic and we need to see traffic there. This allows us to pinpoint vessels of interest from the more than 500 ships in our ocean at any one time.”

Aside from the technological element, the human element of man and machine interface is examined by the people who come to CWID each year. Most of them are military reservists and most also have military operational specialties and ratings that may to the uninformed observer seem incompatible with the gear they are operating. For instance, at CWID 2009, one might see a machinist mate qualified in the machinery, valves and pumps of a nuclear submarine operating a sophisticated computer translation device and a National Guard 11-Bravo infantryman adroitly pushing U.S. Army Signal Corps satellite communication gear as easily as a cleaning rod through his M-16 rifle.

‘‘That’s kind of what CWID is all about,” said Indiana National Guard Col. Robert Jones. ‘‘These exercises are sort of set up to test the ability of people with various unrelated skills to come in and see how well they interface with new technology.”

‘‘Interoperability is important state to state as well as within components of the military,” he added. ‘‘The aim is to check out the hardware and software from a muddy boots perspective and see if it is ready for prime time.”

Dennis Warne, site manager for the CWID exercises, said the annual demonstration is now ‘‘in its tenth year at Dahlgren.”

‘‘We started out with Joint Warrior Interoperability Demo (JWID) and have progressed steadily,” he said, ‘‘to a point where we now begin with (the technology vendors) getting on board for this in October and it grows bigger every year.”

‘‘We want to see what works as well as what doesn’t work,” noted Bacchus. ‘‘What (CWID) is meant to do is look at the complexities we face on the battlefield with cutting-edge technology to make certain we’re addressing it so it won’t bite us.”

At CWID 2009 there were four other sites in the United States demonstrating similar exercises and scenarios utilizing new technological tools besides NSF Dahlgren. Included were San Diego (Space and Warfare Command at San Diego State University; Hanscomb Air Force Base, Mass.; Peterson Air Force Base (Northern Command) Colorado Springs, Colo.; and United States Joint Forces Command at Suffolk, Va. As well, there were 19 NATO countries participating in CWID at Lillehammer, Norway including the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Italy, Finland and more than 20 other multinational participants around the world.

At Dahlgren last week, there were 57 foreign nationals from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, Germany, Norway, Australia, Turkey, Denmark, The Netherlands and Finland. More than 370 visitors attended the event, not including staff, U.S. military participants and technology vendors.