Operation revealed during multinational training between US and Philippines… ‘Korean C4I is also included in the integration’

Operation revealed during multinational training between US and Philippines… “Korean C4I is also included in the integration”

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Hyo-jung = A plan is being pursued to link Korea to the Pacific Mission Network (PMN), a platform that the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) is trying to establish for joint C4I (command communication) and information sharing with allies and partners.

According to military authorities on the 27th, it has been reported that South Korea and the United States have been discussing ways to link Korea's C4I to PMN in order to secure interoperability.

According to the answer received by the office of Rep. Yoo Yong-won of the People's Power Party during the recent confirmation hearing for Minister of National Defense Kang Shin-cheol, then-candidate Kang stated, "Currently, South Korea and the United States are mutually sharing information for conducting theater operations based on joint C4I, and I understand that South Korea's C4I is also included in the PMN linkage."

He then said, “We will continue to pursue interconnection-related discussions with the U.S. to ensure interoperability between ROK-U.S. C4I.”

PMN is a platform that became known when Samuel Puffaro, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command (then commander of the Indo-Pacific Command), mentioned its operation at the closing ceremony of the multinational joint exercise 'Balikatan', which was led by the United States and the Philippines and participated by Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada in May.

At the closing ceremony, Commander Puffaro announced the operation, saying, "For the first time (during this exercise), we applied this network to operations as the main command and control network of the force," and added, "Through this, we built the trust and interoperability necessary to respond to any crisis."

The U.S. Pacific Command has been pursuing the establishment of PMN to safely share operational data and battlefield information with allies in the region.

It is known to be based on 'zero trust', a cybersecurity principle that continuously verifies identity and authority for each access request on the premise that all access is not trusted.

During the Balikatan exercise, it was called the 'Indo-Pacific Mission Network' (IMN) after Intaesa, and now, after Intaesa was renamed to Pacific, its name has been changed to PMN.

Since Korea did not participate in the Balikatan exercise, it was not mentioned as a participating country at the time, but it was newly revealed that Korea's C4I linkage was also being discussed.

It has been reported that discussions on linking South Korea's C4I to PMN are progressing in conjunction with the drive to improve the performance of the Combined Command and Control System (AKJCCS), a system that commands and controls joint ROK-US operations in the Korean Peninsula theater.

One source said, “(South Korea and the U.S.) are having mutual discussions in the process of upgrading each other’s systems,” and added, “We are in the process of discussing which parts will be linked and how to help in future joint operations.”