WASHINGTON — According to a senior Pentagon official, 2026 will be the year when Pacific partners can view the battlefield through a unified operational picture and act together.
During the TechNet Indo-Pacific Conference, Brig. Gen. Michael Smith, director of command, control, communications, computers and cyber at Indo‑Pacific Command, observed that 2026 represents the first year in which all of our capabilities function within a truly multilateral environment, as partners employ warfighting applications and tools together with the United States under a single common operational picture to conduct warfighting.
He cited the PACOM Mission Network — a secure system enabling U.S. forces and partner nations to exchange data and mission‑planning tools across classification levels, thereby facilitating joint operations and target prosecution.
U.S. officials have long emphasized the necessity of mission‑partner networks that allow multiple nations to plan collaboratively. This initiative, integrated into the broader Combined Joint All‑Domain Command and Control framework, has been hampered by divergent data sources, standards, and classification levels.
Nevertheless, officials report that these challenges are being addressed in the Pacific region.
Smith noted that partners are actively conducting warfighting functions within the mission‑partner environment. Although legacy bilateral systems still exist, the current multilateral, data‑centric, zero‑trust architecture has sparked considerable enthusiasm among partners.
According to Lt. Gen. George Rowell, PACOM’s deputy commander, the system was employed in several major exercises during the past year. Although the exact number of exercises was not disclosed, he highlighted that the command carried out 17 exercises in nine host nations, involving 35 countries.
He emphasized that, for the first time, PACOM and its key allies and partners communicated, collaborated, planned, and executed using common tools, shared data flows, and language translation. The true significance of the exercises lay beyond the missiles; it was the ability to transmit sensor‑to‑shooter targeting information, data, and the evolving connectivity that spans the vast distances of the region.
Smith cited an example in which Japanese partners, for the first time, employed the Maven Smart System — an AI‑enabled platform for planning and targeting integrated into the mission network — to support joint strikes and close‑kill operations.
Rowell described these collaborative capabilities as a credible deterrent.
He added that this deterrent credibility is demonstrated when commanders can execute seamlessly even if primary systems are jammed or disabled, noting that assured command and control is inseparable from deterrence in the Pacific.
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