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A command and control (C2) system provides information to aid and implement the decision-making process, generating meaningful outputs in order to meet operational requirements and mission objectives. A sensor package may identify a threat that will then be relayed to the C2 system, which will also take into account environmental data from other systems, display and process all information so that informed decisions may be made, and relay information to and from weapon systems so that a ship may engage and eliminate the threat.

Current maritime warfare concepts are being driven by the transition from traditional linear C2 structures geared towards state-on-state conflict to an increasingly hybrid nature of conflict. An agile C2 structure will allow for the structure to be continuously evaluated and changed for any threat that emerges. While there is collaboration between domains/forces, doctrinal differences exist in the approach to maritime operations: the interchange of information is constrained by individual domain approaches.

C2 systems will evolve as maritime systems become more autonomous, the number of naval personnel declines, and unmanned systems proliferate. Naval warfare will take place across a multi-domain battlespace, with further integration of air, maritime, and land-based C2 systems. New directed energy weapons, railguns, and hypersonic systems must be integrated into current C2 systems, and C2 systems need the ability to manage the large power requirements of some of these new systems. Hypersonics is driving the requirement for C2 systems to be linked across domains and countries in order to engage through another system’s sensors.