Coordination
Overseas, the spectrum isn't ours. It belongs to the host nation, and every frequency we use there is one it has agreed to let us use. Host-nation coordination is how we ask, and how we keep that trust for the length of the operation.
Why it matters
We're guests
Spectrum is a sovereign national resource. A host nation can withdraw what it has granted if we misuse it.
Commanders are on the hook
Using spectrum without approval can leave commanders criminally or financially liable under the host nation's law.
Use the standing channels
Coordinate through the standing channels. Going around them can damage a relationship that took years to build.
Who talks to whom
A joint force rarely calls the host nation's ministry directly. Requests go up through the combatant command and out through the US Embassy, unless the embassy authorizes the force's spectrum cell to deal with the host nation itself.
The request, from requirement to assignment
Before you ask
- Get the host nation's allocation table, channel plans and broadcast schedules, and check every emitter you're bringing against them: bandwidth and type of service, not just frequency.
- Find out what's already approved. A pre-approved allotment plan lets the spectrum cell assign within it without going back to the host nation for each frequency.
- Learn their process: which forms, which method, who to contact, and how long they take to answer.
While you wait, and after
- Track every pending request. Written answers have to make it into the allotment plan, or the next shift won't know.
- Brief the commander on where the host-nation agreements stand and what the plan is if one is denied.
- US forces don't pay host-nation spectrum fees; that's settled in the agreements.
- Report interference through the agreed channel. The host nation may help find the source.
When things aren't routine
Plan for crisis in peacetime
Agree on crisis and conflict allocation tables with the host nation ahead of time, matched to the plans, so they're ready before they're needed.
No government to ask
In forcible entry, or where there's no functioning government, the force determines its own spectrum. It still protects safety-of-life frequencies and coordinates with neighboring countries.
Handing it back
In stabilization the force may run the country's spectrum for a time. When it hands back, it passes on the records the host nation is allowed to have and helps restore its ties with the ITU.
In NEMESynth-EMSO
A host nation is a counterparty in the record, with its own contacts, its exchange formats and its own agenda. Its allocation table, protection criteria and priorities come in as decision sheets and run the same at every node. Every value carries its marking and releasability, so you can see what may be shared with whom. Trazore's Ministry of Telecommunications is the host nation in the Halcyon exercise, and the host-nation agreement is one of the exercise's goals.
| Feature | Status |
|---|---|
| Markings and releasability on every value, rolled up to the record | Built |
| The host nation and the host-nation goal in the Halcyon exercise | Built |
| Host nations as counterparties with contacts, exchange formats and agendas in the data model | Draft |
| Host-nation rules as decision sheets | Draft |
| Request packages with candidates and alternates drawn from the optimizer, and pending requests tracked to their answers | Proposed |
| NTIA GMF exchange | Planned |
Working with a host nation?
Tell us how your coordination works today and where it slows down, and we'll show you how it looks in NEMESynth-EMSO.
Get more information