Do the U.S. military and its allies have to achieve total interoperability to effectively work alongside each other? While conventional wisdom says yes, recent wet-gap crossing exercises in the Republic of Korea suggest otherwise.
The NATO interoperability framework—dividing the challenge into three dimensions with four resulting levels of interoperability—provides a useful lens for analyzing combined operations. However, during exercises in 2024, a combined force of international partners achieved full integration to span a river without mastering all the dimensions of interoperability.
Team Framework
NATO lays out its interoperability framework as three dimensions described in NATO’s Allied Joint Publication-01: Allied Joint Doctrine. These three domains are technical (hardware and systems), procedural (doctrines, tactics and procedures) and human (language, terminology and training). An observer can derive an assessment of interoperability by examining these three dimensions and concluding that the combined team is either integrated, compatible, deconflicted or not interoperable.
Within the Allied Joint Publication-01 construct, a prohibitive barrier restricts combined forces to a deconflicted status at best—but in practice, this does not always hold true. Sufficient commonality in the technical dimension can drive common procedures to a degree that makes human interoperability unnecessary.
The 814th Engineer Company (Multi-Role Bridging) of the 11th Engineer Battalion is a multirole bridge company forward-stationed in South Korea to provide gap-crossing capabilities for contingency operations. To cross wet gaps, the company is equipped with the Improved Ribbon Bridge float bridge system.
Partners in Arms
This company routinely trains with Republic of Korea Army river-crossing companies in combined wet-gap crossing exercises, not just alongside, but also sharing equipment. In 2024, the 814th participated in three combined wet-gap crossing operations that achieved effective integration with Republic of Korea Army partners despite lacking human interoperability between soldiers of both nations.
Language and cultural differences are often the most significant challenges to human interoperability when working with allies and partners. The combined strength of a U.S. Army multirole bridge company and a Republic of Korea Army river-crossing company is over 230 soldiers. Translation capabilities were typically limited to five Korean Augmentation to the United States Army troops, who were stretched to their limits.
However, the technical dimension of interoperability was more straightforward. Communications challenges aside, the float bridging equipment is interoperable. The U.S. Improved Ribbon Bridge was designed to be interoperable with its predecessor, the Standard Ribbon Bridge, still used by the Republic of Korea. The bridges can be emplaced using the same boats and tools. Procedural interoperability grew inherently from that technical compatibility. Since the two bridges share the same connection methods, the Republic of Korea and U.S. use virtually identical assembly processes.
Common Purpose
Once properly organized, no additional training was needed before South Korean and American soldiers began working side by side. Under these conditions, the lack of human interoperability becomes relatively insignificant. Common equipment and procedures allowed the combined team to build a bridge without the ability to easily communicate—or rather, common equipment and procedures manifested their own language shared by all operators.
The results spoke for themselves: Across multiple exercises, the combined bridging teams consistently matched time standards expected of a single-nation unit.
Significantly, this was not a combined team that drilled together routinely. The 814th Engineer Company partnered with a different Republic of Korea Army unit during each exercise. In every instance, most of the American and South Korean soldiers making up the combined bridge team were doing so for the first time, but high levels of performance were consistent.
By the standards of Allied Joint Publication-01, the Republic of Korea-U.S. combined river-crossing teams would be assessed as deconflicted. The significance of the language barrier theoretically prohibits a higher evaluation.
However, the results of these exercises did not suggest a team impeded by interoperability points of friction. The combined teams regularly constructed combined bridges to the same time standards expected of a single-nation team. Despite shortcomings in the human dimension, the ultimate results reflected a fully integrated team at the tactical level.
Time to Plan
It must be said that tactical integration was not immediate and required significant effort at higher echelons.
Planning timelines were longer, if for no other reason than to give the Korean augmentees time to translate documents. Rehearsals, always important, were essential to creating shared understanding between partners.
Therefore, the conclusion is that while a high degree of technical interoperability can overcome a shortfall in the human dimension, it can only do so at the tactical level.
Combined operations will remain challenging, but they also will remain a fundamental part of future operations for the same reason the U.S. remains in alliances: The U.S. military can do more when partnered with allies.
Given a high degree of technical interoperability, the Army can achieve effective combined integration with partner forces despite language limitations.
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Capt. Eoghan Matthews is an engineer officer serving as commander of the 814th Engineer Company (Multi-Role Bridging), 11th Engineer Battalion, Camp Humphreys, South Korea. He graduated in 2017 from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York. He has a master’s in geological engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology, and is a licensed professional engineer and project management professional.