CWIX 2026: Coalition Warrior Interoperability eXercise

Name: CWIX 2026: Coalition Warrior Interoperability eXercise
Start: Mon, 06/08/2026 - 12:00
End: Fri, 06/26/2026 - 12:00

Defence
Land
Joint

© 2024 NATO Allied Command Transformation

Date 08 – 26 June 2026
Event type In person
Location -, Bydgoszcz, Poland

Thales supports the French Armed Forces interoperability tests in CWIX and acts on behalf of the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA).

CWIX is the biggest interoperability event of its kind in NATO. This key annual event brings together industry and allied forces to test innovations and standards in a secure, multi-domain operational environment. It holds particular significance in today’s international context, demonstrating how critical interoperability among allied nations (EU or NATO) is for future coalition military operations.

Federated interoperability is a key part of every capability and has a force multiplying effect in terms of operational effectiveness and cost efficiency. This is why CWIX provides NATO member and partner nations and other organisations with a controlled environment to test, identify and fix their interoperability issues to continuously improve NATO interoperability and resilience in case of future crisis. It is a key moment for inter-team cooperation, sharing visions, and anticipating future capability milestones.

During CWIX, Thales stands alongside the Forces to test and demonstrate the end-to-end interoperability between our systems: ranging from communications, to network and connectivity, as well as data-centric security, cyber and C2 systems.

On every theater of operations, intelligence, videos, mission orders, and reports circulate in real time between national forces, allies, and coalition partners. The data goes through potentially degraded satellite links but also through tactical clouds, deployed terminals that may be lost or stolen.

Protecting the network is no longer enough. The data itself must be protected. Thales demonstrates end-to-end cyber defence solutions to ensure sovereignty :

The new version of Data CentriX Gateway (DC-Gate) for filtering data between coalition partners
The implementation in Mistral encryptor of cryptographic protocol standards (STAC-IS, NINE) in coordination with Thales radio products for secure communications

Thales is testing its next-generation multi-domain C4I system, HexaForce, at CWIX. For the first time, HexaForce will demonstrate its interoperability with Command and Control systems fielded by other nations, as well as its compliance with NATO Federated Mission Networking (FMN) specifications. This is a crucial milestone showcasing our ability to operate effectively in coalition environments and to enhance decision superiority within a multinational framework.

Modern warfare relies on data from sensors/effectors across domains/allies. Exploiting this data flood is a game-changer—boosting situational awareness and enabling faster, more effective decisions in national/coalition ops:

The deployable defence cloud bridges this need: merging cloud-native tech + AI to ingest, fuse, and correlate vast, diverse datasets into a trusted, shared pool. Accessible from HQ to the tactical edge, it delivers scalable, resilient computing/storage—on-demand, anywhere.
Also, massive data can be exploited through the help of dataHub : an AI-ready infrastructure to host applications, relying on ARTEMIS.IA, a secure and scalable data and artificial intelligence platform, designed for the most complex operational environments.

High-intensity warfare demands rapid, sustainable mass effect, requiring more sensors/effectors across allies/domains. Managing vast data exchanges while ensuring stealth, resilience, mobility, and interoperability strains deployable networks. Thales delivers a unified, end-to-end mission network—strategic to tactical—across allies/multiple transmission means, natively integrating interoperability and Federated Mission Networking (FMN), validated via CWIX with DGA.

Solutions include:

ESSOR HDRWF (ST5651, UHF) & Geomux (VHF, European standard), field-tested on SYNAPS SDR radios (BMS/C2-compliant, STANAG crypto: NINE, STAC-IS).
SYNAPS SDR (vehicular/handheld), DRAKON 5G Dome (RF-concealed private 5G), DeepLink HF-XL (cognitive HF spectrum management), Modem 21 (anti-jam STANAG 4606 SatCom), and DRAKON InterOp (secured federated backbone/PCN/NMCD).