Towards Enhanced Recognized Maritime Picture

Situational awareness (SA) is a crucial element set before the military organizations. It provides a real-time view of activities in a specific area and forms a basis for the decision- making. The maritime setting involves operations in a Multi-Domain space. An important segment in achieving the SA involves the creation of a Recognized Maritime Picture (RMP). The RMP presents the relevant maritime information based on the process that involves detection, classification and assessment before they can be further distributed and actions taken. Croatia, as a maritime country and NATO member, is expected to maintain such capabilities. To this end, various tools have been developed or procured that form the backbone of today's operational information system. Yet, contemporary challenges are setting new requirements and it is necessary to continue transformation in order to maintain this capability as well as compatibility with the partner countries. This paper starts with presentation of the important elements required to understand the SA and RMP concepts in the naval context. It provides an overview of the efforts that Croatia has invested to develop its own systems that support the creation of RMP and their current status. Furthermore, following membership, conditions have been created for greater technical integration with other NATO operational users in support of the enhanced MSA and Command and Control (C2). Finally, we present trends and guidelines recommending further development of these systems that are necessary in order to maintain this capability and achieve greater integration with allies.