Dec 10 2020

Video: NATO Science - The Next-generation Incident Command System

When first responders come together in an international disaster response force, they need to share information quickly – between military and civilians, and across borders and languages.

NATO has supported the adaptation of a software platform in the Western Balkans, in which maps, videos and pictures can all be shared in real time. It’s called the Next-Generation Incident Command System, or NICS for short, and has been developed by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States.

The system has been put to use in managing wildfires in California and Australia, and is being deployed across the Western Balkans. In this episode of NATO Science, we travel to Montenegro, where NATO scientists conduct live trials of the system in a simulated emergency situation.

Footage includes NICS creator Gregg Hogan explaining how the system works, as well as various shots of the NICS system in use, firefighters from various countries battling barrel fires as part of an exercise scenario, shots of the exercise command centre, and Montenegrin aeroplanes dousing water on simulated bushfires. Please note that exercise footage does not include typical COVID-19 precautions because filming took place before the pandemic.