Air and Space Interoperability Council
The Air and Space Interoperability Council (ASIC) is a formal five nation military organisation with a mandate to enhance coalition warfighting capability through air and space interoperability. ASIC, originally called the Air Standardization Coordination Committee (ASCC) was formed in 1948 to manage the Air Standardization agreement between Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. This agreement was aimed at those nations being able to conduct combined air operations and provide each other with certain essential services. In addition, it was agreed that the ASCC should promote the economies that would result from standardising air materiel support and also encourage the exchange of research and development information. The ASCC was expanded to include Australia in 1964 and New Zealand in 1965. Expressed in the simplest of terms, the ASCC sought to promote interoperability, through standardisation, across the spectrum of expeditionary warfare and share relevant information and technology. This concept remains as valid today for ASIC as it was in 1948. The organisation went through transformation and rebranding in 2005 to reflect the current global strategic environment, and a renewed emphasis on coalition expeditionary operations.