Operational Scenarios

Scenarios are solution-agnostic problem definitions for data-centric security in coalition environments. Each includes actors, operational flow, constraints, technical challenges, and measurable acceptance criteria.

Use these to understand what DCS needs to solve, evaluate coverage gaps, or scope a demonstration.

By theme

Sharing classified intelligence across national boundaries with different classification systems, clearance levels, and trust relationships.

#	Scenario	Coverage	Key Challenge
01	Coalition Strategic Sharing	High	Multi-nation intelligence sharing with federated key management
05	Mission-Based Coalition Sharing	Partial	Time-limited, mission-scoped data access
06	Intelligence Fusion Centre	Partial	Multi-source intelligence fusion with provenance
12	Cyber Threat Intelligence Sharing	None	Multi-level CTI with machine-speed automated sharing
15	Counter-Hybrid Threat Intelligence	None	Civil-military fusion and disinformation response

Tactical and real-time operations

Time-critical data sharing where latency matters, connectivity is unreliable, and safety-of-life decisions depend on data access.

#	Scenario	Coverage	Key Challenge
02	Tactical Unit-to-Unit	None	DDIL environments without strategic infrastructure
07	Coalition Air Operations	Minimal	Real-time data with safety-critical overrides
08	Maritime Domain Awareness	Minimal	Sensor fusion with compartmentalized access
10	Sensor-to-Shooter Data Chain	None	Automated classification downgrade and kill chain latency

Emerging and specialist domains

Newer operational areas where DCS intersects with AI, space, industrial partnerships, and military messaging systems.

#	Scenario	Coverage	Key Challenge
11	Military Messaging (STANAG 4406)	None	Paragraph-level classification within military messages
13	Space Domain Awareness	None	Federated space data sharing across 17+ nations
14	AI/ML Data Sharing	None	Federated learning with data sovereignty and provenance

Enterprise, lifecycle, and legacy systems

Retrofitting existing systems, managing data across its lifecycle, and protecting industrial supply chains.

#	Scenario	Coverage	Key Challenge
03	Legacy System Retrofit	None	Adding DCS to existing applications
04	Cross-Domain Sanitisation	None	Automated content redaction across classification domains
09	Disaster Recovery and Backup	Partial	Backup lifecycle with encrypted data
16	Defence Industrial Base	None	Export control enforcement (ITAR/EAR) and through-life support
17	Multinational Logistics	None	Aggregation sensitivity and DDIL-resilient forward logistics

DCS Level Scenarios

These define the acceptance criteria for each DCS protection level -- use them to validate an architecture against a specific level.

Level	Scenario	Key Focus
1	Basic Labelling	Mandatory classification and releasability labels (STANAG 4774)
2	Enhanced Labelling	Minimum Essential Metadata and ABAC policy enforcement
3	Cryptographic Protection	Envelope encryption with per-classification keys and HMAC integrity

Coverage column

Coverage indicates how well the current reference architectures address each scenario. See the gap analysis for details on what's missing.