Abstract: It is not uncommon for software components of an application to reside on a number of diverse computers and operating systems. The Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) is a middleware technology that simplifies or helps in the construction of such an application by providing standardised mechanisms that distributed components can use to communicate over a network. Applying CORBA to C4I problems in the military environment can provide simple integration of legacy software and COTS software, thereby fulfilling the operational requirements of modern battlefield interoperability. This paper discusses the mechanisms of CORBA in supporting distributed applications, and investigates the communications performance issues of CORBA in the military tactical environment. Although the potential of CORBA is wide and varied, supporting CORBA may become a burden to the tactical communications infrastructure without careful management of access to remote objects.