Abstract: The network centric warfare (NCW) model represents one of the defining trends in information age military technique. Its aim is to improve situational awareness and 'accelerate the observation-orientation-decision-action (OODA) loop'. While much literature exists which extols the virtues of NCW, the problem of what constraints exist on the capabilities of such systems has been explored much less frequently. This paper identifies no less than fifteen constraints on the capability of networked military systems, implemented with tactical datalinks, and explores their respective causes and implications.