AFCEANova

From the company commander to the dismounted squad, small units will soon reap the benefits of the Army’s strategic shift in how it buys, tests and delivers the tactical network.

That was the message from Brig. Gen. N. Lee S. Price, Program Executive Officer for Command, Control and Communications – Tactical (PEO C3T), during a recent appearance at the Northern Virginia chapter of the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association, or AFCEA NOVA.

“The Army has recognized that communications on-the-move at the company level will be a necessity to bring critical and timely information to our Soldiers,” Price said on Sept. 23 in Vienna, Va. “Satellite communications will continue to increase the speed at which we fight, and connect company commanders to the mission command solutions that will empower them to execute timely and decisive actions.”

At the dismounted Soldier level, the Army will revolutionize communications with handheld devices that thread data between ground troops, vehicles and command posts, she said. Troops will not have to rely on voice commands and hand signals to communicate, instead sending precise graphics and text messages for a significant tactical advantage.

“Soldiers will be able to access position location information at all echelons, which will help coordinate maneuvers and prevent fratricide,” Price said. “Through third-party applications hosted on a common operating environment, we can quickly provide tailored solutions to meet emerging operational needs.”

The need for enhanced Soldier-level connectivity and small unit mission command capabilities are two of the major lessons-learned that emerged from the Army’s first Network Integration Evaluation, which concluded in July. The semi-annual NIE events, held at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., and Fort Bliss, Texas, involve thousands of Soldiers and dozens of systems under formal and informal test. The exercises allow the Army to integrate networked technologies and determine which capabilities are most valuable to Soldiers by measuring their performance in a realistic operational environment. The outcome of the NIEs will ultimately determine the shape of the future tactical network.

In combination with the NIEs, the Army is also working to make fundamental changes in its existing acquisition and requirements processes. Industry will be a critical partner as the Army moves forward with the Agile Process, the quick-reaction acquisition methodology to address capability gaps and insert new technologies into the overall network, Price said.

“The NIEs place both official Army program of record capabilities and other non-program of record technologies in Soldiers’ hands simultaneously and earlier in the evaluation cycle, so we can more rapidly incorporate this feedback,” Price said. “This construct has given both government and industry a predictable timeline for inserting new technologies into the network. It will ultimately lead to the quicker fielding of integrated solutions that represent the latest technology available.”

For the NIE 12.1, which is planned for November, PEO C3T technologies will provide potential solutions to the gaps identified during the June-July NIE 11.2, Price said. The Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) Increment 2, which will enable small unit mission command on the move, will undergo an informal evaluation at NIE 12.1 prior to its Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) during NIE 12.2 in April.

When WIN-T Increment 2 is fielded – which is planned for fiscal year 2013 as part of Capability Set 13/14 – it will provide initial on-the-move satellite communications all the way down to the company level. This network upgrade will also provide the bandwidth necessary to host key mission command applications on a single computer inside select vehicles – providing mobile company Soldiers with the real-time information that today is only available inside a static tactical operations center.

“The meticulous testing, fixing and retesting of WIN-T Increment 2 has turned this concept into a reality faster than any of us could imagine,” Price said. “The Project Manager WIN-T team has moved well-beyond the developmental phase and is ready to test this increment’s reliability and ability to be maintained and fielded as a complete system.”

At the Soldier level, PEO C3T will provide several systems under evaluation at the fall NIE 12.1, including prototype handheld devices – which are essentially ruggedized smartphones attached to tactical radios – running Joint Battle Command-Platform (JBC-P) software. They will be interoperable with the entire JBC-P family of systems, allowing squad and team leaders to communicate with one another and with higher echelons as part of the overarching network. JBC-P, the follow-on software program of record for PEO C3T’s Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2), is also expected to be fielded as part of Capability Set 13/14.

PEO C3T is supplying several other networked hardware and software systems for the NIEs, Price said. The organization, headquartered at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., also builds and integrates the network architecture for the events, enabling seamless communication between the numerous systems involved. PEO C3T engineers combine network aspects ranging from the voice and mission command architectures to the Data Products and configurations that “glue” it all together, routing information to the right individuals at the right time to execute the mission.

“We will remain in this role for future NIEs, where we will continue to integrate all systems, including those that are not part of our organization,” Price said. “Through these events, users have already collaborated with and gathered intelligence data at lower echelons than ever before; communicated across elevation features that were once barriers; and provided essential feedback to future enhancements of the networked mission command solutions with which they will fight.”