ARMY AL&T Using the AETF events to help integrate and synchronize
Programs of Record prior to deployment will give us the ability to incrementally upgrade the network capability sets, reflect changes in technology, and bring in the best of industry to help support this effort.
Record and other technical solutions in a holistic network that mirrors the com- plexity in theater today. Structured tests for record such as Limited User Tests will be synchronized, while ongoing Brigade Combat Team Integration Exercises (BCTIEs) will serve as integration evaluations for tactical network develop- ment. BCTIEs allow Soldiers, through the Army Evaluation Task Force (AETF) at Fort Bliss, to provide valuable doc- trinal feedback to combat and materiel developers before the network capability is integrated into the operational force. The 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division has the AETF mission to evaluate about 20 candidate systems during the exer- cises this summer.
The AETF will now serve as the net- work’s primary test unit with a twofold intent: to remove the integration bur- den from the operational units and to provide an operational venue to evaluate new technologies and network capabilities before they are fielded. The new capabilities that Soldiers inte- grate and assess will ultimately provide the impetus for future acquisition and equipping decisions.
“We’re going to do a bunch of evalua- tions of capability using the AETF. We are talking about bringing software and computers together to provide net- work capabilities,” said COL Michael Williamson, Deputy Program Executive Officer Networks within Program Executive Office (PEO) Integration. “These BCTIEs are not tests for record, but instead an evaluation and integra- tion process with Soldier input. We have a series of exercises and evaluations
APRIL –JUNE 2011 23
in 2011 and 2012, with a culminating event in late 2012, which will allow the Army to make decisions about what capability gets deployed.”
The evaluations will also help the Army shape tactics, techniques, and proce- dures, said Morrison.
“These are not just technical evalu- ations, but they are also operational assessments designed to get feed- back from Soldiers. By putting these
capabilities into their hands, we expect to see product improvements com- ing out along with tactics, techniques, and procedures. This is a fundamental shift, because now at the front end and throughout the entire process, Soldiers will be touching the equipment, giving the acquisition community an indica- tion of whether they are headed in the right direction,” Morrison said.
“The quicker we get a candidate system in Soldiers’ hands,” through collabo- ration among Soldiers, engineers, materiel developers, and industry, “the sooner we will get a bad idea out [of the running] or get a good idea going,” Walker said. Evaluations of this scale and scope cannot be done through sim- ulation or modeling, he noted.
The BCTIE approach allows more flex- ibility during the acquisition process
Soldiers monitor input from the TOC at White Sands Missile Range during the 2010 Limited User Test. The Army is planning several network integration tests and evaluations in 2011 to further define the emerging tactical network. (U.S. Army photo.)
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