BUILDING THE ARMY NETWORK
AS WE DELIVER THE COMMON OPERATING ENVIRONMENT IMPLEMENTATION PLAN AND WE TALK ABOUT THE
TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS THAT WE ARE GOING TO PUT IN THERE AND ARTICULATE TO INDUSTRY,
WE’RE NOW GOING TO SCOPE WHAT OUR CAPABILITY GAPS ARE ON THE BATTLEFIELD.
The waveforms, and indeed many of the technologies, are designed with stan- dards aimed at meeting the needs of all the services in order to accommodate the potential for joint service involvement in the network.
“We’re working very closely with partners up at OSD [Office of the Secretary of Defense] in laying this out. I’ve invited them all [the other services] out to see what we’re doing. I see this evolving very, very quickly into a test bed that can be used not just by the United States Army, but by all services,” Chiarelli said.
Overall, the technologies being evaluated include a wide range of capability, such as software-programmable radio, satellites, sensors, and smartphones. Some of the programs undergoing formal LUTs are:
• Joint Tactical Radio Systems Handheld, Manpack, and Small Form Fit radio, a multi-channel, Soldier-mounted, software-programmable radio able to transmit voice, video, data, and images using high-bandwidth waveforms such as SRW and WNW.
• Joint Capabilities Release, next- generation software for Force Battle Command Brigade and Below display screens, featuring Army-Marine Corps interoperability and advanced mapping tool kits.
8 Army AL&T Magazine
• Mounted Soldier System, a combat vehicle-Soldier ensemble that integrates advanced gear, such as a helmet- mounted display.
• Network Integration Kit, a vehicle- mounted communications hub.
• SPIDER, a remote munitions delivery system.
In addition to these five systems undergoing formal LUTs, the NIE is experimenting with more than 25 emerg- ing technologies, such as smartphones and personal digital assistants, to zero in on the best emerging technologies that can benefit Soldiers in combat.
“The reality is, these NIEs are as much about learning as they are about testing. After all, the only way to fix problems is to accurately identify them. Likewise, the most effective means for developing new, relevant doctrine and tactics is to conduct integrated network-enabled training exer- cises,” Chiarelli said.
‘REVOLUTIONARY’ The rationale for the NIE is to evaluate all of these technologies in relation to one another from a system-of-systems per- spective in a combatlike environment.
“We can evaluate new capabilities across the potential spectrum of conflict. We can evaluate them in terrain that our
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units are really having to deal with today in line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight challenges,” said MG Keith C. Walker, Commanding General, Brigade Mod- ernization Command, who oversees the Network Integration Center at Fort Bliss.
“If there is a capability that has merit, we can evaluate it and get feedback, not just on the material, the technical material piece, but what are the implications of this equipment on our doctrine, on how we organize, how we train, and how we develop leaders.”
The NIE is aimed at refining the acqui- sition of new technologies and blending programs of record with commercial-off- the-shelf solutions, as part of an agile process designed to keep pace with rapid techno- logical change, Army leaders explained.
“The Army will buy what it needs, when it needs it, for those who need it. This allows us to buy less, more often, and incremen- tally improve network capability over time. Simply stated, I see these NIEs not as evolutionary events but as representing a revolutionary new approach that will potentially change how we provide new capabilities in the future,” Chiarelli said.
STANDARDS SET Furthermore, new and emerging techno- logical solutions will have to adhere to the standards articulated by the Army’s
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