F
or six weeks this summer, the Army tested its tactical network the way an Army network should be tested—in a completely inte-
grated manner, using Soldiers conducting realistic missions to determine performance.
We went to White Sands Missile Range, NM, and purposely exposed the net- work to the communications challenges posed by the installation’s high moun- tains and vast, rugged desert terrain during the Army’s first Network Integra- tion Evaluation (NIE). We leveraged one brigade combat team, the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division (2/1 AD), with more than 3,800 Soldiers divided into various formations and a diverse set of vehicles and equipment. Most important, we brought together six programs of record with 29 developmental and emerging capabilities in an integrated environment, so that each component could be evaluated as part of the larger, overarching network.
This unprecedented approach is a major leap forward in maturing the Army’s net- work. The network is the Army’s No. 1 modernization priority; to meet that chal- lenge, we must transform our traditional acquisition process. Rapid technological progress means we cannot afford to view networked systems as individual devices with their own distinct requirements and acquisition timelines. Instead, we must integrate and deploy networked capabili- ties as they become mature and are proven operationally relevant to the Soldier.
Senior leaders describe the new approach as “buy less, more often.” For the program
WIN-T INCREMENT 2
Two Point of Presence vehicles provide communications capability in the six-week WIN-T Increment 2 Production Qualification Test-Government (PQT-G) at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. While WIN-T Increment 2 does not undergo formal operational testing until spring 2012, more than a dozen sets of the equipment have been installed on vehicles for use in NIE 12.1 in October and November. The PQT-G, which concluded in August, was based on an operational mission set that is fundamentally built around the unit structure of 2/1 AD. (U.S. Army photo.)
IMPROVING APPS
PFC Nicholas Johnson, a Soldier with the 2/1 AD who developed a medical evacuation application for smartphones as part of the Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications initiative, demonstrates software for another application called Ringtail. (U.S. Army photo.)
executive offices (PEOs), it means an entirely new way of interacting with the test, doctrine, and user communities—essen- tially a new way of doing business. Uniting these communities at White Sands twice a year will synchronize and streamline the evaluation and feedback process. Already, it has provided valuable user feedback on a number of major systems involved in the first NIE, including the Joint Tacti- cal Radio System (JTRS) Ground Mobile Radio (GMR) and Handheld, Manpack, Small-Form Fit (HMS) Rifleman and Manpack radios, as well as the Joint Capa- bilities Release (JCR) of Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2)/ Blue Force Tracking (BFT).
For these program-of-record capabilities and the larger number of developmental and emerging systems, we received the
kind of frank input you get only from direct engagement with Soldiers who need these products to fulfill their mis- sions. Rapidly incorporating their candid feedback will allow the Army to avoid potentially costly system changes in later stages of development.
NETWORK BASELINE The June-July NIE also notched prog- ress toward establishing an Objective Integrated Network Baseline. As we encountered integration challenges between military and commercial equip- ment, or in bringing select hardware and software into the network for the first time, engineers were able to troubleshoot these issues on the ground at White Sands and nearby Fort Bliss, TX. While this sometimes proved difficult because of the complexity of the network and the sheer
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ACQUISITION
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