A CLEARER NETWORK PICTURE
that simplifies network management, so that during the exercises Soldiers will be able to quickly see, understand, report and take action on changes in the network.
Joint Warfighting Assessment 20 is one of six exercises linked and integrated with the U.S. Army Europe-led Defender 20 series of exercises. It focuses on refin- ing concepts, capabilities and formations through Soldier and leader feedback. Defender-Europe 20 is the largest deploy- ment of U.S.-based forces to Europe for an exercise in the last 25 years, with more than 35,000 U.S., allied and partner- nation service members participating and roughly 20,000 Soldiers and 20,000 pieces of equipment deploying from the United States. Te event will increase strategic readiness and interoperability by exercis- ing the U.S. military’s ability to rapidly move a large combat force of Soldiers and equipment from the continental United States to Europe and, alongside allies and partners, quickly respond to a poten- tial crisis.
“What we plan to have in Defender 20 that we have not had in a very long time is a network of such large scale, which is multinational and mobile,” North said. “We will need a good network operations tool to manage that entire series of exer- cises—from the [air] jump to the [land] crossings—and all of the tactical nodes and the strategic connectivity required to tie it all together.”
Te new prototype software makes it easier for Soldiers from the tactical edge up through corps to plan, configure, monitor and manage their tactical network assets. Tese more capable—yet simplified and consolidated—tools increase visibil- ity across the Army’s extensive network, automate tasks and reporting, and make it easier for communications officers (S-6s and G-6s) to manage the network,
ensuring that Soldiers stay connected and well-informed.
Te network management software proto- type is managed by the Army’s Project Manager for Tactical Network (PM TN) within the Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications – Tactical (PEO C3T). Trough auto- mation and virtualization, it converges network operations software and hard- ware—which currently requires up to 23 separate laptops that each houses differ- ent network management tools—into one software application, consolidating all of the network management tools into one place. Although the Army’s numer- ous cybersecurity tools are not part of this network management tool suite, the ability for Soldiers to clearly see and understand exceptions or changes in the network helps them to alert cybersecurity operations, take action and thwart poten- tial adversarial intrusions or attacks on the network.
The new software toolkit will have a common look, feel and functionality across all of the different network nodes, as well as the unclassified, classified and coalition networks, making it easier for Soldiers to retain and build their network management expertise across systems.
“We’ve been trying to improve on getting our battalion and brigade headquarters to look at the network more holistically, at whether it’s operating in the way that it is intended, whether we are making the best use of the increasingly narrow satellite resources that we have available, looking at where the threats are to the network,” said Maj. Simon Watch, 11th Teater Tactical Signal Brigade Australian network oper- ations exchange officer. “We are going to use the new tools to identify where we can improve the network, where we can opti- mize it, and aim to identify threats to the
“Now, by having
the PM and industry sitting there next to us in Defender, the PM is going to be able to walk out of the exercise, go back and make a 10-times better tool from that one opportunity to test-run it, from seeing how Soldiers are going to break it, or use it in ways not intended, and then developing a product that meets Soldiers needs far better and faster than it was able to before.
” 44 Army AL&T Magazine Spring 2020
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