SUSTAINING DATA DELIVERY ON THE FUTURE ARMY NETWORK
I
n September 2017, the U.S. Army made a startling, but necessary, announcement: It would halt development of the Warfighter Information Network – Tactical (WIN-T), its ambitious network modernization initiative begun in
2007. Te voice, video and data transmission system had become too fragile, vulnerable and complex to effectively connect and protect Soldiers in a near-peer adversary fight on the 21st-century battlefield.
Te Army needed to change course—fast.
Te next month, it announced the creation of the U.S. Army Futures Command and designated the network one of its six modernization priorities. And, in 2018, it stood up the Network Cross-Functional Team, bringing experts across the requirements, development and acquisition communities together to drive what the network would be in the future.
Today the Army is working toward a reliable, resilient and adapt- able network that can operate in contested electromagnetic spectrum and cyber environments. Te network encompasses two domains: an Integrated Tactical Network focused on battle- field communication and the conduct of war, and an Integrated Enterprise Network focused on hybrid cloud, business and phys- ical infrastructure services and applications.
Te Army envisions that, by 2028, the network will be fully unified, sharing common applications, services infrastructure and transport layers. Tis will help break down data silos and stovepipes, enable interoperability and deliver data at the speed
of maneuver to the precise point of need. One of the network’s key requirements is that it can be used as a weapon—and data truly is its ammunition.
CECOM: THE FOUNDATION OF NETWORK SUSTAINMENT The U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM), a life cycle management command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command, plays a critical role in the success of the Army’s current and future network. CECOM sustains the Army’s vast portfolio of command, control, communications, comput- ers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C5ISR) systems. Tese hardware and software systems form the back- bone of the tactical network, the part of the future network that CECOM is currently responsible to sustain.
To execute that mission, CECOM is heightening its focus on cross-life-cycle engagement, which remains a core fundamental of sustainment even with the introduction of new technologies on the tactical network. Te Army has long understood that 55 to 70 percent of a program’s life cycle cost is in the sustainment tail. Given that large cost, effective planning for sustainment must begin when system requirements are being defined. Tat takes active planning and cooperation with organizations across the Army enterprise.
CECOM works closely with Army Futures Command’s Network Cross-Functional Team; the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology; the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command; the Army chief
SUSTAINMENT CENTRAL
Tobyhanna Army Depot is the Army’s organic industrial C5ISR sustainment center. It repairs, resets, overhauls, fabricates, engineers, upgrades and provides worldwide support for the entire fleet of C5ISR systems. (U.S. Army photo by Thomas Robbins)
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Army AL&T Magazine
Summer 2019
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