ADAPTING EXPERIMENTATION AND TESTING
assault operations, continues to provide critical feedback on the ITN Aviation Demonstration Kit. Tis capability puts the ITN, which is widely fielded across brigade combat teams, into the air for air-to-ground communications. Preceding the current exper- imentation with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, the 25th Infantry Division’s Combat Aviation Brigade provided experimentation and feedback during its Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center rotation at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, in November 2023.
Te ITN Aviation Kit inserts a two-channel Leader Radio into the helicopter’s cockpit, providing the mesh network relay down to the dismounted Soldiers. Te kit also includes a handheld tablet that provides text and chat functions for the pilot and commander to converse alongside radio communications.
Taking lessons learned from the 25th Infantry Division’s Combat Aviation Brigade, the PEO C3T program office for air-to-ground radios continues to experiment with support from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. Tese efforts included the unit’s Joint Readiness Training Center rotation in January 2024, where nearly 80 helicopters conducted a 500-mile, large-scale, long-range air assault, from Fort Campbell to Fort Johnson, Louisiana, and back.
Better connectivity during such long-range, large-scale air assaults enables units to be task-organized and able to immediately share battlefield data when they hit the landing zone.
“Te ‘Screaming Eagle’ Soldiers of the 101st demonstrated enthu- siasm for utilizing the ITN Aviation communications package, [especially after] seeing their position location and informa- tion on their tablets and the ability to communicate via chat,” said Jerry Harper, product manager for Helicopters and Multi- Mission Radios for PEO C3T’s PM Tactical Radios.
Te unit conducted a second long-range, large-scale air assault during Operation Lethal Eagle in April, taking off at night from Fort Campbell, flying to Camp Atterbury, Indiana, and then Fort Knox, Kentucky, before returning to Fort Campbell. Te Army continues to collect lessons from this air assault as it provides guidance for additional kits and helps to refine the mesh network needed during the comprehensive, fast-moving, long-range air assault missions.
CONCLUSION As the Army continues to experiment with increasing tactical mobility and survivability and pushing some of the more complex
https://asc.ar my.mil 41
network communications systems up to division as part of trans- forming in contact, it is also ensuring that necessary capabilities remain at brigade level and below to enable commanders’ oper- ational requirements. Soldier participation and feedback will ensure that the network architecture will support “fight tonight” missions as well as future needs.
“Tese Soldiers’ voices are being heard throughout the Army, from our program office up to the chief of staff of the Army, who has made the network and C2 systems the Army’s No. 1 priority for transformation,” Kitz said. “How these systems perform in the field, from ease of use to their functionality, carries a tremen- dous amount of weight for the Army to decide how it will conduct large-scale combat operations.”
For more informat ion, contact the PEO C3T
Publ ic Af fai rs Of f ice at 443-395- 6489 or
usarmy.APG.peo-c3t.mbx.pao-peoc3t@
mail.mil. Go to
https://go.usa.gov/xMSNz for the 2021 Army Unified Network Plan or follow PEO C3T at
http://peoc3t.army.mil/c3t and
https://www.facebook.com/peoc3t.
MAJ. BRADLEY ANDERSON is the assistant product manager for Helicopters and Multi-Mission Radios within PM Tactical Radios. He joined the Army Acquisition Corps in 2022 after completing the Army Acquisition Professional Course and has served in a variety of assistant product manager positions across the Tactical Radio portfolio. He holds a B.S. in criminal justice from Old Dominion University.
KATHRYN BAILEY is the public communications specialist for Bowhead Business and Technologies Solutions, assigned to PEO C3T, where she has covered PM Tactical Radios for the past six years, including the ITN effort and Army, joint and coalition fielding and training events worldwide. She holds a B.A.
in
communications studies from the University of Maryland Global Campus.
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