A look at the systems, participants and firsts from more than a dozen NIEs.
by Ms. Nancy Jones-Bonbrest
The Army rolled out its new network modernization strategy with a flourish. On a Monday in May 2011, no fewer than 12 stars assembled for a news conference with the Pentagon press corps. Led by Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, then the vice chief of staff of the Army, the generals made the case for a new paradigm called the Network Integration Evaluation (NIE), described by Chiarelli as “a revolutionary new approach.”
Because of wartime necessity and the culture of the acquisition system, the Army had been developing and delivering individual components of the tactical communications network on different timelines, even though they ultimately had to function as a system of systems. That wouldn’t work for the different parts of a tank, and it certainly didn’t make sense for communication systems.
The new plan was this: Twice a year, the Army would hold a large-scale event to test and evaluate all of its digital tactical communication systems—programs of record, theater-provided equipment and emerging products from industry—at the same time and place. The settings were Fort Bliss, Texas, and White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, which offered expansive and challenging terrain. It would devote an operational brigade combat team (BCT)—the 2nd BCT, 1st Armored Division (2/1 AD)—to trying out the equipment in realistic scenarios against an opposing force. The Soldiers’ feedback from exercise to exercise would inform procurement and fielding decisions. The burden of technical system integration would be handled at the event and thus lifted from the deployed force.
The NIE fulfilled its mission as a forcing function for integration, becoming a central point for establishing and validating a new network baseline that provided mission command on-the-move and digital connectivity down to the Soldier level. The Army then fielded that network to 14 BCTs and eight division headquarters through July 2017, as an integrated series of “capability sets,” beginning with Capability Set 13, delivered to two brigades of the 10th Mountain Division in 2012. After using the equipment in Afghanistan, one 10th Mountain Soldier described it as a “digital guardian angel.”
As the NIEs continued, both the network and the process matured. The Army made strides in expeditionary mission command, tactical radios, handheld devices, vehicle routers, satellite terminals, operational energy solutions, mission command applications and other technologies. The network remains imperfect—the Army is still working to simplify tactical communication systems so they are easier for Soldiers to use in all operational environments, and to protect those systems from cyber vulnerabilities—but the NIE has provided an operational laboratory to address these challenges head-on.
Recognizing industry frustrations with programmatic test constraints, the Army separated the NIE into two complementary events: the NIE, focused on executing formal testing in an integrated environment; and the Army Warfighting Assessment, later named the Joint Warfighting Assessment (JWA), focused on evaluating experimental concepts and capabilities with joint and multinational participation. Additionally, when readiness demands required the assignment of 2/1 AD to other missions, the Army began rotating in new formations to the NIE events, bringing new operational perspectives to the technologies.
Although no longer “new” or “revolutionary,” today’s NIEs and JWAs continue to provide the Army’s only venue to conduct integrated capability evaluations and assessments with operational units, as well as to execute joint, interagency, intergovernmental and multinational training, testing and integration to enable interoperability and compatibility among Army partners. As the Army expands rapid prototyping and experimentation efforts, the NIEs and JWAs will continue to provide the Army with operational Soldier feedback on leap-ahead technologies early in the life cycle to inform procurement strategies.
This article was published in the July-September 2017 issue of Army AL&T Magazine.
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