Network Evaluator Brig. Gen. N. Lee S. Price

The Voice of Military Communications and Computing
Network
Evaluator
Brig. Gen.
N. Lee S.
Price
Program Executive
Officer
Command, Control,
Communications
(Tactical)
PRSRT STD
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
MERRIFIELD, VA
PERMIT # 620
Mobile Networks O IT Acquisition O PEO C3T Update
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C4
August 2011
Volume 15, Issue 7
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Military Information Technology
August 2011
Volume 15 • Issue 7
Features
Cover / Q&A
Networks at the Edge
As military reliance on mobile communications grows and
portable and commercially inspired devices proliferate in
the field of operations, the need for effective networking
technologies to link them together has increased as well.
By Adam Baddeley
6
SPECIAL REPORT: PEO C3T UPDATE
23
Soldier-Level Connectivity
WIN-T program manager looks back on five years of
change in Army’s linchpin tactical network of the future.
Brigadier General N. Lee S. Price
Program Executive Officer
Command, Control, Communications
(Tactical)
12
On-the-Move Milestone
15
The second increment of Warfighter Information
Network-Tactical (WIN-T) recently wrapped up its major
developmental test, marking another key step in the
Army’s plans to establish a mobile communications
grid for the battlefield.
By Amy Walker and Claire Heininger Schwerin
Departments
2
Editor’s Perspective
4
People/Program Notes
17, 20
35
Data Bytes
Calendar, Directory
Buy When Needed
To be more relevant in an era of disruptive technology, future
budgets must be inherently more flexible for acquisition of C4/
IT systems, argues a former Army chief information officer.
By Lieutenant General Jeff Sorenson (Ret.)
32
Industry Interview
36
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Joseph Hickey
Vice President of Business
Development and Marketing
Ultra Electronics TCS
Military Information
Technology
Volume 15, Issue 7
August 2011
The Voice of Military Communications
and Computing
Editorial
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Two recent requests for information (RFIs) by the Department of
the Navy (DoN) offer interesting insights into how that service, and
by extension the broader military and government, will be trying to
hold down IT costs in an era of tight budgets.
With the Navy and Marine Corps developing new networks at
the same time that they and other agencies are seeking to cut nontactical IT spending by 25 percent, the RFIs seek industry ideas on
how to achieve savings in two key areas: basic business software and
data centers.
The first RFI addresses the category of “end user communica- Harrison Donnelly
tions and collaboration,” which represents the nitty-gritty essentials Editor
of office life—email, word processing, spreadsheets and collaboration tools. It argues that DoN can no longer afford to maintain a
number of different systems for these functions.
In the course of asking for information on a host of needed system characteristics, from
open standards to cybersecurity, the document lays out some requirements that to me sound very
much like the voice of experience. The system, it says, must enable users to “access email and
collaboration services without having to create new email accounts, resort to work-arounds, and
manual processes; access the data required to support mission accomplishment without having
to supply their own data storage devices; and effectively collaborate with coalition partners and
non-governmental organizations.”
I’m guessing there’s a lot of real-life user frustrations behind each of those ideas.
The other request focuses on the 80 data centers currently operated by the department, many
of which implement custom solutions with outmoded service delivery models and also don’t make
sense in the current environment. The document sees some benefits from consolidating or retiring
many of the existing 1,600 IT systems, but suggests that the long-term solution lies in a combination of public and private data centers.
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Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
P ROG R AM NO T ES
Shipboard Network Steams Ahead
The Navy’s Consolidated Afloat Networks and
Enterprise Services (CANES) program, which will
consolidate and enhance five shipboard legacy network
programs to provide a common computing environment infrastructure for command, control, intelligence
and logistics applications, has passed a significant engineering milestone. Critical design reviews (CDR) have
been completed for the two competing CANES systems
being developed by Lockheed Martin Mission Systems
and Sensors and Northrop Grumman Information
Systems.
“CDR is a key point in the CANES program as it
establishes the design baseline and provides assurances
that CANES will meet stated performance requirements within cost and schedule parameters,” said
Navy Captain D.J. LeGoff, program manager for the
Tactical Networks Program Office. “We are confidently
proceeding into system fabrication, demonstration
and test.”
The next step in the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the program
is completion of a test readiness review. This review
will ensure that the CANES design is ready to proceed
into formal contractor system integration test prior to
down-select to a single CANES design. The review will
also assess test objectives, test methods and procedures,
and scope of testing while verifying the traceability of
testing to program requirements.
Although the continuing resolution passed by
Congress earlier this year resulted in an approximate five month schedule delay in the completion
of the EMD phase of the contract, all major acquisition milestones are still achievable within the
approved parameters established by the milestone
decision authority in January. The first CANES installation on a fleet destroyer is planned for late in fiscal
year 2012.
Consolidation through CANES will eliminate many
legacy, stand-alone networks while providing an adaptable and responsive information technology platform
to rapidly meet changing warfighter requirements.
This strategy strengthens the network’s infrastructure,
improves security, reduces the existing hardware footprint and decreases total ownership costs. In addition
to providing greater capability, CANES will allow sailors
to benefit from reduced operations and sustainment
workloads as a result of common equipment, training
and logistics.
p eople
Army Brigadier General
Joseph A. Brendler, who has
been serving as chief of staff,
Defense Information Systems
Agency, has been assigned
as chief, C/J-6, International
Security Assistance Force,
Operation Enduring Freedom,
Afghanistan.
Rear Admiral Samuel J.
Cox will be assigned as director
of intelligence, J2, U.S. Cyber
Command. Cox is currently
serving as director, National
Maritime Intelligence
Center.
The following Army brigadier
generals are among those
recently nominated for appointment to the rank of major
4 | MIT 15.7
general: John A. Davis, director,
current operations, J-33, U.S.
Cyber Command; Robert S.
Ferrell, director for command,
control, communications and
computer systems, U.S. Africa
Command; Gregg C. Potter,
commanding general/commandant, U.S. Army Intelligence
Center of Excellence and Fort
Huachuca, Ariz.; N. Lee S.
Price, program executive officer,
command, control, and
communications (tactical).
Chief of Naval Operations.
Rear Admiral (lower half)
Sean R. Filipowski will be
assigned as deputy director
of operations, J3, U.S. Cyber
Command. Filipowski is
currently serving as director,
Cyber, Sensors and Electronic
Warfare, N2/N6F3, Office of the
Rear Admiral (lower half)
Matthew J. Kohler will be
assigned as deputy commander,
Fleet Cyber Command/deputy
commander, Tenth Fleet.Kohler
is currently assigned as deputy
chief, Tailored Access Operations,
National Security Agency. Rear Admiral Janice M.
Hamby will be assigned as
military deputy to the Chief of
Information Office, Office of the
Assistant Secretary of Defense
for Networks and Information
Integration. Hamby previously served as vice director of
command, control, communications, and computer systems, J-6,
Joint Staff. Cyberspace
Strategy Unveiled
After a lengthy development process,
the Department of Defense has unveiled its
new strategy for operating in cyberspace.
The strategy, outlined in a July 14
address by Deputy Secretary of Defense
William J. Lynn III, focuses on ways to
protect DoD networks against increasing
numbers of cyber-attacks from terrorist
groups and rogue states.
As Lynn pointed out, the need for
cyber-defense has grown as adversaries
and potential adversaries have noted the
critical role of networks and information
technology in all aspects of U.S. national
security, as well as all other aspects of
modern society.
“All of the advanced capabilities we
have, whether it’s targeting or navigation or
communication … have a backbone that’s
run through information technology,” he
said. “So if you’re a smart adversary and
you’re seeking an asymmetric way to come
at the United States, cyber will appear to you
very, very quickly.”
In remarks to reporters, Lynn indicated
that the strategy concentrated on hardening defenses and reducing incentives for
attacks, because the difficulty in identifying
the source of attacks makes retaliation an
ineffective strategy. In recent years, military
planners have debated the roles of defensive
and offensive cyber-strategies, including the
possibility of launching kinetic actions in
response to cyber-attacks.
In a related development, the
Government Accountability Office has
issued a report contending that while
DoD is taking proactive measures to better
address cybersecurity threats, its organization in this field is decentralized and spread
across various offices, commands, military
services, and military agencies.
The report, titled “DoD Faces
Challenges in Its Cyber Activities” (GAO11-75), also points out that while several
joint doctrine publications address aspects
of cyberspace operations, DoD officials
acknowledge that the discussions are insufficient, and that no single joint publication
completely addresses cyberspace operations.
www.MIT-kmi.com
AND THE WINNER IS...
* As shown in an independent head-to-head challenge.
New networking technologies seek to link
smartphones and other mobile devices in the field.
By Adam Baddeley
MIT Correspondent
As military reliance on mobile communications grows and
portable and commercially inspired devices proliferate in the
field of operations, the need for effective networking technologies
to link them together has increased as well.
Operating in conditions vastly different from developed urban
areas—where cell phone towers, Wi-Fi spots and 4G systems
seamlessly connect smartphones and other devices—military
communicators must contend with austere environments and
the lack of an infrastructure. Moreover, the coalition nature of
most modern military operations means that units must be able
to communicate with international forces as well as law enforcement and non-government organizations.
In response to these challenges, government and industry
researchers are developing new methods to achieve interoperability and provide robust communications amid adverse
conditions.
6 | MIT 15.7
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), for
example, has funded a project called the Mobile Ad hoc Interoperability Network GATEway (MAINGATE), which is demonstrating
technologies for mobile ISR and C2 networking. MAINGATE has
a second-generation mobile ad hoc network designed to provide
on-the-move and at-the-halt network-centric connectivity for
ground and air platforms.
Raytheon-developed MAINGATE was recently tested at the
Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment, which showed the system’s ability to provide mobile networking among headquarters,
mounted and dismounted units.
MONAX
MONAX from Lockheed Martin is fundamentally a deployable, secure, 4G private network and the devices that operate on
www.MIT-kmi.com
that network to leverage smartphone applications and capability,
both developed by the organization that uses MONAX and from
outside.
MONAX refers to “mobile network access,” according to Sam
Guthrie, director strategic ventures for Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Services Defense.
Work on MONAX has been motivated by a desire to exploit
smartphone technology.
Guthrie explained, “The kinds of activities that we associate with our smartphone usage in our personal lives could
very likely have a great impact for operators such as military
tactical units at the very outer edge of our networks as well
as non-military users with important operational field work
performed on the edge of networks like first responders. Smartphone devices in the hands of the user would actually be a step
up in involvement from the devices that they have today and
would be affordable given what is in the commercial market
today.
To realize the MONAX vision, LM enlisted partners who provide various niche hardware and software capabilities, creating
a unique system that includes a Lynx device which brings the
network together. “Our customers want to put capability in the
hands of people in an affordable way,” Guthrie said. “We believe
that staying agnostic on the end-user device gives our customers maximum flexibility in their choices. Commercial companies
are changing and improving the designs and capabilities of their
phones rapidly. MONAX can leverage that all along the way without having to invest in the R&D or new design work for a new
end-user device, which inevitably increases cost to the customer.”
Rather than convert each and every smartphone to MONAX,
the system uses Lynx as an appliqué module that attaches to a
wireless equipped module. That acts as a gateway to the network,
which Guthrie notes is a key design difference between this and
other offerings. “We take any one of those devices—a smartphone, iPhone, iPad, Android phone or tablet—and it securely
connects via WiFi into the Lynx device; from the Lynx device on,
you are then in the 700 MHz network.”
MONAX creates its own flexible 700 MHz network, on frequency band that in the U.S. has been reserved for first responders for the foreseeable future, and which customers for MONAX
have indicated a preference for. The same frequency is also highly
suitable for use overseas in likely areas of deployment, again
based on user feedback.
“If you try to use a cell phone today in the theater of
operation, the networks there are not secure and they are not
stable. MONAX brings a network that does those things. We have
checked with the spectrum managers of various organizations
and given their potential theaters of operation, 700 MHz is a
pretty nice place to be if you don’t want to disrupt local commercial activity,” Guthrie said.
MONAX base stations have either one or three sectors, with
each sector supporting 250 simultaneous users—roughly five
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MIT 15.7 | 7
two pods being necessary to provide sufficient
to six times the capacity of a normal cell phone,
balance of the platform. As well as unmanned
providing greater reliance against the network
aircraft, the FASTCOM pods also can be deployed
being swamped in an emergency. Range and
on aerostats or ground vehicles.
throughput is a function of multiple factors. In a
Landis added, “ViaSat is working with a
deployment on board an aerostat at Yuma, Ariz.,
government agency to achieve certification
however, MONAX supported live streaming video
on FASTCOM’s secure encryption technology,
to a smartphone at 38 km.
which enables Secret and below communication
MONAX recently demonstrated the integraon commercial Android-powered smartphones.”
tion of the Air Force’s legacy voice and data comAvailable throughput for the system has not
munications deployable infrastructure with the
been
disclosed, but it is sufficient to provide
3rd Combat Communications Group, at Tinker
Dave Landis
high quality video to users on the network via
AFB, Okla., demonstrating that the same network
smartphone devices. “We have the ability to send
design used on the flightline at home could be
and view full motion video via a smartphone,
quickly deployed with the unit. MONAX supallowing dismounted troops to connect to the
ported a range of activities.
battlefield network or to view aircraft video just
Communications on the edge had generally
like they are watching TV,” said Landis.
previously been supported by land mobile radios.
As part of the FASTCOM concept, the team
Using the MONAX cellular system and another
has matched the network with key applications
product called the Universal Communications
according to user requirements.
Platform out of Lockheed Martin Global Training
“The handheld user can collect data and
and Logistics, the legacy radios and telephone syspass that collected data back to a TOC as well
tem were able to be integrated into the network,
as receive the products of any analyzed data,”
maintaining the capital investment but with the
Jon Percy
explained Jon Percy, vice president, business
addition of significant data capabilities.
“What customers are looking for is how to [email protected] development and strategy, Overwatch. “Primarily what you are providing to the warfighter on the edge is
capitalize on what they have already invested in, but also move
situational awareness. With SoldierEyes and FASTCOM, you are
into the future so that they are not forever stuck in a data-poor
providing the warfighter with an easy way to feed data back to
world with their people on the edge,” Guthrie observed.
the TOC and an easy way to provide intelligence products back
to the warfighter on the edge.
FASTCOM
“What you have back at the TOC is a whole lot more analytical
capability and a whole lot more visualization so you can
FASTCOM (Forward Airborne Secure Transmissions and
provide those products back to the edge users,” Percy added.
Communications) was publicly launched at the AUSA exhibiApplications within the network include SoldierEyes, which
tion last fall. The expeditionary cellular network, developed by
is similar to TIGR but provides improved analysis tools to fila team of ViaSat and two Textron Systems companies, AAI and
ter information that is no longer relevant. Other applications
Overwatch, was slated to be part of the Empire Challenge exerinclude Cloudwave and Project Greyhound. The former provides
cise this spring.
the infrastructure tools that the various apps need to control
The core technology of FASTCOM is a secure cellular CDMA
databasing of information and visualization of information.
network provided by ViaSat.
“If you think of how a cellphone network works today, your
phone links up to the tower and you are able to connect to the
NightHawk 3G
rest of the world. The Department of Defense has said that there
is a need for having a private cellular network where soldiers
“Smartphones are inevitably going to be in warfighters’
could be connected together without having big heavy radios,
hands because smartphones simply have too much utility,”
instead of using commercial smartphones to send data and full
explained Ed Zoiss, vice president advanced program and techmotion video as well as voice. What we did at AUSA is demonnology, Harris Government Communications Systems. “Soldiers
strate FASTCOM with our partners ViaSat and Overwatch with
are already familiar with them; they use them in their everyday
the phones and applications that enable this technology,” said
life. They really crave the experience that they can get at home
Dave Landis, managing director, UAS business development, AAI
and they want it on the battlefield. [In some cases] our customUnmanned Aircraft Systems.
ers are already buying smartphones, but they don’t have the
The FASTCOM network is established via two pods mounted
means to connect them together on the battlefield.”
to extended wing hardpoints underneath the RQ-7 Shadow UAV,
Zoiss gave the example of biometric devices that have been
which support 100 simultaneous users pushing and pulling
fielded with 3G modems already inside, but that lack a network
data. When flying at 5,000-8,000 feet the payload can create a
to access and get back into the Global Information Grid.
cone of coverage 13 miles in diameter.
Harris’ goal has been to provide that capability, but in an
A separate backhaul link is also provided to handle cellular
environment that would allow those same types of devices
network traffic back to the Shadow aircraft’s ground control
to connect via the GIG back into the databases to allow warfightstation for access to secure backhaul networks. The pods draw
ers to do their mission more successfully. The result is Knightpower from the Shadow aircraft’s 300W of generated power, with
Hawk 3G. Today a number of systems have been acquired by a
8 | MIT 15.7
www.MIT-kmi.com
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government agency and they are now moving toward
operational fielding.
Jointly developed by Harris and Battlefield Telecommunications Systems (BTS), KnightHawk 3G is a customizable
cellular network in a box compatible with COTS equipment,
including smartphones and tablets. Each KnightHawk 3G
is installed with BTS Praefectus Mission Management Software, which automates configuration and management of
the cellular network, and enables each KnightHawk to operate autonomously or as a scalable network with hundreds of
nodes for increased range. This compatibility allows users
in the battlefield to leverage existing applications, thereby
enabling them to track a team’s location, automatically
translate foreign languages and conduct remote training
using existing advanced programs.
Harris is the service provider of the KnightHawk network, providing the base stations and hardware. The smart
devices on Knighthawk will be smartphone and tablets
obtained commercially, to which additional levels of security and ruggedization will be added.
For the network management element, Harris enlisted
the help of BTS, which provided the Praefectus Mission
Management Software, which automates configuration and
management of the cellular network. It enables each
KnightHawk network to operate either autonomously or
as a scalable network with hundreds of nodes for increased
range.
UltraMove provides an all-in-one rapid deployment communications solution.
[Photo courtesy of Ultra Electronics TCS]
UltraMove
Ultra Tactical Communications Systems (TCS) has provided
high capacity line of sight communications for roughly 50 years,
supplying 40,000 radios beginning with the AN/GRC-103, -226
and -512, with the latest generation system provided via the
GRC-245 high capacity line of sight (HCLOS) family. The latest
radio is a Band IV version adopted by Canada, and via FMS as
part of the U.A.E.’s Patriot program, as well as being part of the
contract, worth up to $650 million over seven years, that equips
the U.S. Army Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T)
program.
The GRC-245 is outside of the cellular world, but Ultra
TCS is now incorporating best of breed technologies from both
its cellular portfolios and other more established military RF
domains within a single brigade-to-battalion-to-company solution called UltraMove.
“3G and 4G are the big buzz right now,” said Joe Hickey,
vice president of business development and marketing at Ultra
TCS. “They are a piece of the network puzzle, but if you want a
high capability backbone, 3G or 4G are not the right solution. It
is not even the right solution using commercial wireless where
the backbone is either fiber connectivity or a high capability
microwave connectivity.
“In a military tactical environment, the backbone needs
to be either SATCOM or a high capacity LOS radio,” Hickey
noted. “As you start delivering multi-megabits to the individual
soldier, those methods become very expensive. In UltraMove, we
have a HCLOS backbone at the brigade-to-battalion level, and
at battalion-to-company level we have on-the-move-type capabilities, which is where cellular technologies come to the fore.
www.MIT-kmi.com
As the soldier dismounts and wants a high capability connection, that’s where we see 802.11n Wi-Fi solutions really being
deployed. This allows both company and platoon level communications, where you could have iPhone, Android or BlackBerry
type devices that connect into the network by via 3G and/or 4G
type connectivity.”
For the brigade-to-battalion links, Ultra uses the latest generation of the GRC-245 family, known as the Enhanced HCLOS
Radio, which improves on the throughput of 34Mbps aggregate
or 65Mbps full duplex in today’s version to as much as 360Mbps
of aggregate bandwidth. For battalion-to-company communications, a new WiMAX 802.16e solution is being used, which is
called Ultra’s HCLOS PMP-E.
Encryption for UltraMove uses NSA FIPS 140-2 Suite B type
certified technologies, which also provide international interoperability. In addition to high capacity links, UltraMove includes
a universal gateway product that provides connectivity to legacy
VHF and HF products via IP. UltraMove deploys in a transit case
for easy movement via an assortment of transportation mediums
for increased flexibility.
Multiple components of the UltraMove solution have already
been tested individually by various bodies within the Army,
including the air defense community, with more testing of the
solution in the coming months. O
Contact Editor Harrison Donnelly at [email protected].
For more information related to this subject, search our archives at
www.MIT-kmi.com.
MIT 15.7 | 11
PEO C3T UPDATE
Soldier-Level
Connectivity
WIN-T program manager looks back on five years of change in
Army’s linchpin tactical network of the future.
As project manager for Warfighter
Information Network-Tactical (PM WIN-T)
in the Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications-Tactical
(PEO C3T), Colonel William C. Hoppe
has provided the management and guidance for the Army’s satellite and terrestrial tactical communications network.
His workforce of 743 personnel executes
an annual budget of over $1 billion to
provide these capabilities to the soldiers,
sister services and other organizations
worldwide.
Hoppe has a Bachelor of Science degree
from the U.S. Military Academy.
Hoppe is scheduled to take over as
the military deputy to the director of
the Communications Electronics Research
Development and Engineering Command
located at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.
Hoppe was interviewed by MIT Editor
Harrison Donnelly.
Q: How would you assess the state of the
WIN-T program in 2011?
A: That is an interesting question with a
lot of potential answers depending on the
perspective one takes. What is the state of
WIN-T in 2011 as compared to where it was
in 2007 when I became the project manager? Well, the program has come a long
way in implementing the plan that came
out of the June 2007 restructure of the program. WIN-T Increment 1 has completed
all its statutory requirements, including a
beyond low-rate initial production report
12 | MIT 15.7
delivered to Congress; Increment
2 is in low-rate initial production
[LRIP] and currently planned to
start new equipment training [NET]
in January at Fort Bliss, Texas; Increment 3 has not one but two acquisition program baselines [APB] that
have been signed; the Commercial
Satellite Terminal Program has provided hundreds of systems to users
in multiple theaters; and the list goes on
and on. What is the state of WIN-T in 2011
in light of the drawdown in Operation New
Dawn [OND] and announced drawdown
in Operation Enduring Freedom [OEF]?
Like all postwar administrations, money is
going to be tight and there is only one universal constant—change. I expect, given all
the Army has learned over the past decade,
there will be more change. I don’t know
what specifically that change might be, but
I believe it naive to think WIN-T won’t be
affected in some way by fiscal pressures or
lessons learned over the past 10 years.
Q: What is the current status of the
expanded capabilities to be offered under
WIN-T Increment 2?
A: As I stated previously, the Increment 2
program is in LRIP. We got that authority from Defense Acquisition Executive
[DAE] Dr. Ashton Carter in segments. We
received initial LRIP authority to cover
the test units in March 2010 and the
remainder of the LRIP quantities were
approved in September 2010. Since then,
we have built a brigade and division headquarters set of equipment for those units
to use in the upcoming test. We’ve taken
that equipment through both contractor and government production qualification testing. We have been working with
the Brigade Modernization Command and
the platform PMs on A-kits design and
development for the various vehicles that
are the target platforms for the point of
presence and Soldier Network Extension
[SNE]. The A-Kit is the hardware required
to install the B-Kit standard WIN-T components onto a unique platform. B-Kit
includes the WIN-T components required
by a vehicle for the WIN-T network. We
have also completed joint interoperability
testing, the logistics demonstration, and
in general are gearing up for the NET,
which is due to start in January 2012
with the subsequent initial operational
test and evaluation [IOT&E] scheduled for
April/May 2012.
Q: Where does Increment 2 fit in
the Army’s plan to bring increased
communications to the furthest edges of
the battlefield?
A: It’s important to remember that the
increments of WIN-T are the tactical backbone of the Army network. Increment 2
will provide an SNE at the company level
that connects the company commander’s vehicle to the larger network. The
requirement, as stated in the Increment
2 capability production document, is that
“Increment 2 shall provide selected companies a Soldier Network Extension [SNE]
that is a SATCOM-on-the-move 64-128kps
throughput gateway to the WIN-T WAN
[wide area network] for extending data
networks e.g. EPLRS and SINCGARS data
networks.” Increment 2 only provides connections down to selected company commanders’ vehicles. The tactical edge is
much further down than company; the
edge is down at the squad level and arguably down at the team level and individual
soldier level. The devices provided to the
tactical edge, if they are intended to operate across the WAN, will at some point
interface into the WIN-T WAN. This follows
similar technical models in use today, for
example the Joint Tactical Radio System
[JTRS] family of radios interfacing back
to the WAN. The challenge, which the
www.MIT-kmi.com
PEO C3T UPDATE
engineers will no doubt figure out, is what
those varied edge networks and devices
look like and what the most efficient connection architecture should be.
Q: How do you see WIN-T Increment 3
changing the way the Army operates once
it is deployed later in this decade?
A: It’s hard to talk about Increment 3
without understanding the relationship
Increment 3 has with Increment 2. The
analogy I like to use is a commercial software application development and rollout.
Pick your favorite commercial application.
The developer of that application didn’t
start out saying version 1.0 was the end
state. There is a product development list
associated with that application development—a feature set, which is normally
tied to a desired release. The developer
has additional capabilities being developed
even as they finalize the current software
release. Increment 2 was an early release
www.MIT-kmi.com
of on-the-move capability. The rest of that
intended capability is still being developed
under Increment 3. Also, recall that coming out of the restructure back in June
2007, the only contract vehicle in place was
the ‘big bang’ engineering and manufacturing development [EMD] contract. The
PM basically implemented an engineering
change proposal to the EMD contract, and
that became WIN-T Increment 2. The Army
essentially drew a line across the development of the waveforms, network operations [NetOps] and so on, and said, ‘This is
good enough’ for Increment 2.
The remainder of the capabilities will
come in Increment 3. The best example I
can give you is the Highband Networking
Waveform [HNW], the terrestrial [line of
sight] component of the on-the-move network. In Increment 2 we are taking HNW
version 2.0.5 into the IOT&E in April/May
2012. The scheduled HNW version for the
Increment 3 IOT&E is version 3.2. The
later versions provide higher throughput,
among other things. We go from approximately 40 megabits per second aggregate
on a link to 110 megabits per second.
There are additional changes, but you get
the point. We do the same thing for the
Network Centric Waveform [NCW] which
is the SATCOM-on-the-move waveform.
The Increment 2 IOT&E has version 5.1,
and the scheduled Increment 3 IOT&E
would take version 5.2.2 into test. Not
all the network planning and operations
software is fully developed in Increment
2 either. The Increment 2 IOT&E has
version 2.0; the Increment 3 IOT&E has
version 5.0, and lots of additional features
in the requirements document for Increment 3 that are still under development,
all designed to enhance the initial onthe-move capabilities being delivered in
Increment 2.
Q: What would you identify as the chief
achievements of the WIN-T program in
the past year?
MIT 15.7 | 13
PEO C3T UPDATE
A: The portfolio in general has touched
every deploying unit in the Army, Marine
Corps and numerous title 32 [National
Guard] missions. It’s hard to single out
just a few, so I’ll try to give you one from
each of the product offices. In Product Manager, WIN-T Increment 1, under
Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Compton’s
leadership, aside from providing all the
deploying units their Increment 1 equipment and resetting all the redeployers,
providing the CX-I [CENTRIXS-International Security Assistance Forces] hardware and engineering support to OEF
as they built out the Afghan Mission
Network has to be the most operationally
significant piece. There are many others.
For Lieutenant Colonel Robert Collins in
Product Manager, WIN-T Increment 2/3,
clearly it’s getting Increment 2 on contract for LRIP and preparing the way for
the Increment 2 IOT&E coming up in the
second quarter of 2012. The first brigade
and division set are off the production
line and going through acceptance testing
now. Increment 3 is also under Lieutenant
Colonel Collins, and after a lot of detailed
work, getting the revised APB signed by
Dr. Carter has to be the biggest pressure
release. We had been under a fair degree
of pressure after the Future Combat Systems [FCS] program was disestablished to
get the Increment 3 program re-baselined
without the FCS requirements.
As the product manager for satellite
communications [PdM SATCOM], Lieutenant Colonel Greg Coile has the largest
basket product office in WIN-T, managing
around 20 systems that are in various
stages of their life cycle. His management of the Commercial Satellite Terminal Program is clearly the highlight in
terms of immediate, responsive, relevant
capabilities to short notice requirements.
He’s supported units literally all over the
world on short notice providing commercial SATCOM solutions to augment
existing program of record [POR] solutions or providing kit to units that are not
authorized POR equipment on their tables
of organization and equipment. You could
do an entire article on all the products
in the PdM SATCOM portfolio. Last but
definitely not least is the Command Post
Systems and Integration [CPS&I] Product
Office under Lieutenant Colonel Carl Hollister, and until recently under Lieutenant
14 | MIT 15.7
Colonel Terry Wilson. Aside from providing the command post platform POR to
authorized deployers and resetting the
redeployers, I would have to say, Lieutenant Colonel Wilson’s team providing the
command and control on-the-move operational needs statement support to both
OND and OEF are the big highlights from
the past year. CPS&I touches almost every
deploying unit.
Q: What were some of the key lessons
you learned in deploying to Afghanistan,
where you helped set up the Afghan
Mission Network?
A: There are still two major lessons relearned that I think are still important
to keep in the forefront. The first is
not integrating a new kit in the theater.
That integration should be engineered and
tested, and a plan handed off to the gaining command. There was, and I suspect
still is, an inordinate amount of effort
put in by deployed units to integrate new
equipment on the ground. The second is
a bit harder, and therefore one we keep
re-learning—the importance of coalition
operations. Coalition interoperability goes
much deeper than just talking voice on
the same RF network. There has been a lot
of progress because of the Afghan Mission
Network but there is still a ways to go. Colonel David Moore, who recently retired,
and Colonel Jonas Vogelhut, who replaced
him, and PM Mission Command have done
excellent work on the data architecture of
the mission command applications, but
they are one domain.
Q: What have been some of the most
significant developments among the
several other programs under PM WIN-T?
A: We’ve initiated the fielding of the
Advanced Extremely High Frequency
[AEHF] upgrades to the Secure, Mobile,
Anti-Jam, Reliable, Tactical-Terminals
[SMART-T] program. This will allow the
Army and other SMART-T users to eventually take advantage of the new AEHF
constellation that is being launched. The
Air Force has already put the first ‘bird’
into orbit, so that capability is soon to
be a reality. Of course that upgrade stays
backwardly compatible with the existing
EHF constellation. The Harbor Master
Command and Control System is in final
operational assessment, and we expect
to field those units over the next year.
In May, Dr. Carter signed the acquisition
decision memorandum on Increment 1,
allowing the program office to move forward to gain full materiel release, and in
turn allowing the Army to move forward
with the completion of the Increment 1
program. We’ve fielded over 80 percent of
the target units; we’ve come a long way in
five years. The Commercial Satellite Terminal Program is putting deployable Ku/
Ka earth terminals in a number of places
around the globe, including lots of support to Task Force Horn of Africa. PdM’s
WIN-T Increment 1, SATCOM, and CPS&I
are all supporting the U.S. Army Africa
Command operational needs statements.
PdM Increment 1 has made four of the five
regional hub nodes operational, and the
regional hub node at Camp Roberts, Calif.,
is well under construction. PdM Increment 1 is supporting C5ISR operational
needs statements with additional ways
to use the Increment 1 capabilities. The
CPS&I team continues to provide battle
command system of systems integration
training to deploying units. And the last
item I will tick off the list is Increment
2 delivering its equipment to Fort Bliss,
Texas, for early exposure of the equipment to 2nd Brigade/1st Armored Division
personnel in preparation for NET that will
begin in January 2012. Everyone is very
busy, and I’ve surely omitted other key
events.
Q: Is there anything else you would like
to add?
A: I would only like to add that this is my
final opportunity as PM WIN-T to address
this forum. It has been a total of five years
since I took my original charter as the PM
Tactical Radio Communication Systems,
which included the Joint Network Node
[JNN] program. I transitioned with the
JNN program to WIN-T in 2007 coming
out of the restructure. These last four
years in WIN-T have been very rewarding and extremely busy. I would hope
others would agree that the people in
and associated with the programs in the
WIN-T portfolio have provided that edge to
our deployed soldiers, Marines and other
users. It has truly been a privilege. O
www.MIT-kmi.com
PEO C3T UPDATE
Six-week field assessment tests latest version of
Warfighter Information Network-Tactical.
By Amy Walker and
Claire Heininger Schwerin
The second increment of Warfighter Information NetworkTactical (WIN-T) recently wrapped up its major developmental test,
marking another key step in the Army’s plans to establish a mobile
communications grid for the battlefield.
“Army senior leadership has recognized that the cornerstone
of modernization is the network, and WIN-T Increment 2 delivers
that high capacity network on-the-move,” said Lieutenant Colonel
Robert Collins, product manager (PdM) for WIN-T Increment 2.
“Its fielding will be a significant milestone as we deliver the nextgeneration network that will transform how the Army operates and
conducts its operational missions, both at-the-halt and now on-themove, all the way down to the company level. It’s a major step.”
The WIN-T Increment 2 production qualification test-government (PQT-G) was the major developmental test leading to
the upcoming operational test and the eventual fielding, which is
expected in 2012. The PQT-G, which concluded in August, was the
largest instrumented test ever held at the Aberdeen Test Center,
Md., with WIN-T Increment 2 hardware and software installed in
tactical vehicles spread out over five geographically dispersed sites.
www.MIT-kmi.com
During the six-week event, hundreds of personnel collected
thousands of gigabytes of data on the network’s performance—
including how fast messages travel, how reliably they arrive at their
destination, throughput assessments and whether the network is
successfully prioritizing urgent messages like medevac requests
ahead of routine traffic.
”Our successes and accomplishments will be documented on
paper and in reports, but the real sense of accomplishment comes
in knowing we have provided the U.S. soldier a capability that will
help protect him from harm’s way,” said Andrew J. Pahutski, PdM
WIN-T Increment 2/3 chief of test.
Similar to a home Internet connection, WIN-T Increment 1,
the Army’s current tactical network backbone, provides high-speed,
high-capacity voice, data and video communications to units on the
battlefield, at-the-halt or at-the-quick-halt. Unlike a home Internet
connection, WIN-T Increment 2 will provide this network to a military formation while it is moving across the battlefield.
MIT 15.7 | 15
PEO C3T UPDATE
Adapting to Change
One of the key strengths of WIN-T Increment 2 lies in its ability
to adapt to changing mission conditions in real time, without the
pre-planning and configuration required of traditional networking
infrastructure. By taking advantage of both terrestrial and satellite
communications, units in austere environments such as mountainous regions can still connect and communicate through this selfforming, self-healing network. Should a component of the network
become inoperable, it will restructure itself and continue providing
the seamless communication needed to complete dynamic operational missions.
“The PQT-G was an opportunity to conduct a technical assessment, in this case of a division headquarters element with a full
brigade-level deployment, in a controlled environment to make sure
that we have a solid baseline understanding of technical performance
before we deliver it to the soldiers to conduct operational testing,”
Collins said.
The spring 2012 WIN-T Increment 2 Initial Operational Test and
Evaluation (IOT&E) will be conducted at White Sands Missile Range,
N.M., with the 2nd Brigade/1st Armored Division (2/1 AD), which is
also part of the Army’s Brigade Modernization Command. The PQT-G
is based on an operational mission set that is fundamentally built
around the unit structure of 2/1 AD.
To better understand how the system performs in different situations, various scenarios were played out during the PQT-G with some
nodes on-the-move, some at-the-halt, everything on-the-move and
then everything at-the-halt. Similarly, the test used SATCOM only,
terrestrial radio links only, and then both SATCOM and terrestrial
links. During the different scenarios the testers assessed various attributes of the network, including throughput, message delivery time,
reliability, and its self-healing abilities during network blockages.
“This is an opportunity to gauge the readiness of our technologies, assess performance of the network, and ascertain limitations
through realistic scenarios and using clear, measurable metrics,”
Collins said.
The PQT-G also stressed the network up to eight times of its
maximum capacity to see how many messages could be delivered
given such an exceptionally heavy load.
“The critical component was to make sure the network was
delivering the most important messages ahead of lower precedence
traffic,” Collins said. “It’s potentially acceptable not to immediately
complete a message if the network is congested, but we need to make
sure that category one messages—survival and life-or-limb messages—are delivered ahead of lower precedence messages that can be
put in a holding pattern.”
Traditionally, the WIN-T network has been at the battalion level
and above, but the Soldier Network Extension (SNE) of Increment
2 will now extend that network down to the company level for the
first time. Using its on-the-move satellite communication systems,
the SNE will be used to heal and extend lower echelon tactical radio
networks for geographically separated elements blocked by severe
terrain features.
During the event at Aberdeen Proving Ground, SNEs at the
rate of 33 per company were installed on high mobility multi-wheel
vehicles, although the same kit can also function in several other
unit vehicle platforms. Other WIN-T Increment 2 hardware involved
16 | MIT 15.7
in the test included the tactical communications node (TCN) and the
point of presence (POP) and NOSC.
Network Centerpiece
The TCN is the centerpiece and hub of the WIN-T network. Its
primary mission is to support command posts and tactical operations
centers while at-the-halt. Unlike current WIN-T Increment 1 systems,
the Increment 2 TCN is equipped with both satellite and line-of-sight
terrestrial transmission systems that operate while on the move,
allowing it to stay connected at all times.
The WIN-T POP is the primary Increment 2 configuration item
that will be installed on the tactical combat platforms of select commanders and staff officers at division, brigade and battalion echelons.
The POP enables mobile battle command by providing secret level
on-the-move network connectivity. The POP, similar to the TCN,
includes both beyond line-of-sight satellite and line-of-sight terrestrial transmission systems.
As the testers mimicked the activities of a brigade, field engineers
monitored the network performance in real time, said Harry Cunningham, head of the C4 directorate at Aberdeen. At the end of each
day, more than 280 drives’ worth of data was harvested through a
meticulous process that ensured no valuable information slipped
through the cracks.
“It gives us solid control over the data,” Cunningham said, adding
that integrity is crucial for a test of this magnitude.
WIN-T Increment 2’s key performance parameters needed to be
assessed in a technical setting free of the uncontrolled influences
within the operational test environment. The PQT-G was specially
designed to illustrate the system’s ability to meet requirements as
articulated in the capability production document, Pahutski said.
While the PQT-G focused on technical functionality, the upcoming operational test will focus on how the network benefits the overall execution of the soldier’s mission. The IOT&E will demonstrate
whether or not the network speeds decision cycles, enables increased
operations tempo and increases speed of maneuver. The two tests
complement one another, but they have two different purposes, Collins said.
To prepare for the IOT&E, PM WIN-T will deliver early assets
to 2/1 AD in August and September to provide hands-on exposure
and early insights. The official new equipment training and fielding
begins in January 2012, leading up to the IOT&E, which is slated for
spring of 2012.
“As the Army modernizes current software capabilities and
integrates its standalone technologies into a system of systems,
WIN-T Increment 2 will provide the necessary network capabilities
to enhance Army modernization, and these pre-fielding tests provide
the stage to make certain that it is well integrated and ready for the
warfighter,” Collins said. O
Claire Heininger Schwerin and Amy Walker are staff writers for
Symbolic Systems, supporting the Program Executive Office Command, Control and Communications-Tactical.
Contact Editor Harrison Donnelly at [email protected].
For more information related to this subject, search our archives at
www.MIT-kmi.com.
www.MIT-kmi.com
Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
Lightweight
Data Link
Earns Security
Certification
A small, lightweight, embeddable radio
developed by Harris has received Type 1 certification from the National Security Agency,
paving the way for its use in high-security,
space-constrained communications applications such as unmanned airborne systems,
vehicles and shelters. The Harris small secure
data link (SSDL) provides embedded encryption capabilities in a single-channel, multiband, multi-mission radio. Measuring less
than 25 cubic inches and weighing just 18
ounces, it is the smallest size, weight and
power (SWaP) Type 1 VHF/UHF softwaredefined, embeddable radio available. The
SSDL is based on the Harris Falcon III AN/
PRC-152(C) handheld radio, the world’s
most widely deployed, software-defined
tactical radio, with more than 150,000 units
delivered. The SSDL supports multiple VHF/
UHF waveforms that enable a wide variety
of missions, including ground-to-ground,
ground-to-air and air-to-air communications. Multiple SSDL radios can be controlled
from a single, remote interface. In addition,
the SSDL supports the variable message
format; is improved data modem interoperable; and provides enhanced support to
combat network radio and digital close air
support missions.
Solution Delivers On-the-Move
Services in Portable Transit Case
UltraMove from Ultra Electronics, TCS
is a revolutionary system solution that
delivers on-the-move IP services, including
voice, data and video, in a portable transit
case. Designed to be deployed virtually
anywhere, the system is particularly useful
at the outskirts of military networks, or in
disaster areas by providing wireless access
with 400 mbps shared aggregate bandwidth
to support multiple simultaneous users and
applications. UltraMove provides dual benefit
by offering Wi-Fi and WiMAX hotspots for units
in the field, while maintaining the ability to
tie back into the core network through an
integrated high-capacity line-of-sight wireless
point-to-point radio. Handheld devices and
portable computers are already playing a
major role in modern tactical communications
networks due to their decreasing cost, small
footprint, and overall usefulness to receive and
upload mission-critical data. Providing military and disaster relief personnel with robust
wireless access to serve these devices in remote
areas remains a challenge. UltraMove solves
this issue by offering a highly flexible, integrated, and ruggedized platform that delivers
wireless hotspot capabilities for both mobile
end-user devices and standard IT equipment.
Army Orders Tactical SHF Satellite Terminals
TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) has
been awarded a new order with a ceiling
value of $60.8 million to provide tactical
SHF satellite terminals to the Army. The
order is initially funded at $53.1 million
and will be funded up to a total of $60.8
million if the options are fully exercised.
The award was made under the Army’s
$5 billion World-Wide Satellite Systems
contract vehicle in support of the program
manager for the Warfighter Information
Network-Tactical. Delivery of the terminals
is expected in the second and third quarters of 2012. TCS has established a proven
track record for more than two decades
as a trusted provider of communication
technology solutions to solve the government’s toughest technical challenges, under
conditions that demand the highest level
of reliability, availability and security. To
ensure mission continuity, TCS offers the
SwiftLink family of deployable communications solutions and complete end-to-end
managed services for converged (IP-based)
voice, video and data solutions to organizations requiring seamless, highly secure
connectivity between fixed sites and remote
operations.
Rugged Handheld Tablet Offers Enhanced Processor
The Toughbook H2 from Panasonic
Solutions Company is a fully rugged, ergonomic Windows tablet PC. This next-generation handheld tablet device is designed for
highly mobile government workers and is wellequipped for the rugged and extreme environments of military personnel. The design
and capabilities of the solution allows for
it to serve as a valuable tool for a number
of applications, such as on the flight-line
maximizing maintenance and operations efficiency or for soldiers in sun-drenched desert
regions to easily view mission critical data. The
Toughbook H2 offers an enhanced processor
www.MIT-kmi.com
and expanded drive capacity, while being
faster and more versatile than its predecessor, the Toughbook H1. The H2 also
offers I/O ports for Ethernet, USB and
true serial options as well as enhanced
outdoor viewability through the use of
Panasonic’s TransflectivePlus technology. The H2 also features optional
barcode and RFID readers, camera,
GPS and Gobi 2000 3G mobile broadband technology from Qualcomm to
help maximize mobile worker productivity.
The Toughbook H2 will also offer embedded
support for 4G networks, with certifications
coming later this year. Security options include
fingerprint reader and insertable or contactless SmartCard reader.
MIT 15.7 | 17
Access to water?
Limited.
Bandwidth on-the-move?
Anytime. Anywhere.
Ultra Electronics, TCS portable networking systems provide high-capacity
mobile coverage for units in the field. A mix of best-in-class WiMAX and
Wi-Fi mesh technology maintains the ability to tie into the network through
an integrated Enhanced High-Capacity Line-of-Sight (EHCLOS) radio with
up to 400 mbps shared throughput. Integrate combat radio networks, legacy
telephony capabilities and newer VOIP technologies into a single IP network
to support interoperability of joint and coalition forces. Deploy high
bandwidth on-the-move voice, data and video services with the ability
to connect anytime, anywhere – even in the most remote areas.
www.ultra-tcs.com
www.ultra-electronics.com
Porttab
Portable
able
le
System
Solutions
EHCLOS
Wi-Fi
Wi-MAX
IP Gateway
© Ultra Electronics TCS Ltd. 2011
Ultra Electronics
TCS
5990 chemin Côte-de-Liesse
Montréal, Québec
H4T 1V7 Canada
Tel: +1 514 855-6397
Fax: +1 514 855-6357
Email: [email protected]
www.ultra-tcs.com
www.ultra-electronics.com
Europe, Middle East & Africa
Mob: +971 50 133 9354
USA & Americas
Tel: +1 513 777-2099
Mob: +1 513 608-0905
India
Tel: +91 1204215509
Mob: +91 9810884585
Unit Combines
Handheld Mobility
and Notebook Power
About the size of two stacked paperback
books, the GD2000 from General Dynamics
Itronix provides the ultra-mobility of a handheld computer with the powerful performance
of a full-sized notebook. The ideal combination
of size, weight and power, the GD2000 weighs
just over two pounds and comes equipped with
the Intel ultra low voltage core solo processor,
highly sensitive GPS and a 5.6-inch daylightviewable DynaVue touchscreen display. Key
features include a battery-conserving,
sunlight-viewable DynaVue touchscreen
display; zoom-in/zoom-out keyboard button
that lets users quickly and accurately adjust
map and image views; integrated hard drive
slot that enables users to easily swap hard
drives without tools; “on the fly” lithium-ion
battery changes; and updated trusted platform
module security chip and user authentication
software that protects the GD2000 from unauthorized access.
Rural Communications Solution
Aids West Virginia Guard
The West Virginia Army National Guard
(WVARNG) was recently named a winner of
the Army Community of Excellence Award
(ACOE), which recognizes Army and Army
National Guard garrisons for their overall
high
performance,
use of innovative technology, quality of life
and management techniques. A contributing
factor to WVARNG’s
selection for this award
was development of the
Mobile Deployment Kit,
a rural communications
solution built by EFJohnson. The kit was
created by Sergeant Gordon Craft of the
WVARNG in order to help solve the organization’s radio and wireless communications
problems resulting from the state’s rural
nature, difficult terrain, and need for higher
powered radios. Commonly referred to as the
“Gordo Box” in deference to its creator, the
kit includes an EFJohnson 5300ES Remote
Mobile radio with a handheld control head, a
24V/12V power converter, 110W power supply
and cables contained within a hard, deployable case. The versatility of the equipment
enables its use in multiple vehicles, including
aEHMMWV, passenger
car or in a standard
wall socket. WVARNG
relies on a combination
of cell phones, satellite phones and LMR
radios (VHF and UHF)
radios to overcome the
state’s communications
challenges. The cost of
installing new radios into every commercial or
military vehicle in the state was not feasible.
The portability of the kit makes it possible to
deploy mobile, statewide radio communications from any vehicle or operating location.
As a result, deployed forces, liaison officers
and specialized teams may now effectively
and reliably communicate mission-critical
information.
Defense Segment to Be Renamed ITT Exelis
ITT Corp. has announced the future names
for its water technology and services business
and its Defense and Information Solutions
segment, which will become standalone companies following the completion of a previously
announced separation plan. Upon completion of
the spinoffs, the future defense company will be
named ITT Exelis, and the future water company
will be named Xylem. ITT’s core industrial business will continue under the ITT Corporation
name. Following completion of the planned
separation, ITT Exelis will focus on C4ISRrelated products and systems and information and technical services, supplying military,
government and commercial customers in the
United States and globally.
Wireless Distribution Module Approved for Production
The Air Force has approved Northrop
Grumman’s Theater Deployable Communications
(TDC) wireless distribution module (WDM) for
production. TDC WDM provides a line-of-sight
extension of a local area network and a radiofrequency link extension of local IP-based traffic
to rapidly distribute network capability to tactical
warfighters in remote areas. A total of 140 WDM
suites are entering production for the Air Force
Electronic Systems Center. The approval to start
production follows environmental and operational
20 | MIT 15.7
testing. The operational test demonstrated the
WDM in both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint modes of operation at distances and rates not
previously achieved. WDM is a new component of
the Air Force’s TDC, a ground-to-ground communications infrastructure that transmits and receives
voice, data and video communications securely, to
or from wireless, satellite or hard-wired sources. It
is designed to communicate information rapidly
and securely to achieve interoperability between
Air Force, joint and coalition elements throughout
the theater and “reach-back” command and
control centers via Defense Information Systems
Network core services, Defense Switched Network,
NIPRNet and SIPRNet. The TDC system is mobile
and modular. The equipment is packaged in kits
and modules that are installed, transported and
operated from transit cases and can be tailored
to meet specific mission needs. WDM is the next
evolution of wireless IP networking, consisting of a
single radio that operates in both the commercial
and NATO frequency bands.
www.MIT-kmi.com
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Today, NOVA proudly supports the Army’s LandWarNet and its mission to
provide secure, seamless communications and networks for warfighters,
commanders, and military planners. Our full complement of security,
network, and systems services ensures stable and secure infrastructures
that are cost-effective while delivering superior quality. NOVA specializes
in the types of solutions essential to the Army’s goal of transforming the
LandWarNet to a flat, enterprise-wide network. Here are just a few:
• Computer network defense, and network and systems support
(like NOVA currently provides the S-TNOSC at Fort Gordon)
• Cyber security, networking, and system support services designed
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• Network and enterprise asset support using the latest technologies,
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Network Evaluator
Q& A
Integrating Multiple Systems to Work Together by Design
Brigadier General N. Lee S. Price
Program Executive Officer
Command, Control and
Communications-Tactical (PEO C3T)
Brigadier General N. Lee S. Price took the helm as the program executive officer for Command, Control, CommunicationsTactical (PEO C3T) in November 2009. The preceding 16 months,
she was the deputy program manager for the Future Combat
Systems, Brigade Combat Team-Networks. Price was nominated
for promotion to major general in July 2011.
Price came to the Future Combat System from her threeyear tenure as the deputy acquisition executive for U.S. Special
Operations Command, where she was responsible for providing
the specialized equipment and products for the Department of
Defense special operators.
From July 2002 to July 2005, Price was the project manager,
Defense Communications and Army Transmission Systems (PM
DCATS). As PM DCATS, she was honored as the Army’s Project
Manager of the Year in October 2004.
Price began her military career in 1975 as a private first class
in the Alabama National Guard, and was later commissioned
through Officer’s Candidate School and was transferred to the
Signal Corps. She entered active duty in October 1981. She has a
Bachelor of Science from the University of Alabama in Birmingham and master’s degrees from the University of Arizona and the
Industrial College of the Armed Forces.
Price was interviewed by MIT Editor Harrison Donnelly.
Q: What role did PEO C3T play in the recent Network Integrated
Evaluation (NIE) this summer?
A: The NIE was the first in a series of semi-annual evaluations
designed to integrate and mature the Army’s tactical network.
The most recent NIE, which concluded in July, consisted of two
separate events.
The first stage involved record tests for five programs of
record, two of which were PEO C3T systems: the Joint Capabilities
Release [JCR] and Network Integration Kit. Our Project Manager,
Force XXI Battle Command Brigade-and-Below [PM FBCB2]
equipped about 200 platforms with the Blue Force Tracking [BFT]
2 transceiver configuration for the test. This test will inform the
Army G-3’s decision on the fielding of the transceiver in fiscal year
2012. To demonstrate interoperability, the Marine Corps joined us
in the test, which will likewise inform the Marine Corps’ fielding
decision.
The second stage occurred in the final two weeks of the sixweek NIE. Its purpose was to evaluate developmental and emerging network capabilities less formally. During this stage, PEO C3T
had the lead to integrate each of the mission command solutions
www.MIT-kmi.com
that resided on the network, so they could function properly for
the test. There are a number of architecture products required to
both initialize the tactical system and to ensure that it stays current with changes. Our folks were charged with developing all of
these products. We will remain in this role for the future NIEs and
network integration rehearsals [NIRs], where we will integrate
all systems, including those which are not part of our organization. We also worked with the other involved PEOs and entities
to provide equipment for this effort. The equipment we provided
includes the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical [WIN-T],
AN/PRC-117G, SINCGARS, EPLRS, the current and future iterations of FBCB2 and mission command applications. AN/PRC-117G
is the Army’s first networking waveform radio. Today, it serves
as an interim networking radio, providing a bridge to the nextgeneration Joint Tactical Radio System [JTRS] radios.
NIE coordination is led by a three-party triad consisting of
the PEO for Integration [PEO I], which leads the triad on behalf
of the assistant secretary of the army acquisition, logistics and
technology; the Army Test and Evaluation Command [ATEC] and
the Brigade Modernization Command.
Using 2/1 Armored Division [AD] as the test unit for NIE/NIR,
capabilities will be tested in the United States, so they are mature
when they reach soldiers’ hands in locations such as Afghanistan.
A lab test will occur at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., followed
MIT 15.7 | 23
by an operational test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., and
subsequent fielding of the equipment to theater.
Testing capabilities in an integrated environment is critical.
Doing so in a stovepiped fashion cannot show us how the capabilities interoperate on the network. We will rely on the expertise of
the soldiers of 2/1 AD to determine if these networked mission
command solutions are operationally relevant. Through these
semi-annual events, the Army will be able to field the network we
build with the best applications and systems it can handle. The
events will support the Army’s efforts toward an iterative and agile
process to optimize the brigade combat team network.
NIE is already changing culture in how Army systems are
procured, engineered and fielded. Once formalized, an innovative
approach known as the agile process will redefine how the Army
identifies requirements gaps, validates requirements and leverages
existing technologies. We will leverage work performed in the labs
and the field to evaluate commercial off-the-shelf and government
off-the-shelf solutions, which are under consideration for entry
into the capability set process. The process provides a fair, level
playing field for those involved to compare industry solutions to
requirements in the field. The process will significantly increase
the speed at which we deliver innovative concepts to the field, so
capabilities reach the soldier’s hands before they become obsolete.
Our network initializations team at Product Director, Tactical
Network Initialization [PD TNI] has been involved in the planning, integration and execution phases of the event. They led the
team that provided the information necessary to produce fully
integrated and de-conflicted data required to initialize the tactical
communications systems. This includes the information required
to enable end-to-end network-centric connectivity and interoperability across the tactical Internet. Every information and network
device or system connected to the Global Information Grid,
including LandWarNet, needs properly configured information to
operate within the network.
Our PD Communications Security [COMSEC] is excited about
the insertion of network, the common load device, and with it
the future key management infrastructure, into the NIE. In the
past, COMSEC devices and key distribution capabilities were often
an afterthought added after a device or system was proven. The
NIEs will include COMSEC as a priority in an integrated network
environment. Since they will occur every six months, we can consistently examine COMSEC over this type of network.
PM WIN-T has been providing network and systems integration support to NIE/NIR 11.2. These efforts have primarily focused
on integrating prospective NIE/NIR systems under evaluation/
systems under test systems into the WIN-T wide area network. For
11.2, these efforts include integrating SIPRNet/NIPRNet Access
Point [SNAP] very small aperture terminals and commercial terrestrial systems into the network support of the company command posts, integrating the JTRS handheld, manpack, small form
fit radio system and ground mobile radio networks, and providing
network operations integration support to the unit.
PM WIN-T’s Product Manager [PdM] SATCOM fielded a full brigade complement of 15 SNAP terminals to the 2/1 AD to augment
their eight Satellite Transportable Terminals previously fielded
with WIN-T Increment 1. SNAP is a non-program of record COTS
system providing reliable SATCOM access. Nearly 600 terminals
have been deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation New Dawn and the Horn of Africa. In addition to providing
24 | MIT 15.7
equipment for evaluation during the NIE, PdM SATCOM deployed
SNAP field service representatives [FSRs] for the event.
Q: As a result of warfighter feedback, PEO C3T and PEO
Integration assembled a prototype company command post
package into the evaluation. How did that process go, and what
did you learn from the experience?
A: The collaborative process of developing the prototype Company
Command Post [CoCP] resulted in four variants placed in eight
companies within 2/1AD. All variants leveraged existing Army
infrastructure, communication and mission command systems
in new ways to create the CoCPs. One variant was based on the
fully materiel released Standardized Integrated Command Post
Systems Command Post Platform shelter mounted on a dual axle
trailer towed by an MRAP vehicle. This variant was a collaborative
effort between PEO C3T, PEO I and the Army Aviation and Missile
Research Development and Engineering Center Prototype Integration Facility at Redstone Arsenal, Ala. Another variant leveraged
the Stryker command-and-control-on-the-move vehicle. This variant allowed the commander and two operators to maintain situational awareness while moving about the battlefield. The CoCP
variants had environmentally controlled workspace based on the
fielded Trailer Mounted Support System and local and wide area
network functionality provided by the SNAP.
The experience of developing each of the variants to support
NIE 11.2 reinforced the importance of viewing the command post
as a total holistic system greater than the sum of the individual
components within it. Each product, whether it is infrastructure
such as power, environmental control and lights, network connectivity, or mission command workstations, must fit together
like the pieces of a puzzle. Stated differently, the importance of the
engineering required is to ensure the systems are synchronized to
function together, maximizing the value to the commander and
his staff.
Q: What were some of the key lessons you learned from the
evaluation about PEO C3T programs and how they work in field
conditions?
A: We received very valuable feedback from the users of our equipment. The soldier is the essential focus of the present and future
networked mission command solutions we develop, field and sustain. Through this valuable opportunity to work with 2/1 AD, our
engineers learned the strengths and challenges of our systems and
gained an enhanced perspective of how soldiers use them.
The PEO C3T staff on the ground found that soldiers really
liked the increased throughput of the BFT 2 transceiver, which
provided much faster situational awareness, blue force location
update rates and the ability to send larger-sized messages. They
also indicated that the higher resolution maps were a big improvement. Soldiers also provided candid feedback on how we can
improve the usability of certain capabilities of the system and its
interactions with other systems. Obviously making those software
changes before it is fielded is not only easier, but also gets the
improved version to the soldiers more quickly.
For SNAP terminals, the NIE reinforced for our staff in a test
environment many of the lessons we have learned from its use
in theater. This includes the value of the SNAP in obtaining and
www.MIT-kmi.com
disseminating SIPR/NIPR data as an extension of the WIN-T network and providing transport for many other C4ISR capabilities.
They found the SNAPs to be both reliable and durable and recognized the importance of training to operators. Soldiers spoke of
the value of FSRs in theater to assist in supporting SNAPs. The
NIE also reinforced our continuing goal to make SNAP lighter,
easier to use and more power efficient.
While the PEOs do an outstanding job of developing their
own systems, what we and the Army as a whole can improve
upon is integrating multiple systems to work together by design.
Standardization and configuration management will be a big step
forward for the Army and significantly improve our ability to integrate across programmatic and PEO lines. Size, weight and power
considerations are consistently done well for standalone systems.
NIE showed us how we can collectively improve the way we integrate separate systems for a singular end-user. This applies to both
our legacy systems and systems under development.
Q: Now that your command is settled in Aberdeen Proving
Ground, Md., how do you see the new location and facilities
adding to PEO C3T’s support for the warfighter?
A: The move has allowed us to relook at how we do business and to
gain efficiencies that translate into more dollars available to support our troops with more and improved equipment.
We have talented new people who have joined us to replace
those we lost through retirement or who are moving to other jobs
in the New Jersey and Virginia areas. This talent will allow us to
see new ways to enhance our products for the soldiers and will be
a part of the next generation that will continue that soldier support. We are already enjoying the close proximity to our testing,
logistics, ISR and research and development partners on post.
We have reaped the benefits of our close proximity to ATEC’s
Aberdeen Test Center [ATC] during the WIN-T Increment 2
production qualification test-government, which concluded on
August 5. This major developmental test has prepared us to send
WIN-T Increment Two to White Sands Missile Range for its upcoming operational test and the eventual fielding, which is expected in
FY2013. WIN-T Increment 2 hardware and software was installed
in tactical vehicles spread out over five geographically dispersed
sites during the largest instrumented test ever held at the ATC.
Q: Can you provide an overview of some of the key achievements
of your command in the past year?
A: Our dedicated staff provides premier, 24/7 support to the field
and their achievements are consistently recognized by the commanders who benefit from their efforts. We have enhanced our
field support by executing a new process to continually monitor
weekly reports on operational needs statement [ONS] activity, to improve coordination and alert our PMs of new ONSs
submitted by units and recent ONSs validated and approved by
Headquarters, Department of the Army. ONS requests are visible
to our headquarters through a new centralized reporting method,
which includes monthly reporting and continuous monitoring of
ONS activity and tracking until completion.
Since July 2010, we’ve fielded AN/PRC-117G radios in
response to an ONS from Afghanistan. The radio is helping units
expand networks that were previously restricted to fixed sites.
26 | MIT 15.7
The urgent requirement to field these radios by July 2011 is nearly
complete.
With our partners in the Research, Development and Engineering Command [RDECOM] and Program Executive Office
for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors [PEO IEW&S],
we also responded to a C5ISR ONS to thicken and extend the
network to the tactical edge. This effort will facilitate the timely
exchange of voice, video and data intelligence across the areas of
responsibility.
In October 2010, U.S. Army Africa determined that the current
Army standard Contingency Command Post [CCP] is too large and
is not rapidly deployable without significant amounts of strategic
lift. The command submitted an ONS to fill a gap in its ability to
command and control operations in Africa. During any deployment, communications equipment will compete for already scarce
lift requirements alongside other important mission-critical systems. Through the ONS, the Army will deliver a low profile, mobile
CCP to operate in a joint, interagency, intergovernmental and
multinational environment. Initial feedback is that this project is
going great.
During the past year, Project Manager Mission Command has
made great progress towards developing and launching its collapse
strategy. The strategy will consolidate standalone infrastructures
and applications and collapse the fires, sustainment, maneuver, air
defense, and airspace product lines onto a common workstation.
This new architecture will significantly enhance the commander
and staffs’ ability to effectively conduct collaborative mission
planning and execution. Equally important is infrastructure consolidation. Up until now, each Army program has deployed its own
supporting infrastructure. A key aspect of the collapse strategy is
to diminish redundancy by combining infrastructure information
services and hardware, so this becomes a singular effort rather
than multiple separate ones.
Power is the lifeblood of the networked mission command
solutions fielded by PEO C3T and other Army organizations. As
those systems multiply in number and capability, the demand
for power follows, increasing the need for more efficient ways of
generating, storing and distributing energy. Through PEO C3T’s
PM Mobile Electric Power [MEP], we have been steadily modernizing DoD’s tactical generator fleet while also pioneering new
technologies. Our next generation of DoD standard mobile electric
power sources, known as Advanced Medium Mobile Power Sources
[AMMPS], has completed the engineering manufacturing and
development phase. We finalized AMMPS’ full-rate production and
full materiel release in July 20, and the first units are expected to
arrive in Afghanistan in November.
On average, the AMMPS are 21 percent more fuel-efficient and
cost 82 percent of the unit cost of the Tactical Quiet Generators
they will replace. As soon as AMMPS enters production, the initial
production units will be fielded to Afghanistan to replace existing
theater provided equipment. Once in place, the AMMPS generators
will save approximately 300,000 gallons of fuel per month. Not
only will that represent a significant monthly savings in fuel costs,
but it will also reduce the exposure of our soldiers to the dangers
of improvised explosive device attacks on supply convoys.
In addition, PM MEP has deployed the Army’s first microgrid
to Bagram, Afghanistan. The Afghanistan Microgrid Project
consists of a one megawatt microgrid made up of four generators linked together that will take the place of 22 generators all
www.MIT-kmi.com
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operating independently. This microgrid is projected to reduce
fuel consumption needed to produce power by an additional 20
percent to 30 percent, and will serve as a prototype system to
define future microgrids for the Army and rest of DoD.
Q: Can you give readers more detail about the Afghan Mission
Network and how PEO C3T contributed?
A: While in Afghanistan in December, Vice Chief of Staff of the
Army General Peter Chiarelli emphasized “ramping up” predeployment requirements on the Combined Enterprise Regional
Information Exchange System [CENTRIXS]-ISAF [CX-I]. The
CX-I secure network is the U.S. component of the Afghan Mission
Network [AMN]. PEO C3T is engaged with the Combat Training
Center Division, PEO Simulation, Training and Implementation
and the Department of the Army’s G-3 to further enhance CX-I
in CONUS for pre-deployment training. This will allow connectivity to the live network, so full mission rehearsal exercises can be
conducted on the CX-I environment. Doing so will reduce reception, staging, onward-movement and integration time for units
when they arrive in Afghanistan. With a resident CX-I presence,
combat training centers can emphasize critical security-level
training to effectively and securely move data from SIPR to the
CX-I network.
AMN is a key effort between our organization, PEO IEW&S,
the Army G-3 office and U.S. Central Command J-2/J-3/J-6 to
bring coalition data sharing to Afghanistan. In the past, with 45
coalition nations each using their own secure network to transmit
critical information, there was no quick and efficient way to share
battlefield data across the coalition. At their discretion, separate
coalition forces can now share data from their respective secure
networks on this centralized network. With the partners I spoke
about, we migrated all appropriate mission-critical U.S. C2 and
ISR systems from SIPRNet to our “coalition partners.”
For the CX-I effort, PEOs C3T and IEW&S received the 2010
David Packard Award for Acquisition Excellence, the highest award
given in the acquisition community. PM MEP previously received
this award in 2009.
Q: What do you see as some of the most exciting new
technological initiatives underway at PEO C3T?
A: We are highly anticipating the forthcoming enhancements for
the future iterations of FBCB2/BFT. With the present version,
soldiers in separate vehicles can share one another’s visual perspective of the battlefield through GPS technology. The terrestrial
FBCB2 and satellite version, BFT, tracks and displays friendly
vehicles and aircraft that appear on a computer screen as blue
icons over a topographical map or satellite image on the ground.
Users can manually add red icons that show up as the enemy
on the screen and are simultaneously broadcast to all the other
FBCB2 users on the battlefield. Other capabilities include creating, sending and displaying graphics such as battlefield hazards.
Users can also send text messages to each other similar to email
on the Internet.
With the Joint Battle Command-Platform [JBC-P], soldiers
will access position location information [PLI] from a smartphone
just like you use for your personal and business needs. JBC-P
software on a dismounted handheld, known as “battle command
28 | MIT 15.7
product line mobile,” will let users share situational awareness and
access command and control messaging. With only a few thumb
movements, the user will access JBC-P’s key map and messaging
functionalities in their entirety. With just a few touches of the
computer screen, they will grab map icons, display associated icon
information and instantly populate a report with PLI. Through
network upgrades in systems like JCR and BFT 2, soldiers will
receive PLI reports at a significantly faster rate. We continue
to field the present iteration of FBCB2/BFT to the Army and
Marines, and we have begun to field JCR. JBC-P will replace JCR in
capability set 13/14.
From a COMSEC perspective, we are excited by the idea of
over-the-network keying [OTNK]. OTNK eliminates the redundancy previously experienced by COMSEC custodians, who would
have to travel across the battlefield multiple times to place keys
on load devices at one location, and then drive to another location
to upload and deliver it. Through OTNK, a key is generated “in
synch,” using the network itself through secure means to communications security devices. I also believe this supports the exciting
communications-on-the-move-capabilities in our other program
offices—PMs WIN-T, FBCB2 and Mission Command.
Q: What are some of the toughest communications/information
security challenges being faced today by Army units in tactical
operations, and how is your command working to respond to
them?
A: System complexity is one challenge tactical units face today.
The systems are complicated, and the more complicated you make
the systems, the less likely it becomes that a soldier in the field
will be inclined to use them. One thing PD COMSEC will do in the
developmental process is not simply to train, but to find methods
to make communication security devices not only secure, but also
user-friendly.
COMSEC custodians used to have a separate role in the field.
Now that role is an additional duty to an already heavily tasked
communications specialist. PD COMSEC is making the full life
cycle communications security process as intuitive and userfriendly as possible. During the developmental process, it is important for the technology to take the burden off of the solider while
still meeting all the accountability and security requirements that
we put forth in information security.
The current fight has highlighted the need to extend the
network down to lower echelons than ever before, resulting in
more network node locations across the battlespace. This has
created a variety of second-order challenges, such as terrestrial
radio spectrum congestion, saturation of available commercial
SATCOM resources, and additional network/crypto management
and support burdens. PEO C3T is working to address these challenges across the product portfolio. For example, the next increment of WIN-T will bring a terrestrial radio backbone capability
that not only adds additional capacity to the network, but also has
ad-hoc/mobile networking features that will greatly reduce the
burden on the soldier to operate and maintain these large radio
networks.
Q: What steps are you taking in terms of procedures and
processes to increase efficiency and react to the tighter budget
environment?
www.MIT-kmi.com
A: Simply put, every developmental,
fielding and sustainment effort must be
performed with efficiency in mind. By
making efficiency a top priority, we can
meet additional soldier requirements at
a better value for our taxpayers. Over
the past two years, the support burden
of our field support staff has doubled, as
evidenced the increase in trouble tickets.
The C4ISR Field Support Branch Support
Operations Center [SOC] has increased
efficiencies to effectively manage this
burden, while decreasing the digital systems engineer presence by four personnel. Should the support burden continue
to increase at the current rate, a relook
at mission or a staff increase might be
required. We have continued to improve
SOC efficiency and streamline the support
effort, so our users receive support at the
right place and right time.
Similar to PM Mission Command’s
collapse strategy, PM FBCB2 is providing enhanced interoperability by bringing
logistics platforms into the operational
network. Collapsing this into a singular
system will yield efficiencies in procurement, fielding and sustainment.
In developing future iterations of
FBCB2/BFT, PM FBCB2 will leverage
pre-existing hardware and other system
components to save taxpayer dollars. In
the acquisition strategy to enhance the
present FBCB2-BFT system into future
iterations such as JBC-P, the PM will
introduce new capabilities by incrementally improving the software to meet user
requirements rather than starting from
scratch. During the development of the
JBC-P acquisition strategy, the Defense
Contract Management Agency estimated
that starting to rewrite the software
from scratch would cost $400 million.
The approach to improving the hardware
is similar. We will upgrade rather than
replace the more than 100,000 FBCB2/
BFT vehicle mounted computers in the
field, which cost nearly $7,000, yielding a
monumental cost savings.
As DoD strives to become more energy
efficient on the battlefield, each service
branch is pursuing its own innovative
goals, from the Afghanistan Microgrid
Project I mentioned previously to roll-up
solar panels that fit in Marines’ backpacks. But through PM MEP, serving as
a DoD PM, they have established a Joint
Standardization Board whereby all the
services share solutions and training that
www.MIT-kmi.com
is crucial for users in the field. As the DoD
PM for power, PM MEP standardizes features across generators of different sizes
to simplify training, maintenance and the
logistical impact on the battlefield. Thus,
when troops are downrange, the Army
and Marines can work together to resolve
issues and provide power without missing
a beat.
PM MEP has also developed and is
fielding centralized power solutions [CPS]
that replace numerous smaller sized generators with fewer but larger generators
combined with power distribution equipment. The CPS for a single division main
command post [CP] reduces the number
of generators from 14 to three to power
the CP. This saves approximately 200 gallons of fuel per day for one division main
CP, frees up five HMMWVs and three family of medium tactical vehicle pintles that
can tow other assets. It provides power on
a 24/7 basis with 100 percent redundancy,
and significantly reduces the manpower
and logistic footprint on the battlefield
for power. Similarly, CPS solutions for a
brigade CP reduce the number of generators needed to power the CP by seven and
save approximately 270 gallons of fuel per
day for each brigade CP.
CX-I was efficiently developed to support the evolving operational requirements in theater at a diminished cost. In
engineering a coalition sharing solution
for the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment,
PEOs C3T and IEW&S didn’t purchase
new equipment. Instead, we both extensively re-used and reconfigured existing
network equipment. Maximizing use of
existing equipment allowed us to develop
the solution at a cost of $2.1 million,
which saved more than $10.7 million at
the time.
PD TNI is currently testing a technology that will give the signal officer
flexibility to make critical changes to the
initialization information on the network.
Currently, this function is not available to
the soldier, but it is our intent to deliver
this service after testing and with the
delivery of Capability Set 11-12.
MilTech Solutions has put us at the
forefront in DoD efforts to achieve efficiencies through knowledge management.
Another initiative that began within PEO
C3T but increases efficiency throughout
the Army and DoD is milSuite, or what
we refer to as “social media behind the
firewall.” Essentially, milSuite provides
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MIT 15.7 | 29
the same capabilities as popular sites like Facebook and Wikipedia, but in a secure Common Access Card-only environment,
thus enabling military, DoD civilians and contractors to discuss
sensitive but unclassified information. If someone in the Army
is working on a new smartphone app, energy-efficient technology or budget process, there is a good chance that someone
in the Navy or the Air Force is doing the same thing. With
milSuite, they can find one another and combine efforts. There
are hundreds, if not thousands, of processes that can be made
more efficient by harnessing secure social media. Earlier this
year, we launched the milSuite Enterprise Edition, which makes
the tools—milWiki, milBook, milBlog and milTube—accessible
across the wider DoD. Army Training and Doctrine Command,
U.S. Armed Forces Command and RDECOM are among our many
partners using milSuite to achieve their goals.
Q: Are there any things that you have been doing that you
anticipate not being able to do in the future as a result of
tighter budgets? What criteria do you see as most important in
deciding what efforts should be continued and what is of a
lower priority?
A: With tighter budgets looming for the foreseeable future, the
Army is focusing on initiatives that will help reduce budget
pressures while maintaining essential war fighting capabilities.
Those programs that can demonstrate the ability to not only
improve their combat effectiveness, but also reduce operating
and sustainment costs at the same time will likely be targeted
for investment to help reduce the Army’s future overall budget.
The key to this is ensuring your programs have a strong business
case that can demonstrate and document these savings.
Q: What changes would you like to see from industry in how it
interacts with your organization?
A: With budget constraints being as they are, the Army can benefit from having industry partners who can develop commercial
markets for the products they sell to us. This helps to reduce
overhead expenses for both the Army and the public consumer—
a “win-win” for everyone. In addition, it encourages industry to
apply more of their internal research and development dollars to
develop technologies which are beneficial to the Army.
Q: What are your primary goals for the year ahead?
A: Continuing our efforts to support deployed soldiers is our top
priority. Through unit set fielding [USF], we will remain aligned
with the Army force generation process and ensure our fielding
schedules effectively intertwine with the priorities of the units
we support. Initiated in fiscal year 2005, USF is a synchronized
approach to fielding a vast range of capabilities that span Army
Team C4ISR.
When it began to digitize its forces prior to USF, the Army
could only field its capabilities to between two and three brigades
per year. We are now fielding and resetting close to 100 units a
year. Over the last 12 months, 84 units have completed the USF
process either to receive initial fieldings and training in preparation for deployment, or to synchronize the reset and further
fielding, training and field support upon their redeployment.
Approximately 10 more units will enter into USF by the end of
fiscal year 2011.
Our goal is to be proactive in aligning ourselves with our partners in building the network of the future. As the network integrators, now is the time to build, staff and synchronize the team
who will participate in future integration exercises. We will focus
on preparing our power generation capabilities and networked
mission command solutions of the next capability set, which
will provide maneuverability and mission command to future
warfighters.
Expanding our Systems Integration Laboratory here at APG
is another major objective. Tying it with the other great C4ISR
laboratories at APG will allow us to perform systems interoperability testing in Maryland before they are sent to White Sands,
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Q: As your command’s BRAC process draws to a close, can
you provide us with a status update on PEO C3T’s transition
to APG? What have you learned, particularly about the way you
manage human resources?
A: As of mid-July, we are right on track to meet our mission
of a complete transformation to APG and close-out of Fort
Monmouth, N.J., by September 15. Of our more than 1,800
employees, we have 926 personnel on the ground at APG, with
110 transferring in bound to APG by the fourth quarter FY2011.
There are 169 non-mover vacancies that are or will be filled,
and the positions of 66 known non-movers will be terminated.
We have turned in 21 buildings at Fort Monmouth, with 10
occupied buildings left to turn in. We have shipped 1,468 pieces
of equipment to APG and turned over 2,585 pieces of equipment to property disposal. We have shredded 113,744 pounds of
material.
We learned that moving civilians is not the same as managing a unit of soldiers, where you have a “captive” audience that
have practiced unit moves and deployments. We have a mix of
military, support contractors, and two types of DA civilians: our
core or permanently assigned ones and those we internally hire
on an as needed basis from other Army organizations.
The military are easy, as this BRAC was a standard PCS for
them. The civilians were harder, as many of these folks have
never moved in their lifetime, and now were being told their
job was relocating more than 150 miles away. Management of
expectations and training folks on how a PCS move happens was
quite challenging. But the bottom line is that people are amazing
and rise to the occasion. Stan Niemiec, our product director for
BRAC, demonstrated the qualities of a true leader as he synchronized our staff, showed them the benefits of this new collaborative environment and achieved our BRAC mission on schedule.
Thanks to his efforts and those of his tremendous team, we
now sit in a collaborative environment with multiple small and
large conference rooms, open meeting areas and common workspaces to better facilitate solutions for the acquisition of new
equipment and rapidly respond to and solve problems from the
field.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?
A: The soldier is the most essential stakeholder at the forefront of our collective efforts to enhance networked mission command solutions. Their role in the present fight has
shown us how intelligence is gathered and shared on the
battlefield and transformed how we prepare for our future
missions. We will continue to implement the input we receive
from our brave and dedicated men and women in uniform,
as we build, field and sustain the network of the future. They
have remained and will continue to be PEO C3T’s number-one
priority. O
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MIT 15.7 | 31
Buy When Needed
To be more relevant in an era of disruptive technology, future budgets must be
inherently more flexible for acquisition of C4/IT systems.
By Lieutenant General Jeff Sorenson (Ret.)
The other day I looked around my
family room and was struck by the diversity and age of my entertainment system:
a 50-inch Mitsubishi big screen TV purchased in 1997 as part of a then state-of-the-art unit that included
an Onkyo audio/video control amplifier, CD player and stereo cassette deck; a Mitsubishi VHS player; and DirecTV. Over the years,
newer components were added, such as a Samsung DVD player, an
iMac, FiOS and a digital video recorder.
At this point, I am sure you aren’t overly impressed with
my entertainment system. It certainly doesn’t sound like the
fanciest system on the planet and you’re absolutely right—it
isn’t. It’s not HD or 3-D. It doesn’t have all the latest digital
capability. In fact, in some instances, it may be a few generations behind. Yet, despite the varying ages and variety of manufacturers, the components all work together and offer improved
entertainment capabilities. We can receive video on demand,
32 | MIT 15.7
watch any football game in the country and listen to all the latest
music.
My family room, it turns out, is a microcosm of the Army:
a bunch of C4/IT systems of various forms, ages, technologies
and manufacturers that grew over time and must now function
together. And it presents the same sort of challenge the Army
faces—leveraging past investment while modernizing with new
capabilities, and seamlessly interfacing new components without
throwing out old ones.
In the case of my family room, the audiovisual industry has
largely worked out the kinks for me. However, due to outdated
development, acquisition and testing policies and practices, the
Army has not been so lucky.
To retain its battlefield pre-eminence in today’s threat environment, the Army needs to achieve the same relative ease of melding
old and new, and a guarantee that all future technologies are simple
plug-and-play when they reach the field. How will this happen?
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The first major change required is the establishment of,
and adherence to, a standards-based architecture. Functionality
in the commercial sector, especially wireless capabilities, has
exploded because the various vendors adhere to a continuously
improving set of interface and everything-over-Internet-Protocol
standards during development. So too must the Army conform to
a common set of commercial standards for connectivity, interoperability and security during the development and production of C4/
IT capabilities.
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Common Environment
In October 2010, Dr. Malcolm O’Neill, then assistant secretary of
the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, and I as Army chief
information officer/G-6 co-signed the Common Operating Environment (COE), a centrally approved set of technologies and standards
to which the Army’s network and all applications and systems riding
the network must adhere. The COE provides industry a framework
within which it can pursue new technologies and be assured of easy
integration and fielding with existing systems. The latter part—
integration with what’s already in use—is key to the success of a
future Army that will continually rotate brigade-sized elements
through the various phases of reset, training and ready-to-deploy/
deployment.
If C4/IT systems can’t be easily adapted and integrated into
tactical formations as they receive new equipment, induct new
personnel and train for new missions, then those systems simply
aren’t relevant. Additionally, the Army recently stated that it would
focus on delivering to combatant commanders, on an annual
cycle, a corps, five divisions, 20 brigade combat teams and 90,000
enablers to meet operational requirements. This large rotational
force must be interoperable with coalition and service partners,
and conforming to the COE is the solution.
In addition to adherence to the COE, changes in testing and
budgeting are required. At the impetus of General Peter Chiarelli,
the Army is revamping its vision of future C4/IT procurement. The
new mantra is “Buy only what we need for those who need it.”
Going back to the home entertainment equipment in my family
room, I certainly don’t have all the latest capabilities. But I have
what I need, when I need it—in my case, watching the Chicago
Bears every Sunday.
Those are exactly the conditions Vice Chief of Staff Chiarelli
wants to achieve.
To get there, the Army, with help from Congress, must streamline the budget process. Today, the Army executes a budget that
was prepared and delivered to the Congress at least 18 months
earlier—one cycle of Moore’s Law. As well, budgets are very prescriptive in nature, accounting in advance for every dollar and how
it will be spent.
This just does not fit with fielding advanced C4/IT systems.
In the 18 months that pass between delivery and execution of an
annual budget, technical standards, operational needs and the
number of systems required routinely change. Unfortunately, the
process of modifying a military budget can take anywhere from a
few weeks for internal Army staffing to many months of arduous
negotiations with the Office of the Secretary of Defense and four
congressional committees.
To be more relevant in an era of ever-increasing disruptive
technology developments, future budgets must be inherently more
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MIT 15.7 | 33
flexible for acquisition of C4/IT systems. This will require more
interaction with senior staff members at OSD and Congress, and
more trust among all parties.
In the coming era of smaller defense budgets, the Army
and the other services can ill afford to launch simultaneous
major upgrades of all C4/IT systems simply due to scale. By the
time the Army would complete the fielding of a new equipment
upgrade, it would be rendered obsolete by newer technology—a
huge waste of scarce dollars. Thus, for the Army to be effective and
efficient with C4/IT upgrades, it must limit procurement contracts
to quantities sufficient only for units in the train and ready-todeploy phases.
To ensure that operational forces receive new technology in a
timely manner—and that when it arrives there are no integration
problems—the Army is revamping its test and evaluation process.
Until now, the phases of testing were executed serially, and the
structure of testing organizations mirrored that fact. Partially as
a result of base closure and realignment, however, the Army is
now combining the Army Test and Evaluation Command with the
Developmental Test Command and Army Evaluation Center at
Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.
In conjunction with that, there is a concerted effort to streamline the testing process, integrate more contractor test data, and
adopt a testing philosophy that may include more risk but maintains safe operational use as the absolute top priority. The testing
community will not abandon its responsibility to adequately test
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and evaluate systems. Rather, the change will make the Army more
responsive to the concept of “good enough” technology, as opposed
to absolute perfection, and allow for a more iterative, less complex
testing process that can deliver C4/IT upgrades in a timely manner.
Industry Invitation
That is exactly the point of the Network Integration Evaluation
(NIE) hosted this summer at Fort Bliss, Texas: to deploy current
C4/IT systems to the field and invite industry to demonstrate new
and improved capabilities to integrate into the network. By providing an environment for contractors and soldiers to work together,
contractors will better understand how the tactical conditions of
a dirty battlefield and limited bandwidth make use of commercial
technology more complicated. Likewise, soldiers will have an
opportunity to engage engineers and explain exactly what they
need, helping to ensure that the development cycle doesn’t become
overly complicated and to avoid the “elegant” solution that is only
marginally effective in tactical conditions.
I would often say to those in the acquisition community that
when soldiers are allowed to interface with contract engineers,
magic happens. That may sound a bit trite, but if the Army is ever
going to get to a point where it can rapidly develop, test and fund
new technology, it is engagements like the NIE that will bring the
vision to reality.
The iterative testing process of the NIE, paired with adherence
to the COE, also could help foster the deeper trust relationship with
OSD and Congress that is necessary to gain more flexibility in the
budget process. With the assurance that, before fielding, systems
will be assessed in operational conditions twice and their interoperability with existing technology and each other proven, the Army
can justify a faster, more adaptive budget and acquisition cycle.
The recent pace of technology development in the commercial
sector brings enormous promise of an era of much more powerful
tactical C4/IT systems that will enable warfighters at the distant
edge to have as much situational awareness information as the
division headquarters had just a few years ago. It is incumbent
upon the Army, the Department of Defense and Congress to do
everything necessary to put such technology in the hands of U.S.
soldiers.
The Army is making the necessary reforms to do so; with any
luck, DoD and Congress will join it on the right path. While keeping my family room entertainment suite up to date is a matter
of personal taste and my tolerance for shopping, keeping soldiers
properly equipped with the latest C4/IT capability is a matter of life
and death. O
Lieutenant General Jeff Sorenson (Ret.) is a partner in
A.T. Kearney’s aerospace and defense practice. His 37-year
military career included more than 20 years in senior executive positions in Army financial and program management, including his final assignment as chief information
officer for the Department of the Army. He can be reached at
[email protected].
Contact Editor Harrison Donnelly at [email protected].
For more information related to this subject, search our archives at
www.MIT-kmi.com.
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MIT 15.7 | 35
Industry Interview
Military Information Technology
Joseph Hickey
Vice President of Business
Development and Marketing
Ultra Electronics TCS
Q: For those readers who may not be
familiar with Ultra Electronics TCS, please
tell us a little about your company.
that delivers wireless hotspot capabilities
for both mobile end-user devices and standard IT equipment.
A: Ultra Electronics TCS, part of the Ultra
Electronics group, is a global leader in
tactical communication systems. We focus
primarily on radio communications and
electronic warfare systems. Over the past
50 years, Ultra Electronics TCS has sold
more than 40,000 tactical radios in 20
countries around the world. Our main
focus historically was producing very highquality, innovative point-to-point radio
technologies. Unbeknownst to many, Ultra
Electronics radio links are a critical component of the U.S. Army’s backhaul wireless
network. Today, we have a diversified product portfolio that includes many different
types of wireless products and technologies
intended for military use.
Q: What C4ISR trends do you see next?
Q: What new products has Ultra Electronics
TCS recently launched?
A: The business is very innovative when it
comes to new products and wireless technologies. Most recently, we launched a new
system solution called UltraMove in June.
UltraMove is a revolutionary system solution that delivers on-the-move IP services,
including voice, data and video, in a portable transit case. The system is designed
to be deployed virtually anywhere, and is
particularly useful at the outskirts of military networks or in disaster areas by providing wireless access with 400 mbps shared
aggregate bandwidth to support multiple
simultaneous users and applications. What’s
interesting and unique about UltraMove is
that it provides military personnel with
dual benefit by offering Wi-Fi and WiMAX
hotspots for units in the field, while maintaining the ability to tie back into the core
network through an integrated high-capacity line-of-sight wireless point-to-point
radio.
Q: Why was UltraMove developed?
A: We developed UltraMove to meet demands
by the U.S.—the strongest adopter of such
36 | MIT 15.7
A: We see the following industry trends and
customer requirements:
technology—to put more information in
the hands of the warfighters to improve
their situational awareness. It is also to
provide joint force interoperability—U.S.
Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines as well
as coalition interoperability in Afghanistan,
where Canadian, British and Dutch allies,
among others, are embedded with American soldiers.
Like all Ultra Electronics TCS products, with UltraMove we took a long look
at soldiers’ requirements and how they
communicate while on the move. Mounted
or dismounted soldiers face the same challenges in hostile territory as their forebears
on horseback or afoot—knowing if enemies
are hidden behind buildings, hills, or vegetation. There is a plethora of surveillance
platforms in theater, including UAVs, helicopters, low flying aircraft and satellites
with a large amount of data that could be
very useful to ground troops. With UltraMove, military personnel gain access to
400 megabits per second shared aggregate
bandwidth to be able to receive, and act on,
this critical data.
Q: How does UltraMove enable communications for the military?
A: Handheld devices and portable computers are already playing a major role in modern tactical communications networks due
to their decreasing cost, small footprint,
and overall usefulness to receive and upload
mission-critical data. Providing military
and disaster relief personnel with robust
wireless access to serve these devices in
remote areas remains a challenge. UltraMove solves this issue by offering a highly
flexible, integrated and ruggedized platform
• Desire for broadband on-the-move
point-to-multipoint/mesh
communications down to the soldier
to improve overall situational
awareness and interoperability across
all echelons.
• Changing DoD acquisition process
favoring COTS-based solutions to
access the latest technology with
a quicker turnaround time at an
affordable cost.
• The need for additional bandwidth is
ever increasing—8 or 16 mbps is no
longer sufficient for an army network
providing bandwidth down to the
soldier.
• Reduced SWAP. Although this is not
necessarily a new requirement, there
is more emphasis placed on this today
due to overburdened vehicles and
soldiers.
• The desire for deployed handheld
radios to connect or integrate into
the IP network to support joint and
coalition inter-communication.
Q: Is there anything else you would like
to add?
A: The military has a part to play in the
development of next generation wireless
equipment. Industry needs help in understanding the army’s requirements: for
example, high bandwidth at the lowest possible price point versus a full military spec
20 year life cycle product. It is clear the
U.S. Army will deploy more sophisticated
wireless services to the tactical edge in the
future. Delivering system solutions to meet
this need with the right form factor, capability mix and ideal price point will be our
biggest challenge in the coming years. O
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