The Army’s priority network modernization continues to advance as the service Oct. 1 began new equipment training for two 10th Mountain Div. brigades on its mobile battlefield network Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) Increment 2.
Network modernization is the Army’s top priority and WIN-T, produced by General Dynamics [GD], is its cornerstone program. WIN-T provides voice, video and data and Inc. 2 will be fielded as part of Capability Set 13 (CS 13).
The special benefit of WIN-T Inc 2 is that it moves with commanders, provides situational awareness and the ability to command on-the-move from anywhere on the battlefield–something the Army has not had before.
Lt Col. Robert Collins, product manager for WIN-T Inc 2, said, overall, the Army will continue to field WIN-T to brigades, and tailor the capability to the unit’s mission. For example, Inc 2, and the future Inc 3 would focus on maneuver brigades such as infantry and Stryker. Brigades with at-the-halt missions would likely receive Inc.1 or 1B. Over time, the increment set out early in the capability set series would receive technology insertions and improvements and transition to other increments.
After a Sept. 25 Defense Department acquisition green light, the Army awarded General Dynamics C4 Systems a $346 million delivery order to procure the WIN-T Inc 2 network for additional Brigade Combat Teams and Division Headquarters units.
Collins said after the review “the Army will continue with production and fielding to support its Capability Set fielding and network modernization strategy.”
Chris Marzilli, president of General Dynamics C4 Systems, told Defense Daily in an interview, that the WIN-T program is “among the most successful programs, certainly at General Dynamics, and (successful) at all levels.”
Win T 2 will continue to move forward to validate the fixes to items cited in Test Incident Reports (TIR) reported in the Initial Operational Test and Evaluation work. These reports are “not an issue,” Marzilli said.
Collins said, “Testing is an opportunity to learn–certainly things we’ve learned both on how we train the system, how we employ the system and (things we’ve learned) on the system itself.
From his PM perspective, from the day the tests ended, the office methodically combed through technical reports, correlated and corrected the issues that were identified, and with Army direction will conduct a follow-on operational test to verify that the corrections are done and effective.
The next iteration, WIN-T Inc 3, will provide additional capabilities, he said. The purpose first of all is to put the capability into an aerial tier to provide more range and to overcome geography. Thus, Inc 3 will go on unmanned air vehicles. Additionally, the capability will bring Network Operations improvements, support for the Top Secret Enclave, and a high-capacity and more hardened radio. The second part is to evolve and get more value from the network through “hardening, security and automation–not found on commercial off the shelf equipment as in WIN-T Inc 1 and Inc 2.
“It’s all about the data, it’s all about voice,” Marzilli said. Win T Inc 1 was long range satellite communications at the halt. Inc 2 brings communication on the mover, and Inc 3 extends range, all of which thicken the network.
Into the future, what used to be called Inc 4 was to be part of transformational satellite communications, or TSAT, a government-owned secure satellite communications system. But that was canceled, making Inc 4 moot. However, there are ways to bring protected satcoms to WIN-T by using something like the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellites.
“General Dynamics specializes in that, our true value added is to bring hardened secure and automation to COTS products,” Marzilli said.
Currently, WIN-T Inc 1 is fully fielded to 210 active duty, reserve and National Guard units.