The Army is modernizing its enterprise network as well as building out its tactical network, but the key will be simplicity, the Program Executive Officer, Command, Control and Communications Tactical, said.

“Network modernization, the basis of everything the Army is going to do going forward is simplicity, with the complexity hidden from the user. Number #1: reduce complexity…at the front end,” Maj. Gen. Daniel Hughes said at the Association of the U.S. Army conference Oct. 14 in Washington.

Maj. Gen. Daniel Hughes, PEO C3T. Photo: US Army
Maj. Gen. Daniel Hughes, PEO C3T.
Photo: US Army

The enterprise network is in place, he said, and work proceeds on how to make it “one seamless network.”

For example, in Liberia, if medical information is needed for a patient, soldiers can go through the network over satellite and connect with the Center for Disease Control, or National Institutes of Health. Such a network is critical.

“If it’s too hard to use, they won’t use it,” Hughes said.

To “Win in a Complex World,” as the new Army Operating Concept describes, PEO C3T needs a simple network that does a lot of complex things and has the ability to adapt to different circumstances.

Particularly, with the network integrated at every level, it must offer the commander a network that he “fights with, not against,” Hughes said.

Using a favored spider and the starfish analogy, he said, if you build a spider network, bash the middle and “whack, it’s done.” But, build a starfish–an adaptive, resilient network–and there’s no single point of failure.”

But it’s not easy, you run into bumps, he said.  You have to prove the equipment works. “In the old days, we developed every piece,” of equipment, but today, commercial technology is integrated into warfighter solutions.

“I’d like to be further along,” he said, but it takes time. For example, the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) was a bit ahead of its time, but now, “every country in the world is building software defined radios.”

It makes sense, as today there’s more processing power, and radios can do a lot more than is asked of them.

“More processing power means more range, discrimination and the ability to fight jamming,” he said.

The Army would like to start aligning the network with regionally aligned forces, he said. “But, it’s always about commanders, what they need, and giving them the best capability,” Hughes said. “At the same time, you don’t want to overload them with information they don’t want.”

Working out the “human dimension,” and ensuring troops are educated to make the right decision at the right time with the right information is core to his work.

In other work, PEO C3T is working on coalition interoperability as was seen in the Afghan Mission Network, but not taking months to put together.

Another area Hughes is working on is how to have something like Blue Force Tracking “see” non-governmental organizations and other groups, such as Doctors Without Borders, so if they are in trouble they could be helped. For example, the Army can link to first responder networks in an unclassified way in the case of natural disaster.

“It’s a complex environment and only going to get more complex,” Hughes said.