By Ann Roosevelt
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.–The Army’s effort to build network capabilities by integrating increasingly maturing software and hardware are coming to life here at Boeing [BA] facilities.
“We have some high expectations…over the performance we saw last year,” Lt. Col. Luke Peterson, program manager Network Systems in Program Executive Office Integration (PEO I), told reporters during a briefing here Wednesday at the secure Building 49, which houses network integration labs.
Peterson works here to develop network capability as part of Increment 1 that are expected to improve the effectiveness and survivability of Infantry Brigade Combat Teams (IBCT) starting in 2011.
The briefing was held by the Army’s PEO I and the JPEO Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), which work very closely together.
While recent government reports have chastised the Army’s BCT Modernization Program, and raised concerns about the maturity of the network, Peterson said each office leverages the other to improve the radios and sensor integration, passing data, lessons learned, and other improvements back and forth. The offices build on each other’s work in the test- fix-test process.
The Network Integration Kit (NIK), a component of Increment 1, links brigade soldiers to advanced sensors: the Honeywell [HON] Class 1 unmanned aerial vehicle, the Textron [TXT] Tactical and Urban Unattended Ground Sensors, the iRobot [IRBT] Small Unmanned Ground vehicle, and the Non Line of Sight Launch System, under development by NetFires LLC, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Raytheon [RTN].
A key component of the NIK is the next generation four channel JTRS Ground Mobile System (JTRS GMR), under development here by Boeing. The program is reaching the end of its system design and development phase.
This year, JTRS GMR pre-engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) radios are being replaced with EMD radios offering more power and capability, Peterson said. Soldiers will have Internet-like capabilities that allow them to do such things as chat, white board, transmit and receive video and other information.
PEO Integration is currently buying 153 JTRS GMR EDM radios from Boeing through 2010. Of those radios, 87 will be used for fielding to the first IBCT, covering those needed by the IBCT and a few for training.
PEO I also is procuring radios from Boeing for IBCTs 2 and 3.
For the first three IBCTs receiving the advanced equipment, PEO I also is buying the Network Managers, Software Loader Verifier Devices, spares, support and training for IBCTs 1-3.
However, the acquisition strategy changes for fielding to brigades 4-9. JTRS GMR acquisition transitions back to the JPEO and the Army will procure the radios from that office.
For GMR Low-Rate Initial Production, the Army has a contract option for Boeing to administer the work with dual manufacturers.
Boeing JTRS GMR Program Manager Ralph Moslener said both BAE Systems and Rockwell Collins [COL] are subcontractors on the GMR, and next year each company will build and test radios to become certified to build the radios, thus being able to compete for full production, probably in 2012.
Qualifying two manufacturers helps drives down costs, an issue raised about the new radio.