As the defense appropriations conference with the Senate comes closer, 46 House members are urging the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee to hold to the president’s budget request for the Joint Tactical Radio System Handheld Manpack Small Form Factor (JTRS HMS) and Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) programs.
Members wrote the Oct. 28 memo to HAC-D Chairman C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) and Ranking Member Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) in support of JTRS HMS and WIN-T as “cornerstones” of the Army effort to modernize its battlefield communications network.
General Dynamics [GD] is developing JTRS HMS and WIN-T, both of which are participating in an Army Network Integration Evaluation through Nov. 19 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.
The letter pointed out the HAC-D appropriated the president’s budget of $462.2 million for JTRS HMS procurement, $179.1 million for JTRS HMS research and development and $279.9 million for WIN-T research and development in its version of the Defense Department Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2012.
Conversely, the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee in its FY ’12 version of the bill reduced JTRS HMS procurement by $255.9 million, JTRS HMS research and development by $120 million and WIN-T research and development by $115 million.
“These cuts may cause irreparable harm to the individual programs and the Army’s overall network modernization effort,” House members wrote.
Members also said the top two Army officials—the Army Secretary and Chief of Staff–said the Army’s top priority was a secure integrated network connecting to the soldier on the battlefield. JTRS HMS connects the solder to the network, and WIN-T is the broadband wide area transport of information to the network.
“Without the JTRS and WIN-T programs, there is no network modernization for our soldiers,” the members wrote.