MIT 15-11 (Dec. 2011)

Enterprise Commander

Rear Adm. Charles E. “Grunt” Smith

PEO EISU.S. Navy

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C4December 2011

Volume 15, Issue 11

The Voice of Military Communications and Computing

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Military inforMation technology DeceMber 2011 VoluMe 15 • issue 11

features coVer / Q&a

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DepartMents

inDustry interView

36

Rear Admiral Charles E. “Grunt” Smith

PEO Enterprise Information SystemsU.S. Navy

Jack WadeChief Executive Officer

Z Microsystems

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Editor’s Perspective

People/Program Notes

Data Bytes

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On the Way with VoIPWhile the Pentagon ponders the possibility of moving the whole Department of Defense to Voice over Internet Protocol, VoIP technology is steadily working its way into all aspects of military operations.By Harrison Donnelly

7

Competitors Target Navy NetworksA head-to-head competition between Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman over the Navy’s Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services program has the two companies touting their methodologies for technology insertion and cost control.By Peter Buxbaum14

Antennas for a WorkhorseA new contract will supply SINCGARS ground mobile antennas for the Army and Marine Corps.By William Murray

13

Fielding Revolutionary CapabilitiesColonel Edward Swanson, project manager for Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (PM WIN-T), recently offered some observations on the status of the program.

24

Radio Acquisition EvolutionThe Department of Defense and its industry partners are pursuing innovative technology and acquisition approaches to field communications in the wake of the decision to cancel the Ground Mobile Radio portion of the Joint Tactical Radio System.By Adam Baddeley28

Touch-Enabled CommunicationSince so many people take touch-enabled smartphone technology for granted, the U.S. military is now testing and preparing to deploy touch-enabled devices to warfighters and commanders in the battlefield.By Carl Houghton

34

With their innovative approach to field-testing new C4 systems in combination with others in real-world conditions, the Army’s semiannual Network Integration Evaluation (NIE) tests at Fort Bliss, Texas, and the White Sands Missile Range, N.M., have attracted intense industry interest and a good measure of media attention. But what has been less emphasized is the fact that the NIE is part of a larger initiative, known as the Agile Process, by which the Army is seeking to transform its current procurement methods.

The goal of the Agile Process is to make the Army’s traditionally ponderous procurement system more able to respond to change, whether in terms of new information technology or in the service’s operational missions or force structure.

As a reflection of the potential importance of the change and the level of interest, the Army recently announced its second NIE/Agile Process industry day, to be held at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), Md., in early 2012. Among other things, participants will get a chance to see the laboratories created at APG to support the new process, which will both help the Army decide which products to select and do needed integration work before the products are tested in the New Mexico desert.

The basic idea behind Agile is that the previous approach to acquiring, testing and deploying network systems, which were fielded independently and on their own timelines, has not been responsive enough to keep up with the rapid emergence of new network technologies. Instead, the Army wants to start deploying capabilities that are integrated from the tactical operations center to the soldier, and are fielded in two-year increments closely tied to cycle of brigade training, equipping and deployment.

To enable forces in the field to benefit from the latest technology, the new system will focus acquisition efforts on rapidly implementing commercial and government technologies to establish a network baseline, and then build from that. I think it’s on the right track.

Harrison DonnellyEditor

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Army Brigadier General George J. Franz III has been assigned as to director, current operations, U.S. Cyber Command. He most recently served as chief, CJ-2, International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, Operation Enduring Freedom.

Booz Allen Hamilton has named Vice Admiral John M. (Mike) McConnell (Ret.), who has served as director of the National Security Agency and U.S. director of national intelligence, as vice chairman of the firm, charged with

overseeing the further development of Booz Allen’s cyber capabilities.

Lockheed Martin has appointed Vice Admiral Bernard “Barry” McCullough (Ret.) vice president of business strategy for its Mission Systems & Sensors business. McCullough previously served as

commander, U.S. Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. 10th Fleet.

STG has hired Robert L. Phoebus to serve as senior vice president of its defense sector, which provides performance-based support for warfighter systems and IT operations for the Department of Defense.

Robert L. Phoebus

With the help of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) grant, researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology are seeking new ways to help the military manage the massive amounts of sensor and surveillance data it collects.

To streamline military data, Dr. Hong Man and Dr. Yu-Dong Yao of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering have proposed using cognitive linguistics to bridge the semantic gap between the deluge of raw sensor data and the situational aware-ness that only human analysts currently can provide. By adding this linguistic framework to the daily flood of information from mili-tary radar systems, video surveillance and audio recordings, the Stevens researchers enable sensors to understand, communicate and even respond to threats. This unique approach turns a sensor’s stream of 1s and 0s into actionable information that can accel-

erate the decision-making process in critical situations.

According to principles of cognitive linguistics, language is shorthand for our experience of the world, breaking down the complex environment around us into concepts that we can use to reason and communicate. By teaching sensors to linguistically identify primitive concepts—things, places and actions—in their data streams, the systems can then produce a language that functions across sensing platforms and can be made coherent to humans.

This grant was made in response to DARPA’s Mathematics of Sensing, Exploitation and Execution program announced earlier this year, with the goal of centralizing all Department of Defense sensor data and automating much of the data interpretation.

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has received its first clean audit decision from an inde-pendent audit firm, after completing a fiscal 2011 Defense Working Capital Fund (DWCF) financial statement audit.

All major agencies of the U.S. government at the department level are required to be audited in accordance with the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990.

The audit gives a comprehensive examination of the accuracy level of DISA’s financial transactions and provides stakeholders confidence that DISA is conducting business in a manner consistent with its mission, placing it among the ranks of only five other defense agencies to receive a clean audit.

Receiving a clean audit signifies that DISA has proven management control over the processes it currently uses to produce its financial data. The agency has a solid understanding of its financial transactions and is able to provide financial summaries that are accurate and reliable.

The steps put in place to support the audit readiness initiatives resulted in real cost savings the agency has passed on to mission partners. To date, DISA has realized more than $400 million in cost savings and cost avoidance.

DISA has two types of funding: funds appropriated by Congress and funds that fall in the category of DWCF. Money within the DWCF operates more like a non-profit private enterprise, in that these funds come from DISA users and are spent to maintain operations. More than 75 percent of DISA’s funding comes from DWCF, which accounted for $6.8 billion of the 2011 budget.

Unlike appropriated funds, DWCF do not have an expiration funding date and so auditors attempt to go back as far as they can for a first-time audit.

DISA Gets Clean Checkup

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While the Pentagon ponders

the possibility of moving the whole

Department of Defense to Voice over

Internet Protocol, VoIP technology

is steadily working its way into all

aspects of military operations and

finding a host of converts to its

promise of lower-cost, network-based

voice communications.

The shift to VoIP—which in truth

represents a subset of the larger con-

vergence of voice, video and data com-

munications to IP-based networks—is

taking place on a case-by-case basis

throughout DoD, with each of the ser-

vices pushing initiatives. For example,

the Navy has implemented VoIP on all

of its active carriers, according to the

Voice on Net coalition, which also esti-

mates that DoD now has more than 130

VoIP networks worldwide.

By Harrison Donnelly

MiT eDiTor

On the WayVoice oVer inTerneT ProTocol is sTeaDily working iTs way inTo all asPecTs of MiliTary oPeraTions.

withVoIP

MIT 15.11 | 7www.MIT-kmi.com


Looking both within and outside of DISA, how would you describe the current role of VoIP and related technologies in military operations?

All of the Department of Defense strategic plans related to voice and video services include initiatives to migrate to IP in support of military operations. Different technologies will be used to transport the IP traffic, such as wireless, satellite, wired and line of sight, but IP is the future cornerstone for communications in DoD. When one looks at the history of voice technologies, the transition to IP has occurred at a much faster pace than any other transition.

Are there any statistics on overall use, or is it so decentralized that it is hard to get a complete picture?

Most of the funding for voice services in DoD is provided at the local level. This makes it difficult to determine the overall use. However, the department has been deploy-ing IP-enabled Private Branch Exchanges and End Offices for the past five years, and large segments of DoD have already migrated to IP at the edge. DoD has approximately 2 million unclassified subscribers, and approximately 25 percent of those subscribers are currently using some form of IP for voice and video communications. Over the last two years DISA has deployed a network core of Wide Area Network (WAN) Soft Switches (SS) that allow VoIP to occur on an end-to-end basis. DISA envisions by 2017 that 80 percent of DoD voice and video traffic will be IP based on an end-to-end basis. In DoD, the migration started at the edge, but with DISA’s deployment of WAN SS, it has aligned with industry.

DISA is in the process of developing and implementing the Unified Capabilities program, which includes VoIP. What is the current status of that?

DISA has been very successful with this program. In July 2011, DISA achieved full operational capability of the DISA

(Editor’s Note: Cindy Moran, director of the Network Services Directorate within Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), recently responded to some questions about the current status of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) pro-grams. Following are her comments.)

DISA Looks at VoIPPentagon is aggressively pursuing an enterprise

voice over IP strategy, says Network Services Director Moran.

VoIP communications also have played an unexpect-edly important role in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and deployed personnel are using VoIP calls extensively to communicate with their families.

The central role in the transition, however, is being played by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), which is working on the issue from several perspectives. Earlier this year, the agency asked industry for ideas about how to create an enterprise VoIP system that could provide a full range of voice related capabilities to more than 2.7 million DoD users.

In its solicitation, DISA identified a number of benefits that could accrue from a VoIP system, including avoiding duplication of costs, eliminating multiple networks, reduc-ing base infrastructures, consolidating security operations and providing tighter integration with DISA enterprise collaboration and directory services.

At the same time, DISA is also including VoIP in its Unified Capabilities (UC) initiative, which it defines as the “seamless integration of voice, video and data applications services delivered ubiquitously across a secure and highly available IP infrastructure to provide increased mission effectiveness to the warfighter and business communities.”

A key element of DISA’s efforts has been the develop-ment of the Assured Services-Session Initiation Protocol (AS-SIP), which adds military-oriented features to the SIP standard used to make VoIP calls, including multi-level precedence and preemption for establishing communica-tion with resource priorities, ensuring system and net-work access and control, and providing precedence and preemption policies to assure connectivity for command and control.

The precedence and preemption features address what is one of the key issues in VoIP, which is the need for qual-ity of service standards that, among other things, ensure that high-ranking officials’ calls go through even when the network is congested with other traffic. While these precedence procedures have been developed to a fine point over the years for traditional phone traffic, they are not basically part of the IP world, and so need to be included in order to provide what can truly be a life-or-death capability in tactical situations.

The UC requirements document, which encompasses AS-SIP, must be adhered to by vendors wishing to be able to sell equipment to be connected to the Defense Switched Network by the military.

Another tension in moving to VoIP involves security. While the technology can offer some security benefits, it also poses a number of potential vulnerabilities and quan-daries, especially in the form of tradeoffs between security and convenience and ease of use.

Nevertheless, observers say the momentum is build-ing, and that VoIP, as part of a blended system of video and data, will become a standard form of military voice com-munications, both at the enterprise level and for tactical communications.

Jani Lyrintzis, vice president and general manager of Elektrobit, an electronics company whose offerings include tactical VoIP packages, summed up the outlook

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backbone for VoIP. This included several of its industry-leading vendor partners successfully demonstrating their ability to meet DoD requirements. Those products are now being sold and deployed to the DoD community. Working with its industry partners, DISA has tried to leverage COTS solutions. All of the vendors support an integrated UC solution that provides voice, video and data. To provide multivendor interoperability, DISA uses industry standards as its cornerstone protocols, such as Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol. In addition, DISA has worked with its vendors to ensure that the commercial solutions can be hardened to ensure that the identified threats are mitigated. DISA looks forward to continuing to work with its industry partners to embrace advances in UC technologies and integration to provide features like improved unified messaging, directory services, and mobility on wired and wireless platforms.

DISA earlier this year put out an RFI about moving to an Enterprise VoIP program. Why, and how will you use the information provided?

DoD is aggressively pursuing the deployment of an enter-prise VoIP program and needs to understand how com-mercial VoIP technologies have evolved over time, and what capacity commercial industry currently has to provide those capabilities. We are using the information provided to help us identify an affordable way ahead in this sector, while providing a VoIP capability that meets military needs associated with efficiency and warfighter needs. The chal-lenge that we continue to face is how to justify the upfront investments needed against the savings that follow as resources are redeployed away from the existing copper wire, circuit switched private branch exchange capability that provides the current DoD enterprise voice switching. The dual operations costs continue to be a challenge that must be addressed in a period of budget austerity.

How feasible is a shift to departmentwide use of VoIP, and what would be the benefits and potential risks?

DISA believes that it is feasible to migrate to VoIP for the majority of users. However, DISA also believes there will be a small subset of users who cannot migrate to VoIP for mission, technology or cost reasons. Industry has essentially stopped development on legacy Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) solutions, and TDM products will reach end-of-life within the next three to five years and will no longer be supported. However, DISA will continue to keep a reduced infrastructure to support its customers using legacy tech-nologies. The main benefit from moving the department to VoIP and reducing the legacy infrastructure is the cost savings associated with the operations and maintenance (O&M) of that equipment. VoIP equipment has a smaller

this way: “It’s somewhere between trial use and limited operational use. It’s not in full blown operational use, as far as we can tell, but it’s well on its way. There’s no question in my mind that at some point in the future, all the voice communication in the military will be VoIP-based, and that also applies to the global military market.”

User eVolUTion

For all the advantages of VoIP, observers say accep-tance by military users is still evolving. Although some are embracing the technology wholeheartedly, others appear reluctant for several reasons to migrate fully to it, accord-ing to Dinah Gueldenpfennig, vice president of planning and government program administration for REDCOM.

REDCOM offers the Slice 2100 system and the recently announced Slice IP Micro. The Slice 2100 is a converged network solution that also supports AS-SIP signaling requirements for local session controllers. The Slice IP Micro redefines tactical communications by integrating key IP multimedia subsystem elements and call manage-ment functionality into the size of a hardcover book. It represents a complete dual-stack IPv4/IPv6 VoIP solution, including AS-SIP signaling, in a single platform.

“We find the desire to maintain a level of compat-ibility with legacy equipment still strong within the tactical arena,” Gueldenpfennig observed. “Ruggedized and reliable TDM-capable systems are not easily given up by the users in favor of a technology that requires multiple servers and is not so easily deployed in hostile environments.”

Gueldenpfennig pointed to one military user, who said in effect, “Why should I have to change the equipment I’m using, which works well and doesn’t have the same vulner-abilities as VoIP, just to meet new testing requirements? I cannot justify the cost.”

While REDCOM has been developing to the UC require-ments and tested against it for DoD UC Approved Products List (APL) certification by DISA, she explained, it also rec-ognizes that not all users either want or have the funds to replace their existing equipment for a newer technology.

“Given that, and the knowledge that the move to VoIP is in full swing, we develop our products in such a way that the warfighters can expand their systems to connect the older and newer technologies, making them seamlessly interoperable, using TRANSip available in our switches. This gives you a softswitch and full media gate-way in one unit. We can even connect a secure VoIP end instrument to a magneto crank phone all in one system,” Gueldenpfennig said.

A key contributor to the spread of VoIP has been the development of AS-SIP, which ensures that all vendors follow the same standard and that whatever is deployed will work together. But as Gueldenpfennig noted, it also can pose challenges, in that AS-SIP, being VoIP-based, has some vulnerabilities.

“Security threats are numerous, and DISA is con-tinuously tasked with having to counter them,” she said.

www.MIT-kmi.com MIT 15.11 | 11

footprint and O&M cost, which is in line with the IT efficien-cies the department is trying to achieve. The largest risk of migrating completely to VoIP instead of legacy technologies is the single technology vulnerability. However, with the emergence of instant messaging, personal cell phone use, and other communication technologies, voice no longer is the only solution for communication for many users.

What role is the Assured Service SIP (AS SIP) playing in the military transition to VoIP?

AS SIP is primarily a specification to ensure different vendor implementations of SIP interoperate. Request for comment (RFC) 3261 and its associated RFCs allow for a lot of flexibility. Unfortunately, the flexibility also causes lack of interoperability between vendor SIP implementations. Com-mercially, the carriers place interworking devices between vendor solutions or limit the vendors in their network to a few and work out the issues internally. DoD uses open competition for products, and AS SIP allows those prod-ucts to interoperate. In addition to interoperability, AS SIP also provides priority and preemption features that are not available in commercial products, in order to address the military unique needs where some command and control calls are more important than other calls. However, the requirements in AS SIP related to priority and preemption are a small percentage compared to the requirements included for interoperability and information assurance. This leads to the last aspect of AS SIP. At the time that the AS SIP specification was written, commercial SIP signaling was mostly sent in the clear with no encryp-tion, authentication or integrity. DoD could not accept the IA risk of using SIP in this manner and worked with our customers, the standards community and the vendors to secure the SIP signaling. This approach is now being used commercially to provide an interoperable secure approach. In summary, AS SIP provides interoperability, priority and preemption, and secure signaling for DoD voice and video communications.

What are some of the other VoIP-related initiatives underway at DISA and elsewhere?

Within DISA, Network Services is the lead organization for all voice related projects. DISA works with OSD and the services to ensure all voice related projects are synergis-tic through biannual UC conferences. NSA is pioneering secure sharing of information through their Suite B pro-gram, which we plan to leverage with wireless devices in our classified VoIP environment. Additionally, the executive agent for theater joint tactical networks continues testing UC products with a specific focus on how to use them in the tactical network while connecting back to the strategic backbone provided by DISA.

“This results in changes to the testing requirements, which means any vendor being tested for compliance had also better be able to prove that it has closed off any vulnerabilities. This is challenging, because these vulner-ability mitigation changes can be required in a cycle that sometimes takes just weeks, and often occur during an APL testing cycle.”

To counter these vulnerabilities, global communication providers like Segovia, now Inmarsat Government – US, rely on extensive knowledge of government requirements and procedures to integrate COTS equipment with gov-ernment certified encryption components and provide remote VOIP, as well as video and data reach-back com-munications solutions. This industry expertise makes it possible for military customers to reap the full benefits of VoIP, while being assured that operations are in compli-ance with the most rigid of security requirements and can be delivered across any technology platform via a secure network.

“Layering applications over an IP-based secure satellite and terrestrial network, with nearly 100 percent global broadband coverage, allows us to fully support the mis-sion success of our customers, said Bill Raney, senior vice president of federal programs at Inmarsat Government – US. “In fact, within our network backbone, and extended to the customer edge, are quality of service levels that we implement to allow prioritization of time-sensitive IP traffic based on application requirements. That enables end-to-end service delivery across the LAN, WAN and satellite links, as well as secure, reliable point-to-point communications between anyone who has access to the Internet, cellular networks or to landline phones,” Raney continued.

The booming popularity of smartphones, with their mobile access to the Internet, has also expanded the ranks of potential VoIP users and uses. But security is a concern, as is true throughout the expanding universe of smart-phone products. “Unfortunately, some deployments are occurring before the devices have been modified to fully encrypt the voice media stream and to have their vulnera-bilities fully assessed and mitigated,” Gueldenpfennig said.

Precedence and Security

Another important company in the field is Ultra Elec-tronics DNE Technologies, whose products include Pack-etAssure, an intelligent Layer 2 switching solution that guarantees that critical traffic will arrive on-time, regard-less of network congestion. PacketAssure’s eight classes of service queues and network processors can police, mark, redirect or block packets before queuing, delivering assured LAN switching at line speed over Gigabit Ethernet links.

Such capabilities are critical in light of the differences between military phone systems as they have developed over the years and the world of IP, said William Berger, director of sales for Ultra DNE.

“I’m talking over a VoIP phone now,” Berger said in a recent interview. “If the lines were busy, either our call


would be degraded or blocked. But if I was a senior officer and needed to talk to the Pentagon, and had the right code, in a military network I could use priority and precedence. If I know I have enough bandwidth for five calls, I only allow five calls onto the network. I don’t try to go with more bandwidth than I have. So I allocate how many calls to have, and I also have a prioritization scheme, so that if we’re talking and someone more important comes on the line and they need to get access, and they get a busy signal, they can enter their code and the system will drop our call.

“Once you go to the IP world, it is great on cost savings and convergence, but you also then add some risks to the network, in that certain packets are more important than someone’s email. The email will re-transmit, but if you’re talking, there isn’t the luxury of being able to re-transmit. So our call would be degraded if we were in congestion,” Berger added.

“You have to make sure that you have absolute predict-ability,” he continued. “Cell phones have made us a bit more accepting of dropped calls. If you had moved everyone to VoIP 15 years ago, you probably would have gotten more complaints. But because people have become accustomed to lower quality voice over cell phones, and to occasionally having dropped calls, then it’s not as shocking as when it happens on your traditional desk phone. But in the military world, in a tactical situation or perhaps a key strategic meeting, that’s not when you want to see your calls dropped.”

Security represents another formidable challenge, Berger added. Unlike traditional phone systems, in which a particular number is essentially tied to a specific location, VoIP phones can be connected anywhere there is an Internet connection, and so do not have the protection of physical security

“I can plug in my VoIP handset or PC anywhere, so how do you know whom you’re talking to? As a result, you have to get into authentication, public key infrastructure (PKI) and all of the other things that the military has in their environment. How do you get the keys or devices out to users? That’s been the complex part. How do you make sure that it is the right person, and there is no one in the middle? So getting the right PKI keys out to users at the far end of a bandwidth-disadvantaged network is tough, especially when you are talking about every handset. A lot of that is automated, but you have to get it right,” Berger said.

“It all comes down the security you want to have in your network versus convenience,” he added. “If you don’t know what a packet is, do you allow it through the network? The problem is that if you become too draconian, people can’t call you. But if you make it too open, someone is now hacking your voice system.”

Another company with a growing presence in this field is Quintron, which offers the DICES VoIP system. The White Sands Missile Range, N.M., this year selected DICES VoIP as its new voice system. O

Contact Editor Harrison Donnelly at [email protected]. For more information related to this subject, search our archives at

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Even as smartphone and other new mobile technologies capture the imagination of battlefield communicators, there is still some life left in the Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINC-GARS), the most widely fielded family of radios in the Army. Through its recent contracting activity, Army officials are showing that the voice and data radios won’t be disappearing anytime soon, since they may operate for another 30 years in the field.

This past fall, ITT Exelis won a $69 million IDIQ contract to supply SINCGARS ground mobile antennas for the Army and Marine Corps.

The robust SINCGARS ground mobile antenna is designed for military applications and is mounted to a spring assembly that absorbs shock and impact, quickly returning it to its proper vertical position for operation. The antenna is also available in a tripod version, which can be deployed on ground mobile vehicles or fixed sites.

Replacing previous Vietnam-era synthesized single frequency radios, SINCGARS is the primary voice control radio system for sol-diers at battalion level and below, available for ground, airborne and vehicular use. Vehicle-mount, backpack, airborne and handheld form factors are available.

SINCGARS also forms the network backbone for fire support, enabling data exchange by units such as field artillery, which require digital firing information to accurately engage their targets. The Army has fielded more than SINCGARS 580,000 radios, including approxi-mately 430,000 of the smaller, lighter Advanced System Improvement Program radio variety. In addition to U.S. forces, allies also use SIN-CGARS.

ITT Exelis has been providing C200 SINCGARS antennas to the Department of Defense since 2006. “Delivery volumes have been driven by warfighter activity and demand in theater,” according to Ken Plate, director of business development for antennas products and technologies at ITT Exelis.

“Lower profile antennas required in urban environments drove demand of C200 SINCGARS antennas,” he said, adding that the antenna range can vary depending on the SINCGARS configuration used.

“The antennas are passive devices that electronically have very extended longevity,” Plate said, when asked about wear and tear and lifespan for the SINCGARS radio antennas. “Wear and tear based envi-ronmental factors are the primary reason they are replaced.”

ITT Exelis performs its antenna work in Bohemia, N.Y., and the company supports the Army’s mission through a number of programs and services, from radios, antennas, counter-IED technologies and onsite contractor support, according to Plate.

The ITT Exelis contract earned in October was similar in scope to previous contracts, and Army and Marine Corps purchasers can acquire the antennas directly from ITT Exelis or through the Defense Supply Center in Columbus, Ohio.

Army documents show at least 400,000 SINCGARS remaining in the service’s inventory in the year 2030, according to Jennifer Schoonover, director SINCGARS programs for ITT Exelis.

Meanwhile, a wide variety of antennas designed for SINCGARS use is available from other manufacturers. SINCGARS radios rely on broadband antennas, which don’t require changing with different fre-quencies. Therefore, conventional narrowband antennas can’t be used.

As opposed to the traditional SINCGARS whip antennas, for example, soldiers and other military personnel can use wearable SINCGARS antennas for intra-squad communications with handheld radios through vendors such as Pharad, Radiowavz and Syntonics. Some operators find that the wearable antennas have ranges that are up to four times greater than the traditional “rubber ducky” antennas.

Wearable antennas are easier to conceal with camouflage or dark matte finishes, and they give enhanced mobility to some operators, who can integrate them into tactical vests. Wearable antennas, further-more, generally don’t hinder the user’s vision.

Wearable SINCGARS antennas are available for 30-512 MHz. The antenna runs from a handheld radio in either chest pocket over the shoulder or a leg pouch and threads into webbing on back of tactical vest. Made of UVPVC coated copper clad stranded steel, the wearable antennas are ruggedized to withstand grit and water.

UNICOR and Federal Prison Industries Inc. Electronics Group manufacture and distribute antennas for SINCGARS radios for tactical military federal agency operations. O


www.MIT-kmi.com.

By williaM MUrray

MiT corresPonDenT

Antennas for a WorkhorseconTracT sUPPlies sincgars groUnD MoBile anTennas for THe arMy anD Marine corPs.


By PeTer BUxBaUM

MiT corresPonDenT

Competitors Target Navy Networks

Decision exPecTeD soon on conTracT for consoliDaTeD afloaT neTworks anD enTerPrise serVices, wHile work conTinUes on nexT-generaTion sHore neTwork.


A head-to-head competition between Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman over the Navy’s Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) program has the two companies touting their methodologies for technology inser-tion and cost control.

The Navy’s next generation tacti-cal afloat network, CANES represents the consolidation of five shipboard legacy network programs to provide a common computing environment for 40 command, control, intelligence and logistics applications. Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman were selected from among four vendors in March 2010 to continue to compete to design CANES.

A single vendor is expected to be chosen in early 2012, and the first CANES installation on a fleet destroyer is planned for later next year. Ultimately, the network will be deployed to more than 180 ships, submarines and Maritime Operations Centers by 2023.

At the same time, the Navy is proceeding with its Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN), the counterpart to CANES for its ashore network and the follow-on to the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI). The Navy released a draft request for proposals for NGEN in September. A final RFP is scheduled for release no earlier than the end of January 2012, with a contract award expected a year later.

Like CANES, NGEN is a non-developmental program, meaning that the two programs will be relying on the deployment of commercial off-the-shelf technologies.

“The Department of the Navy has been managing afloat networks for over a decade,” said Captain D.J. LeGoff, program manager for CANES at the Tactical Networks Program Office.

“The bad news is that five separate systems have grown up indepen-dently, with separate requirements documents, funding streams, and refresh cycles. As a result, asynchro-nous training and logistics philoso-phies have been developed for each.”

fiVe legacy sysTeMs

The Navy’s five legacy systems are the Integrated Shipboard Network System (ISNS), for unclassified com-munications; Submarine Local Area Network, which provides like capabili-ties for submarines; Sensitive Com-partmented Information networks; the Combined Enterprise Regional Information Exchange System, which provides networking capabilities with coalition partners; and the Video Information Exchange System.

“The first aspect of CANES will be to take those five infrastructures and create a common design, common logistics and a single user experi-ence,” said LeGoff. “Another piece involves modernizing the network infrastructure so that it is scalable and secure and so that it has built in common refresh cycles.”

“The components of Navy net-works are largely commercially avail-able,” said Captain Shawn Hendricks, the NGEN program manager. “Today’s network is a commercial system used for military purposes, as opposed to a military system comprised of com-mercial pieces. The systems are inte-grated for uniquely military purposes. That’s why NGEN, like CANES, is a non-developmental program.”

The current CANES competi-tion involves the design and initial low rate production of the network infrastructure. “We gave the vendors historical data and functional speci-fications and allowed them to take it from there,” said LeGoff. Competition

for various aspects of full rate produc-tion of various network components, and for a separate engineering ser-vices contract, will take place in 2013 and will managed by the Navy, rather than a prime contractor or principal integrator.

NGEN likewise will be managed by the Navy, which will compete its various parts. NMCI has been oper-ated by a single vendor, Electronic Data Systems, now Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Services.

“The tenets of the CANES pro-gram are constant competition, built-in refresh and obsolescence schedules and budgets,” said LeGoff. “The strat-egy is how to best integrate COTS technologies and capabilities to maxi-mize value to the government in a constant competitive environment. We plan on examining new software baselines every two years and hard-ware every four years.”

oPen arcHiTecTUre

In the non-developmental envi-ronment that is the CANES design competition, the contenders have emphasized their technology inser-tion and cost control methodologies. “Lockheed Martin’s CANES technol-ogy insertion process is modeled after the Acoustic Rapid Commercial-off-the-shelf Insertion [ARCI] business model,” said Joe Villani, vice presi-dent of CANES at Lockheed Martin’s mission systems and sensors busi-ness. “The ARCI business model has successfully supported the submarine community for many years.”

ARCI is a phased effort to pro-vide the Navy’s submarine force with a common sonar that is more capable and flexible than earlier designs. “An open systems architec-ture [OSA] exploiting commercial processing development permits the



use of complex algorithms that could not previously be accommodated,” said Villani. “Commercial processors and OSA technology and systems allow onboard computing power to grow at nearly the same rate as commercial industry. This facilitates regular updates to both software and hardware with minimal impact on subma-rine scheduling.”

At Northrop Grum-man, the key focus in its CANES design has been affordability, according to Dave Wegmann, the com-pany’s program director for CANES, and to that end it has deployed its Modular Open Systems Approach-Competitive (MOSA-C) methodology.

“MOSA-C is Northrop Grumman’s strategic business and engineer-ing process that achieves the life cycle benefits of open-systems architecture and COTS components and software,” Wegmann explained. “The process ensures vendor-neutral solutions that improve interoperability and lower the total cost of owner-ship. The MOSA-C process will also allow the Navy to continuously compete the program to drive down acquisition and life cycle costs.”

The Navy’s approach to CANES and NGEN could benefit from leveraging cloud computing technologies, accord-ing to Kevin Jackson, general manager for cloud services at NJVC.

“They are looking at leveraging com-modity components and reducing costs,” Jackson said. “The cloud strategy is to leverage low-cost commodity com-ponents that are highly standardized. The huge focus on standardization of both hardware and software components enables a high degree of coordination and reduced costs.”

“Using a structured system engineer-ing process, Lockheed Martin is upgrad-ing shipboard networks by utilizing a

common hardware and software archi-tecture within a given ship as well as across different ship platforms,” said Vil-

lani. “This approach lowers the cost of integration by providing a common infra-structure across all afloat networks.”

An essential part of Lockheed Martin’s approach was to build a network management sys-tem that can help warfight-ers at sea deal with large increases in security poli-cies, configuration direc-tives and new systems. “Defending the network and its hosted applications is a growing requirement that requires solid asset and configuration man-agement, along with new tools to monitor perfor-mance and health of the deployed network by the our afloat administrators,” said Villani.

Lockheed’s network management solution makes it easier for CANES administrators to acquire network situational aware-ness and direct network actions as necessary, according to Villani. “Spe-cifically, our single-pane-of-glass operator view reduces the demand for operator training while delivering network situ-

ational awareness,” he explained. “With the CANES network designed to accom-modate hardware technology refresh every four years, our extensive experi-ence within the Navy’s successful ARCI program indicates the incidence of component hardware failures and subse-quent maintenance costs will be greatly reduced.”

Lockheed Martin’s proposed CANES design will make network administration easier while reducing overall costs, he continued. “Our CANES design is con-figured for applications integration and employment in the maritime domain. Our flexible design will readily scale to accommodate the hundreds of computer applications sailors and marines need to

perform their mission, while reducing shipboard footprint and overall life cycle costs.”

Lockheed Martin’s past experience providing tactical networks for SPAWAR includes building the racks of computing equipment for the ISNS. “These experi-ences have enabled Lockheed Martin to demonstrate the lowest technical, program start-up and production risk as demonstrated on our ISNS performance metrics,” said Villani. “CANES is differ-ent in that the program requires a design for an integrated networking solution as opposed to racks filled with commercial hardware like with ISNS, but the knowl-edge of the common computing environ-ment has been invaluable.”

Villani also pointed to Lockheed Martin’s NexGen Cyber Innovation and Technology Center as important to its approach to CANES. “It is a new research, development and collaboration center where best practices and tools are employed in innovative ways by partners Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, HP, Intel, VMware, NetApp, Symantec, McAfee and others, enabling safe attack and defense testing, simulating customer environments,” he explained. “That environment and expe-rience has taught us how to enhance the speed, security and innovation of real world solutions development.”

leVeraging coTs

The importance of Northrop Grum-man’s MOSA-C methodology, for Weg-mann, is directly tied to the Navy’s approach of leveraging COTS technolo-gies. “Many programs across the Depart-ment of Defense have tried to do this,” he said, “but our analysis shows that the government has not been reaping the full benefit of technology improvements being developed in the private sector. We believe that taking a total life cycle cost approach and ensuring a truly open sys-tem architecture will enable competition across the entire commercial market-place for initial procurements as well as for the entire program life cycle includ-ing refreshes. Northrop Grumman’s CANES solution offers considerable cost and performance improvements over existing shipboard networks, including a modernized C4ISR architecture with increased security and reduced develop-ment, deployment and life cycle costs.”

Dave Wegmann

Joe Villani

Kevin Jackson

[email protected]


Northrop Grumman’s basic strategy has been to strengthen the Navy’s net-work infrastructure in a way that reduces the hardware footprint and the total own-ership costs for the infrastructure. “An open plug-and-play architecture allows for the insertion of multiple commercial technologies without redesigning the sys-tem. This enables commercial industry to compete for their part of the system. Our low-risk, affordable design will easily integrate and securely deliver the best C4ISR applications to our warfighters,” Wegmann said.

Northrop Grumman has vast expe-rience integrating mission applications including cross-domain command and control programs, noted Wegmann. “Our mission application experience spans all services and includes the Global Com-mand and Control family of systems, Joint Mission Planning System, the Global Combat Support System Army logistics system, Marine Corps Command and Control Processing System, the Blue Force Tracking system, and many oth-ers,” he said. “We also build cross domain devices that are on the United Cross Domain Management Office list. We apply these products for a number of agencies such as national intelligence agencies and each of the armed services, and to a number of programs such as the Battle-field Airborne Communications Node. Northrop Grumman also performs cross domain integration on weapon systems such as the F-22 and the F-35.”

The genesis of NGEN, like CANES, sprang from the realization that the development of separate networks yielded diverging levels of performance. “Before the Navy took control of managing the networks, they were in the hands of ad hoc organizations,” said Hendricks. “As the systems matured it became apparent that there were varying levels of security and service depending on whether you were in Guam, NAVAIR, SPAWAR or Jack-sonville.”

In 2000, the Navy brought its net-works together under the umbrella of NMCI. “Under NMCI there has been a standard level of service and security across Department of the Navy networks,” said Hendricks. “NGEN is the next logical step. Instead of bidding out all enterprise services for a price, we are going to start to break out different network services and compete them all.”

Those network elements fall into four buckets: hardware, software, transport and enterprise services. Within those categories a total of 38 services have been identified, some unique to a single bucket and some shared among two or more. Under NGEN, all of these will be competed.

“The big thing to recognize is that each of those areas must be compatible and interoperable,” said Hendricks.

The Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems has received over 700 industry comments to the draft RFP released in Septem-ber. Following anticipated release of the final RFP, proposals will be due in the early part of 2012, and one or two five-year contract awards are expected in December 2012.

“In this competition the contract will be awarded to the lowest price technically acceptable proposal,” said Hendricks. “Once a proposal gets over the technical bar it will be evaluated based on price. In this market, technologies for which the government is willing to pay a premium are difficult to define.”

Jackson believes that Navy’s scalabil-ity needs and cost reduction goals in both CANES and NGEN could be met with the incorporation of cloud computing tech-nologies. “Cloud computing technologies could scale across both the afloat and ashore networks and provide a modern-ized network to the Navy that is both scalable and more cost-effective.”

single enTerPrise?

Beyond that, Jackson also believes that the two programs ought to be man-aged as a single enterprise in order to ensure compatibility and interoperability. “Right now they are two separate pro-curements,” said Jackson. “They should approach both as a single enterprise.”

Both LeGoff and Hendricks welcome the notion of incorporating cloud com-puting in their programs, although, as LeGoff noted, “it is not specifically men-tioned” in the solicitation, in keeping with the Navy’s approach of letting the competing vendors develop their own network designs. They also both agreed that CANES and NGEN have their simi-larities but also important differences.

“Because on ship we have limited and interruptible communications, we

are treating each platform as individual cloud,” said LeGoff. “We are building several clouds on ships at sea and con-necting them as best as possible.”

Hendricks noted that the Navy’s ashore networks already deploy some aspects of cloud computing, including network-hosted applications and virtual-ized servers. “As we move forward we will look for increasing opportunities to expand to a cloud-based architecture, especially as security and architecture standards become better defined,” he said. “The NGEN draft RFP allows for any technology which will improve the per-formance consistency and cost effective-ness of the network, so long as security and productivity are not sacrificed.”

Northrop Grumman’s CANES pro-posal combines a “commercial cloud-like system” with Department of Defense net-work security elements, said Wegmann. “We think it is the right thing to do. We sought to support the Navy’s acquisition objectives of program affordability and that influenced the approach we took in our proposal.”

Whether CANES and NGEN can be approached as a single enterprise is another matter. “There are a large number of functional requirements for both the terrestrial and afloat networks that allow us to coordinate and syner-gize acquisition strategies across both networks,” said LeGoff. “They need to be interoperable and a sailor should not have to care whether he is onboard ship or on shore when using the network. But afloat networks are subject to physical constraints such as space and weight and we must also deal with environmental factors such as corrosion and exposure to heat. These factors, as opposed to per-formance issues, drive different hardware solutions.”

Additionally, afloat networks need to be maintained by sailors onboard ship and not by outside contractors, LeGoff noted.

“Terrestrial networks also have unique requirements,” added Hendricks, “to serve the Navy’s industrial base, test and evaluation facilities, labs, and a large shore infrastructure.” O

Contact Editor Harrison Donnelly at [email protected].

For more information related to this subject, search our archives at www.MIT-kmi.com.


The Naval Supply Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk has awarded CSC a contract to provide operations, maintenance and management support to the OCONUS Navy Enterprise Network (ONE-NET). The contract calls for CSC to provide IT services on a per-seat basis and has a maximum estimated value of $144 million with a one-year base period and four one-year options. It follows

a previous ONE-NET task order awarded to CSC in 2010 under the GSA’s Schedule 70 contract, which was exclusive to the Far East opera-tions. Under the terms of the current agreement, CSC will continue to provide information tech-nology services for the Naval Network Warfare Command in the Far East region. Additionally, the agreement will expand this footprint and

provide service desk and field support, networks and systems operations, information assurance, network technical assistance and more to shore-based classified and unclassified networks at locations in Europe and Bahrain. The CSC Team includes C4 Planning Solutions, Cisco Systems, Dell, F2 Systems, General Dynamics Information Technology, Harris and STG.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded Adapx a $1.65 million contract with to build advanced speech and sketch interfaces for C2 systems. Capturx Speech & Sketch enables warfighters to quickly create, share and analyze digital courses of action (COA) for faster and improved decision-making without the data-capture obstacles of today’s complex C2 and C4ISR interfaces.

Deep Green III is the latest phase of DARPA’s Deep Green Program, which is focused on decision support systems that commanders can use to create potential COAs for simulated outcomes. Adapx is contributing to the Deep Green Program’s “sketch through plan” capabilities, which enable commanders to easily draw up plans by speaking and sketching military symbols on digital map displays, which Deep Green interprets and populates an operations order. Adapx has contributed its advanced multimodal (speech and sketch) technology to prior phases of the program through DARPA contractors BAE and SAIC. Capturx Software from Adapx speeds data capture and collaboration by turning natural speech, sketch, and handwriting into actionable data in Microsoft Office, SharePoint, CRM, ERP, GIS, C2, C4ISR systems and many other back-end systems.

Contract Supports Navy OCONUS Enterprise Network

Research Agency Seeks Speech and Sketch

Interfaces for C2 Systems Harris CapRock Communications, a provider of fully managed communications for remote and harsh environments, is finalizing development of AssuredCare, its comprehensive customer service and network management program. The AssuredCare program will enable Harris CapRock customers to have improved real-time visibility into their global commu-nications. AssuredCare combines highly trained customer service personnel, exten-sive support infrastructure, proactive moni-toring systems and a best-in-class customer portal. AssuredCare integrates best practices and capabilities from all four organizations combined to form Harris CapRock in April 2011. Harris CapRock has made considerable

investments in training to ensure customers are supported by engineers with wide-ranging expertise. The common industry model oper-ates network call centers where those answering customer calls take basic information, and the call is passed up the skill chain as needed. By contrast, Harris CapRock’s five 24/7 customer support centers are staffed by comprehensively trained personnel. As part of AssuredCare, Harris CapRock’s multi-disciplined engineers answer and handle customer calls from end to end, frequently solving issues by accessing networks and equipment remotely. In addition, AssuredCare leverages various highly devel-oped tools to offer customers optimal network performance.

Communications Service Offers Comprehensive Customer Care

The KEYper Ultra, Monarch, and Select series of key control systems from KEYper Systems represent an outstanding way for all branches of the military to automate key control. Not only do the systems offer excellent security and ease of use, they also automate the DA 5513 Form for key responsibility. The system automatically prints a receipt for the key(s) checked out of the system fulfilling that requirement. The system uses PIN code, biometric finger-print, or proximity card authentication. The systems are available in many sizes to suit any need and can be deployed in a de-centralized fashion to make key control less arduous. Custom and pre-written

reports are available from the system, as are email and SMS text messaging for alerts and alarms. KEYper also offers many other systems geared toward asset and key management or control.

Larry A. Green;[email protected]

Key Control Systems Offer Security, Ease of Use


Uplogix, a provider of local network management, and TeleCommunication Systems, a provider of mobile communica-tion technology, have announced a new agreement that will allow TCS to utilize Uplogix solutions in their managed services business units, as well as resell Uplogix solutions to end customers. Serving a wide range of commercial and government markets, the new agreement will allow TCS to implement Uplogix Local Management for in-depth monitoring and automated recovery within their managed services engagements and as an integrated solu-tion within other technology sales. Already proven in government applications like satellite communications for the U.S. Army and large commercial data centers in the financial industry, Uplogix Local

Management streamlines and simpli-fies the process of managing a network. Tasks that may have required site visits and taken days are now reduced to a matter of minutes. When network device prob-lems occur, Uplogix can often correct them before traditional centralized management systems would have even detected them, dramatically improving service levels. The Uplogix solution differs from traditional management tools by providing a network-independent platform that is located with and directly connects to managed devices. This allows Uplogix to automate the config-uration, performance and security manage-ment functions that are best performed locally. In critical networks, this speeds problem resolution and improves uptime while increasing security and compliance.

ViaSat recently conducted a major public demon-stration during which it unveiled the industry’s highest performance mobile broadband system using an ultra-small aperture 12-inch Ka-band tracking antenna. Representatives from the military services witnessed multiple applications including full-motion HD video running concurrently over a secure, encrypted mobile satellite network. The network included the ViaSat VR-12 Ka airborne satellite antenna and ArcLight 2 modem mounted to a mobile vehicle. As the mobile vehicle drove around, the tracking antenna maintained its link with the satellite while demonstrating simultaneous encrypted HD video backhaul, video conferencing, IP phone communications and web browsing. In the course of the demonstration the mobile satellite network was configured in a number of different modes showing a variety of forward link and return link bit rates. Configurations included ISR operations in which the forward link maintained 4 Mbps and the return link performed at 6 Mbps. The size, weight and power enve-lope of the VR-12 Ka system matches that of its prede-cessor, the VR-12 KuSS terminal, which has hundreds of units fielded. Both systems have the same platform mounting interface for ease of aircraft upgrade.

Local Network Management Offers In-Depth Monitoring and Automated

Recovery

Mobile Broadband System Uses Ultra-Small Tracking

Antenna

In conjunction with the Air Force and the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), iDirect Government Technologies (iGT) has successfully tested the Aero-Mobility features of iGT’s advanced Evolution technology using a Ka-band advanced multiband communications antenna system (AMCAS) low-profile airborne antenna over the Department of Defense Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) system. Considered in the context of emerging commercial aero mobile SATCOM services (AMSS), iGT’s Evolution product family provides a unified radio access network technology option for an integrated military WGS and commercial Ka-band AMSS.

IGT’s Evolution platform, which uses a Current-Force-Modem on multiple satellite bands, and the AMCAS low-profile antenna have demonstrated the capability to transmit and receive high-speed information when operating over a WGS system in Ka-band. The DISA demonstration, conducted in October, validates a quali-fied solution for next-generation airborne wide-body, high-Doppler on-the-move capabilities and establishes a realistic production specification by demonstrating the performance criteria in an operational environment.

Test Supports Advanced Multiband Communications

Antenna System

Responding to issues of limited space, weight allowances and the need to access components of an integrated system, Acumentrics, working with Earl Industries, has modified an existing Rugged UPS to power an innovative, vertically mounted voice-data-video (VDV) network node for the Nimitz class aircraft carrier. While Acumentrics has fielded many shipboard UPS systems, the specifications for the VDV contract required significant modifications. After implementation of the adaptations, the newly designed unit was successfully tested and certified to MIL-STD-1399 and MIL-STD-461. Physically, it had to conform seamlessly to the overall system and into

a shock mount enclosure. The battery also needed to be user replaceable from the vertical orientation when the enclosure was in the “rack out” position. In terms of changing internal components, the inverter portion of the Rugged UPS had to be inte-grated between the server and modem. This was accomplished through two alterations. First, the team developed a 1U battery pack that would mount in the vertical position. Next, a redesign of the chassis to eliminate the space of the existing battery compart-ment to save room and provide cabling and connectors to tie into the separate battery pack. Other features were added including multiple AC inputs for redundancy.

Backup Power Supports Carrier’s Voice-Data-Video Network Node


Enterprise CommanderProviding Secure, Affordable, Integrated Networks

Q&AQ&A

Rear Admiral Charles E. “Grunt” Smith currently serves as Program Executive Officer for Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS) for the Department of the Navy (DON).

As a naval aviator, test pilot, nuclear surface officer and acquisition professional, Smith holds an in-depth knowledge base of many of the operational, technical and acquisition aspects of the DON.

His operational achievements include command of Sea Strike Squadron 29, USS Inchon, and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. Ashore he has held key acquisition positions as director, aviation/ship integration and assistant com-mander for acquisition at the Naval Air Systems Command, as well as vice commander of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) before being assigned as PEO.

Smith was interviewed by MIT Editor Harrison Donnelly.

Q: What is the mission of the PEO EIS?

A: The program executive office and staff collaborate to develop, acquire, field and sustain enterprise network, busi-ness and fleet support information technology systems for the warfighters of the Navy and the Marine Corps. We support six different sponsors across the spectrum of the DON. Our programs and services are foundational to the daily running, business and operations of the DON. We don’t ever expect a day off—everything we deliver must be up and running 24/7, 365 days a year, from the foundational network we communicate upon, the supply systems we feed the fleet with, how we maintain and train around the world, to ensuring our military families receive their pay and allowances. It’s a very challenging portfolio, but thankfully I’m surrounded by great people from the PEO, SPAWAR and Marine Corps Sys-tems Command [MARCORSYSCOM] with tre-mendous acquisition experience across a broad segment of the DON. To that end I must give great credit to our deputy PEO, Mr. Victor Gavin [SES], our program managers and our assistant PEO staff.

Q: Why was the Naval Enterprise Networks PMO stood up early this year, and what is the NEN role in the development of the Navy’s next-generation network?

A: On February 24, 2011, Captain Shawn Hendricks became the program manager of the Naval Enterprise Networks [NEN], the program management office [PMO] that manages

the acquisition life cycle of the DON’s enter-prisewide terrestrial IT networks. NEN’s port-folio includes the Navy Marine Corps Intranet [NMCI], the Base Level Information Infrastruc-ture for the OCONUS Navy Enterprise Network [BLII/ONE NET] and the Next Generation Enter-prise Network [NGEN]. NEN provides program management of the NMCI continuity of services contract [CoSC], while performing the acquisi-tion and transition work for NGEN’s successful implementation in support of OPNAV and Head-quarters Marine Corps.

The establishment of the NEN was a strate-gic and natural evolutionary step in the acquisition of our enterprise IT networks for the DON, and unifies the Navy’s

Rear Admiral Charles E. “Grunt” Smith

Program Executive OfficerEnterprise Information Systems

U.S. Navy

Victor Gavin


terrestrial networks and data management to improve capa-bility and service while saving significant dollars by focusing efforts under one program office and one enterprise network construct. This is all in support of the DON’s drive to one network environment.

Q: What is the current status of the NGEN initiative, and how will it go forward in the next couple of years?

A: Work on NGEN is progressing to a tightening schedule. We are working to release a request for proposal before the end of January 2012. We are scheduled to have all contracts awarded no later than December 2012, and have the transi-tion from services under the current NMCI CoSC completed no later than spring 2014. The NEN PMO has communicated regularly with industry through Industry Day events about the upcoming NGEN acquisition and has made information available to potential offerors via multiple methods to support their preparations to submit proposals.

Q: What do you see as the chief challenges facing it and its commander, Captain Shawn Hendricks?

A: NGEN represents the continuous evolution of the Navy’s enterprise networks, and will provide secure, net-centric data and services to Navy and Marine Corps personnel. NGEN is the follow-on acquisition approach to providing enterprise network services that were originally consolidated in 2000 under NMCI, the U.S. government’s largest IT outsourcing program. The challenge is to take the network we have today, that we are so dependent on, and with the help of our industry partners, not miss a step or lose any ground in security, reli-ability, supportability and performance as we transition from NMCI to NGEN. The primary goals of NEN are to minimize the impact of transition to our customers and to provide a network and its services in a more cost-effective manner to meet the needs of the DON today and tomorrow. The acquisi-tion will ensure flexibility to incorporate new technology as it matures and improved COTS products as they emerge and as IA requirements dictate.

Q: What benefits, now and in the future, do you see from the Navy’s enterprise resource planning [ERP] program?

A: As the Navy has said since the inception of the program, Navy ERP is modernizing and standardizing Navy business operations, providing fiscal visibility across the enterprise, permitting total asset visibility in ways never before pos-sible. Those enhanced capabilities are increasing the Navy’s business effectiveness and efficiency as the commands inside Navy ERP really get about the business of using this versa-tile solution. The key will be moving out to lead-turn the demands of the fiscal pressures being put upon the defense budget. The real benefits of Navy-ERP will be in its utility and its by-product of transparency for the leaders of the Navy. Navy-ERP is all about enabling the leadership of the Navy to see its business and in so doing make sound strategic and operational fact-based decisions to shape readiness and Navy futures.

Navy ERP’s current and future benefits cover a wide range of business, supply and workforce aspects of “the business” of running the Navy that include but are not limited to supply benefits, business process improvements, financial controls, integrated management and improved readiness for our fleet.

The larger the business base of the Navy becomes visible through Navy-ERP, the better the returns. Our system com-mands are already using this tool set to greater levels and pushing themselves to fully extract the benefits. Naval Supply Systems Command alone has made very tangible use of the Navy-ERP wholesale and retail supply solutions across the Navy. The return on investment truly comes from the aggres-sive and uniform use of Navy-ERP, not solely from its deploy-ment. That is why I remain so excited about Navy-ERP; we’ve only just begun to reap the benefits.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t also point out the ERP supply solution we are delivering with MARCORSYSCOM to the Marine Corps, Global Combat Support Systems-Marine Corps [GCSS-MC]. This system is now operational with the USMC and has even had its muscles flexed in real-world operations with III Marine Expeditionary Force [MEF] in the Pacific area. In short order we will have this ERP delivered throughout the MEF.

I love delivering for the USMC; when they decide they need something to enable their warfighters, they dig in with acqui-sition and ensure success. Not only has this common supply system significantly reduced process times, inventory costs and force-readiness visibility, it is also retiring four separate leg-acy systems generating additional cost savings for the USMC. Perhaps that is the key to any ERP undertaking. The success is as much in the hands of the customer as it is in acquisition. Only the operators truly know and understand their busi-ness processes, operational needs and their people. The word “enterprise” really takes meaning when you look at how you achieve success in an effective business change effort such as GCSS-MC.

Q: How is PEO EIS working to transform Navy manpower, personnel, training, and education [MPTE] capabilities, and what is the role of the Sea Warrior program in that effort?

A: The Sea Warrior Program Office was formally stood up in June 2007. This was in direct response to the Chief of Naval Personnel’s request to the assistant secretary of the Navy [research, development and acquisition] in May 2006 to designate PEO-EIS as the acquisition lead for what was then known as Sea Warrior IT development efforts. These efforts included Navy Knowledge Online, Navy e-Learning, and the Career Management System/Interactive Detailing [CMS/ID]. The complexity and scope of these efforts required disciplined systems engineering, acquisition and deployment planning. Today, the Sea Warrior Program Office provides “tooth to tail” management of a complex portfolio of 30 IT systems used to recruit, train, pay, promote, move, retire and support Navy personnel. Plus, the office is responsible for the Distance Support Program, which includes global customer relation-ship management and reach-back capabilities for the Fleet.


Distance Support also comprises the Navy Information/Appli-cation Product Suite [NIAPS], which provides a common development and host framework for 41 business IT shipboard applications. NIAPS also helps alleviate shipboard bandwidth issues by allowing two-way replication of data on and off ships on a bandwidth available basis using advanced data compres-sion. Distance Support was transitioned from NAVSEA to PEO-EIS [PMW 240] in March 2008.

With regard to MPTE transformation, the Sea Warrior program is focused on supporting the deputy chief of naval operations for manpower, personnel, training and education, OPNAV [N1] in driving a collective focus on enterprisewide strategic and interoperable IT solutions consistent with the Navy’s Total Force Vision for the 21st Century.

Let me give you a few specific examples. In June 2009, PMW 240 successfully delivered the capability for sailors to negotiate their own orders online using CMS/ID. This was a significant milestone as the Navy transitions to self-service human resource applications, because it gave sailors more direct control over their orders while reducing the man-ual paperwork and time associated with orders processing. Today, CMS/ID processes over 16,500 sailor job applications per month.

On the recruiting front, PMW 240 deployed Phase I of the Personalized Recruiting for Immediate and Delayed Enlistment Modernization [PRIDE MOD] in May 2011. This modernization effort is integral to the Navy Recruiting Com-mand’s strategic plan to realize the vision of “anytime and anywhere” recruiting. As an example, prior to PRIDE MOD, Navy recruiters faxed applicant forms to the U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command Information Resource Sys-tem, where administrative staff manually entered applicant data into the legacy PRIDE mainframe system. Now, PRIDE MOD’s real-time data sharing, via the web, is enabling elec-tronic submittal of enlisted applicant data to the entrance command. We also coupled this advancement with the delivery and fielding of a mobile recruiting solution, thereby making any Navy recruiter capable of complete recruitment processing wherever their mission my take them, right from their briefcase or backpack. That even includes mobile scan-ning and signature processing.

Other benefits include a more seamless process for com-pleting enlisted applications, classifying recruits, reserving training seats, initiating the Sailor’s Enlisted Service Record, and reducing fraudulent enlistments. PMW 240 is now build-ing on the PRIDE MOD foundation to provide a common platform for officer and enlisted recruiting. We’re talking here about large scale savings in time, travel and effort required to keep our ships and squadrons served by the best and brightest new warriors our nation so proudly supports.

Q: What are you doing to improve Navy personnel and pay systems?

A: Supporting Naval Personnel Command, PMW 240 is the lead program office in the design and development of a future personnel and pay solution. The Navy’s personnel and pay IT backbone is very complex; it consists of over 2,000 interfaces, 240,000 data elements and 11,000 reports.

Getting to a more agile personnel and pay solution requires not only a deep scrub of end-to-end business processes and legacy systems code, but also the attendant doctrine, organi-zation, training, leadership, education, personnel and facil-ity aspects. To that end, we support N1 as they innovatively employ critical business disciplines, process reengineering, architecture and governance standards to continue to manage and care for the Navy’s most valued investments, our people. When the work is done, we will be business-wise and prepared to take further steps. Until then we are successfully sustaining our current systems and services.

Last, but certainly not least, PMW 240 is currently mod-ernizing the Navy’s Learning Management System [LMS] to support the highly distributed and global naval training envi-ronment. The LMS is the content delivery backbone of Navy e-Learning, which is one of the largest systems in the world, with more than 900,000 users and 6,500 online course offer-ings. The new LMS is a unique acquisition in that it combines agile software development with the disciplined DoD 5000 systems acquisition management process.

PMW 240 is one of the first defense program offices to undertake this type of blended, contemporary IT develop-ment, which keeps the disciplined structure of DoD 5000 while allowing significant flexibility in the development pro-cess. And it’s paying off. A cadre of representatives from the Navy’s Learning Centers has been involved throughout LMS application development, so user input is a constant through-out the process while requirement volatility is controlled. At the end of the day, we have more cost-effective application testing—and happier customers.

Q: What are the chief strengths of the DON’s process for IT acquisition?

A: There are disciplines I have appreciated coming to the forefront in IT acquisition:

• Acknowledgement that defense business systems [DBS] are procured in a manner that is totally different from major weapon systems.

• Separate but rigorous and disciplined acquisition review process for DBS.

• Governance structures tailored for DBS.• Well-defined business case templates to support

milestone decisions.• More closely aligned DON Gateway reviews process

with the overarching OSD acquisition review processes [provides for more consistent display of program information], which should facilitate for more upfront dialogue prior to major milestone reviews event.

• Forcing factual business decisions through disciplined business case analysis using all possible solutions to include the full spectrum of the IT industry.

Q: Where are opportunities for improvements in the DON’s process for IT acquisition?

A: When you say opportunities, I think of cost and time reduc-tions in our current fiscal environment:


• The key step in any successful business IT procurement is the upfront business processes system engineering/re-engineering [SE] prior to effective analysis of alternatives or business case analysis. Having the funding so aligned to enable that SE would be the greatest of risk mitigators.

• There are large costs in IT certification efforts to maintain information assurance. System, component and application certifications that are good throughout DoD, or the entire government for that matter, would reduce costs to any given portfolio of enterprise programs.

• As the new business capability life cycle process matures for IT acquisition, there appears to be room to further streamline the DoD 5000, Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System and Gate processes to reduce procurement cycle times and management costs.

• IT acquisition, by its enterprise nature, is just harder than the other acquisition environments I’ve worked in before. IT touches so many different aspects of the DON and crosses nearly all traditional lanes of authority.

Q: How has the Enterprise IT Services [EITS] program and approach helped improve IT procurement and processes?

A: At the conception of EITS in 2009, several opportunities were identified by our team to Navy leadership as the right things to do to save money and lead-turn what most knew would be challenging future years. The whole point was to increase the capability over cost ratio of IT. Opportunities identified included data center consolidation, enterprise soft-ware licensing, application consolidation and virtualization, tiered data storage, and legacy network consolidation into NGEN. While priorities and resourcing did not permit all of those areas to be brought forward at the time, most are now in some form of execution, planning or tied to the achieve-ment of NGEN. Many have now been put as priorities by DON CIO, MARCORSYSCOM HQC4 and OPNAV N2N6. While the work is ongoing, these are all very real enablers in the DON reducing IT expenditures and sustaining capabilities at lower costs.

EITS is also building a very successful reputation for structuring and delivering enterprise solutions for rather complicated sets of requirements currently being served by multiple legacy systems, or not being served at all. That work again is process and business focused with emphasis placed on sound systems engineering and cost-wise use of COTS where available.

Q: What messages would you most like to emphasize to industry in how it works with your office and the programs under your command?

A: Our partners in industry surely see now the pressures the DON are under to support initiatives to reduce the deficit, while our Navy and Marine Corps conduct stability, combat and humanitarian operations around the world. Through NGEN and throughout our entire portfolio of DON foundational

IT programs, we require industry to aggressively pursue with us ways to increase the ratio of capability over cost [C/C] by holding or increasing the “capability” numerator and decreas-ing the “cost” denominator. We have some great relationships with our industry partners. We want to hear more great ideas on driving C/C in the right direction, and we think we can do that to both the DON’s and industry’s benefit.

Q: How has your operational experience, including serving as captain of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower nuclear aircraft carrier, shaped your approach to your current position?

A: I’m a fleet operator asked to come back into acquisition and proud to do so, but my heart and my focus is on sustaining or advancing fleet capabilities while returning dollars to the fleet for the troops’ readiness, and that of the ships, submarines and aircraft they fight from around the world.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?

A: We have entered, maybe abruptly, into a new time where the catalysts have materialized to pressurize the manners in which we procure and employ enterprise IT; and to do so purposely with the intent to reduce the costs incurred by the DON to meet its enterprise IT requirements. We have enter-prise stakeholder motivation, focused direction and a renewed opportunity today to do good for the DON. O

win-T ProjecT Manager reflecTs on THe cHallenges of Bringing on-THe-MoVe neTworking To THe TacTical eDge.

Fielding Revolutionary Capabilities



What missions or past experiences have prepared you for your new role as PM for WIN-T?

Before becoming an acquisition officer, I was fortunate to have a variety of assignments in infantry and armor battalions and brigades, both in CONUS with the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colo., and OCONUS with the 1st Infantry Division [Forward] in Germany. From those assignments, I gained valuable experience and firsthand knowledge of the communications requirements and challenges exist-ing in brigade combat teams [BCT] at tactical levels.

Once I became an acquisition officer, I had a number of C4ISR-related assignments in multiple assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology PEOs, Training and Doctrine Command, the Army staff, and Joint/Department of Defense organiza-tions. As a major in PEO C3T, I was assigned to PM Military Satellite Communications, where I served as the fielding officer for one year, and then became the assistant project manager for Secure, Mobile, Anti-Jam, Reliable, Tactical-Terminals [SMART-T] for a year. While I was in PM MILSATCOM, the organization was merged with PM WIN-T in 2002. As a lieutenant colonel and product manager in PEO Enterprise Information Systems, I was responsible for the voice and data network upgrades of Army installations in CONUS. These assign-ments gave me a better understanding of both the Army tactical and non-tactical networks.

What do you think will be your biggest challenges?

Based upon my first 90 days in the job, I would say the very broad scope of the program. WIN-T is actually a portfolio of programs con-taining multiple Acquisition Category [ACAT] ID, ACAT II, ACAT III and non-program-of-record projects. If you look at what the WIN-T program management office manages today, the same programs were managed by three separate O-6 PMs previously. PM MILSATCOM was merged with PM WIN-T in 2002, and PM Tactical Operations Centers/Command Posts was merged with PM WIN-T in 2010.

Each of the WIN-T increments is a standalone ACAT ID major defense acquisition program, normally managed by an O-6. I am extremely fortunate to have great product managers: Lieutenant Colo-nel Jason Shepard for WIN-T Increment 1, Lieutenant Colonel Rob Collins for WIN-T Increments 2 and 3, Lieutenant Colonel Greg Coile for the SATCOM programs, and Lieutenant Colonel Carl Hollister for Command Posts Systems and Integration [CPS&I].

What is the importance and significance of the WIN-T network to the Army?

Senior Army leadership understands the importance of the network. The network is the number-one modernization priority for

the Army. The network is a critical enabler for military operations spanning the full range of the spectrum from peacekeeping to high-end conflict. The current Army tactical network is Increment 1. Incre-ment 1 addressed a capability gap identified during Operation Iraqi Freedom when maneuver units were moving at speeds and distances that could not be supported by the Mobile Subscriber Equipment communications network. Increment 2 is the future tactical network that will begin fielding in fiscal year 2013. While Increment 1 provides high bandwidth communications at the halt and quick halt down to the battalion level, Increments 2 and 3 will provide and initial and full communications on-the-move capabilities and extend the WIN-T network down to the company level.

How will WIN-T Increment 1 continue to serve the Army even after the fielding of WIN-T Increment 2?

Increment 1 is the Army’s current tactical network. It has sup-ported Operation Iraqi Freedom and is supporting Operation New Dawn and Operation Enduring Freedom. Currently, Increment 1a is about 90 percent fielded to the Army. Increment 1a adds Ka-band capability to the satellite-based Increment 1 network, reducing reli-ance on costly commercial satellite bands. Increment 1b will begin fielding in late fiscal year 2012 and will be a bridge to Increment 2. Increment 1b accelerates a number of Increment 2 capabilities to include the Net Centric Waveform [NCW] and a Colorless Core secu-rity architecture. Even when Increment 2 is fielded, some units will remain on the Increment 1b baseline. Shepard and his team are doing a tremendous job fielding Increment 1 capabilities to the current force, while addressing urgent operation needs in support of current operations.

What is the significance to the Army about next year’s fielding of WIN-T Increment 2?

Increment 2 will bring a number of revolutionary capabilities to the Army. Increment 2 will introduce a mobile network infrastructure allowing units to conduct operations while on the move, not having to stop to establish communications to command and control subordi-nate units. The Increment 2 tactical network will be self-forming and self-healing, bringing a level of flexibility and resiliency not existing today. Increment 2 will also push the WIN-T network from battalion level, where it exists today with Increment 1, down to company level. This will not only add communications-on-the-move capabilities to the company level, but will also allow combat net radio and data networks to be extended beyond line-of-sight [BLOS], which does not exist today. Initial versions of the NCW and High-band Network-ing Waveform [HNW] will allow WIN-T Increment 2 to provide an integrated LOS and BLOS communications network. Additionally, an

(Editor’s Note: Colonel Edward Swanson, project manager for Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (PM WIN-T), assigned to the Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications-Tactical (PEO C3T), recently offered some observations on the status of the program, the linchpin of the Army’s current and future plans for field networks. WIN-T is a mobile satellite communication and terrestrial network able to move voice, video and data across long distances for forces on the move in combat.)


initial network operations [NetOps] capability will be fielded to facilitate the planning, initialization, monitoring, management and response of the network. Collins and his team are doing an outstanding job developing the Increment 2 program and pre-paring for the initial operational test and evaluation [IOT&E] in May 2012.

How will WIN-T Increment 3 change the way the Army operates?

Increment 3 will add another communications layer to the WIN-T network, augmenting the current ground and space architectures with an air tier, to thicken the network. The air tier will not only extend ground networks limited by line of sight, but will also lessen reliance on limited and costly satellite resources. Critical to the air tier will be the WIN-T Communications Payload using the Joint C4ISR radio. Aerial platforms will initially include UAVs and may eventually include aerostats and towers. Increment 3 will also bring objective versions of HNW, NCW and NetOps to realize full networking on the move capa-bilities for the Army. Collins is also managing Increment 3; his team is meeting all schedule and performance requirements as they move towards a Milestone C decision in 2015.

What is PM WIN-T’s role in the next Network Integration Evaluation [NIE] and how will its participation improve the Army’s network?

WIN-T is the current and future Army tactical network. The NIE has a number of purposes. One is to make sure systems are fully interoperable when integrated into the Army’s tactical network in CONUS before deploying into theater; this prevents imposing unnec-essary burdens on commanders and units. The systems are used by soldiers and units in operational scenarios and subjected to realistic environments at Fort Bliss, Texas, and White Sands Missile Range, N.M., training areas to determine their potential in meeting identi-fied capability gaps. The NIE will add agility to the current acquisi-tion process to keep pace with information technology advances and provide the Army with the best capabilities available. During the NIE 12.1 in October-November 2011, soldiers got early exposure and hands-on experience with some of the Increment 2 equipment before the IOT&E in May 2012. This will include three tactical com-munications nodes, three points of presence and 10 soldier network extensions. PM WIN-T is also providing five upgraded SIPR/NIPR access point satellite [SNAP] terminals and command post support for NIE 12.1.

What are some of the major accomplishments that PdM SATCOM has achieved in improving satellite communications throughout the Army?

PdM SATCOM has played an important role in supporting OIF and OEF requirements. Several non-programs-of-record, the Deployable KU-Band Earth Terminal [DKET] and SNAP, are filling capability gaps

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and addressing joint urgent operational needs statements [JUONS] by providing critical BLOS communications in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries in the region. Over 60 DKETs and 600 SNAPs are currently deployed. The DKETs provide high bandwidth intra- and inter-theater communications. The SNAPs support company-and-below operations at widely dispersed operating bases. Coile and his team also procure and provide satellite equipment to the WIN-T Increment 1 and 2 product managers. Other high-value satellite sys-tems now being fielded or upgraded by PdM SATCOM include Secure, Mobile, Anti-Jam, Reliable, Tactical-Terminals [SMART-T], Phoenix and Global Broadcast Service [GBS]. SMART-T provides protected communications in all environments, while Phoenix provides opera-tional flexibility by supporting C-, X-, Ku- and Ka-band satellite com-munications. GBS provides a high speed data broadcast and receive capability.

What are some of the most significant developments in PdM CPS&I and how are they supporting the Army?

PdM CPS&I delivers a number of critical products and ser-vices to the Army. Hollister and his team provide the command post infrastructure and training to enable mission command at all echelons. The Standardized Integrated Command Post System [SICPS] program has been providing the Army’s CP infrastructure for many years. The five systems comprising SICPS all have full materiel release and standard line item numbers improving

supportability for the Army. PdM CPS&I also provides battle com-mand system of systems integrated training to ensure doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership, personnel, facilities inte-gration and mission command capabilities are delivered to units. The CPS&I team also just completed 13 weeks of development and test for the Harbormaster Command and Control Center, culminating with an IOT&E in September. Hollister is also supporting a number of priority JUONS efforts as well.

Anything further you would like to add?

It is an exciting time to be in the Army acquisition community. I am extremely fortunate to be part of the PM WIN-T and PEO C3T team, partnering with industry not only to deliver much-needed capabilities to support current operations, but also to be the premier tactical network provider for the Army. The PM WIN-T workforce has impressed me by their dedication to the mission and commitment to excellence. I look forward to working with the WIN-T community in the coming years. O


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Radio Acquisition

jTrs PrograM Takes DifferenT aPProacH To fielDing new sysTeM afTer cancellaTion of groUnD MoBile raDio PrograM.

Evolution

The Department of Defense and its industry partners are pursuing innovative technology and acquisition approaches to field communications in the wake of the decision to cancel the Ground Mobile Radio (GMR) portion of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS).


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With the goals of cutting costs and delivering capabil-ity faster, the JTRS Joint Program Executive Office (JPEO) in November launched the Mid-Tier Networking Vehicle Radio (MNVR) initiative to replace the cancelled program. A non-developmental item program, the MNVR is aimed at pursuing a low cost and reduced size, weight and power acquisition for fielding in fiscal 2014.

Army Brigadier General Mike Williamson, who heads the JPEO JTRS, is clear on the challenges facing his organization. “There are some realities, let’s not dance around that. As we look out over the horizon, there are going to be dollar issues associ-ated with everything we do. I have a responsibility to make this cheaper and smarter for not only the Army, but also the Ameri-can taxpayer. What we are really looking for is how to make sure that the requirements, definition and delivery schedule associ-ated with those requirements are better synchronized.”

Williamson contrasted the risks and costs associated with developing a radio to last 20 years with the new agile approach now being pursued under JTRS.

“We know that there is level of capability that we could deliver to soldiers now,” Williamson said in a recent interview. “It is available, proven and trusted. What we are trying to do is to leverage both the investment that industry has made and the maturity in programs of record and put those two things together. Then we go back to the user and requirement commu-nity and ask if I set the bar at 80 percent and deliver that today at a cheaper price would they be willing to take it. We are already taking things into the fight today that don’t have 100 percent of the requirement.”

Williamson gave an example of how this approach might be applied to a future procurement: “We have a requirements docu-ment that says a radio has to operate at a specific temperature. Now what you are going to see in a requirements document are ranges. Instead of saying it has to operate above this tempera-ture now what you are seeing is that it will have to operate in a range. It gives vendors the opportunity to look at best value.

“Now vendors can say that they are on the low end of this temperature range but they can point to all the other features they can now offer because they made that change. As a service we get to say we like the total package and we are going to accept that it is on this low end of the range whereas before, a lot of people would have been thrown out the door,” he continued.

Certain elements of the JTRS enterprise will be preserved. Irrespective of the outcome of particular programs, for example, the Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW) will remain as the bedrock of the future network.

“WNW has demonstrated the broad pipe capability to tie us together at the formation level and to reach outside of it. As I look out to the 2017-19 timeframe, we going to be a WNW-based force, and we are really going to leverage this waveform.”

But that is not to say the WNW is forever, he added. “What we don’t want to do is get stagnated in capability. I think you will see a lot of exploration from industry. I want to know what is going on in environments like 802.11 and 802.16. I also want a waveform that allows me to manage the availability of spectrum. We have to decide how much we invest in that waveform and how we invest in the other great ideas that are coming in. WNW gives our forces more capability but we are

not going to close the door on opportunities out there in the future.”

Williamson continued: “I view this as the opportunity to have industry use their investment and innovation to come back to DoD and say, I know you have programs of record that you have made significant investment in. Here are some opportuni-ties where we now can come in and show you smarter, faster, cheaper and better. We want to create a vehicle for them.”

The new strategy does not represent a failure of programs of record, he emphasized, but rather an evolution of how they do business. “We were always going to go to competition with GMR. At some point after full rate production we were going to come back and offer that out to everyone to build this faster, smarter and cheaper. This is all part of that evolution.”

ProcUreMenT Process

The first step for the MNVR effort came in early November, with the release of a draft request for proposals (RFP).

Colonel Gregory Fields, program manager for GMR, outlined the process. “What we expect to get from industry is what they intend to bid, and for industry to gain full understanding of its needs, early in its process to ensure that the government has articulated an achievable requirement and to obtain additional recommendations from vendors and industry that could yield cost savings and reduce schedule risk.”

A formal RFP is scheduled to be issued in February, with proposals due the following month. After testing with a heavy focus on the radios’ ability to port WNW and SRW in July and August, a down-select will take place to identify those solutions that will go forward for testing in the NIE 13.1 event, which is the PEO’s target for final assessment.

Based on that performance, a recommendation will be made by January 2013 to award a two-year contract, initially to meet the schedule for Capability Set 14 for the Army’s BCTs, target-ing the first quarter of fiscal 2014 to get radios in the hands of soldiers. Fields noted that initially it will just be Army personnel that receive the radios, as the Marines have adopted a waiting approach.

Initial focus of the first fielding will be on producing enough radios for eight to 10 BCTs, with roughly 80 to 100 radios per BCT depending on its role. In terms of requirements, Fields said that while weight is important, the key elements in the SW&P equation were power draw and size. In waveform terms, WNW and SRW were mandated, but vendors are free to offer additional waveforms.

Fields noted that the Boeing-led GMR will not shut down until next March, in order to ensure that as much as possible is gained from the remaining funding. Type 1 testing for use of the radio with the WNW will shortly be completed, with initial authority to operate by early 2012. That will be the first time that has been done, Fields said, adding that it will be very beneficial after it is placed in the PEO’s Information Repository.

MnVr anD inDUsTry

A wide range of companies are pursuing the MNVR. Bill Beamish, AN/PRC-117G product line director for Harris

Corp., outlined the company’s approach to MNVR. “The system



concept as we understand it is very well matched to the AN/PRC-117G system that we are shipping today. We believe we have a strong and capable product offering that has the capabili-ties listed in the draft RFP. The radio is the first production radio to have SRW, and we have SINCGARS and a whole host of objective waveforms includ-ing UHF Tacsat waveforms like IW and DAMA, as well as HaveQuick and VULOS. We have a plan and approach that will allow us to be well within the timeframe for deliveries.”

The PRC-117G, using the compa-ny’s ANW2 waveform, already has been selected as a major bearer for the Army’s Capability Set 13, which has a requirement for eight BCT equipment sets. There are currently over 16,000 of the radios in service, with the latest announced order being a $66.3 million award from the Army.

Rockwell Collins comes to MNVR with a detailed understanding from its involvement in the GMR program with Boeing. “We are evaluating our capabilities and core competencies from our program of record position on GMR,” explained Robert P. Haag, vice president and general manager of communications products, govern-ment systems, for Rockwell Col-lins. “We are trying to see if there is way to leverage that relation-ship and our existing presence in the program to form a solution there. Rockwell Collins, like most of the industry players, is try-ing to really get an assessment of the requirements, what would be good enough versus absolutely required.”

At the AUSA show in October, the company had on display a two-channel version of the GMR. It was first shown to the government in December 2009 as a potential means of achieving a smaller, less expensive capability.

“It basically takes some of the strengths that are developed by subsystems and core compo-nents from the GMR program and shrinks them to create a two chan-nel radio with a BAE Systems-Boe-ing team. That creates a smaller version of the GMR, which has the WNW waveform running and already has an operating environment and production

hardware. That is one example of what we can do. We are trying to keep our options open.”

Raytheon plans to offer the latest, two-channel version of its Mobile Ad-Hoc Interoperable Network Gateway (MAINGATE) radio, known as MGR-400 for the MNVR requirements.

Lucas J. Bragg, senior manager on the MAINGATE program for Raytheon, outlined the system’s operation. “MAINGATE has two components—the Wideband MANET Radio system and the Gateway. As a combination unit, this unit allows you to tie in virtually any radio or subnet into a common network. This has been done with over 30 radio systems to date. There is virtu-ally no U.S. radio that has not been able to be integrated into MAINGATE and we have worked with Norwegian Kongsberg and German Tetrapol radios in Afghanistan.

“MAINGATE will convert everything, whether it is voice or data, to an IP stream, and then we broadcast it. This will set up an essentially local Internet operation with two channels, with 10 Mbs per channel. We can integrate several radios into the same unit on the same vehicles, and then we will set up a network. This is autonomous, so if it sees a neighbor it brings them in and provides range extension throughout the whole neighborhood,” Bragg said.

The system also uses cost-based routing, so that when MAINGATE is unable to complete a terrestrial link it will auton-omously connect to an available SATCOM link. This enables MAINGATE to provide reachback throughout the combat area, from upper echelon command centers down to the dismount

A JTRS Airborne Maritime Fixed set was installed on an Apache helicopter during the Army’s Network Integration Evaluation. [Photos courtesy of Lockheed Martin]

Robert P. Haag

Bill Beamish


soldier at the edge of the battle area. For increased range, MAINGATE is often integrated into the aer-ial tier, such as aerostats, to enable greater range.

The first generation, two-channel MAINGATE was used at the Army’s recently completed Net-work Integration Evaluation (NIE) 12.1. It oper-ated with a soldier radio from another Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency effort, the Cobham-led Wireless Network after Next (WNaN) program.

MAINGATE has been also deployed for over two years in theater with over 100 units, with a propri-etary customer providing the dismounted soldier with real-time video.

Bragg described the GMR as from four to six times more expensive than MAINGATE with less connectivity than the Raytheon radio. Comment-ing on the Next Generation MANET Waveform that MAINGATE uses, Bragg said, “There is no case when the MG waveform is not better. We get higher efficiency, more bits per hertz, better distance. MAINGATE has more nodes that can be connected, so we are trying to convince them to give us a return and spec the product. We would rather use a more efficient waveform than WNW.”

Other companies pursuing MNVS include General Dynam-ics and a team of ITT and Northrop Grumman.

ManPack ProDUcTion

Other programs within the JTRS family, meanwhile, are continuing apace. The Handheld, Manpack, Small Form Fit (HMS) program successfully made its way through Milestone C in May and prime contractor General Dynamics C4 Systems has a low rate initial production contract for 6,250 PRC-154

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Raytheon plans to offer the latest version of its MAINGATE radio for the MNVR requirements. [Photo courtesy of Raytheon]


Rifleman Radios and 100 PRC-155 two-channel manpacks.

After that decision, the manpack radio participated in NIE 11.2 last spring, which represented the limited user test for that radio and was com-pleted in mid-July, paving the way for entry into its current governmental development testing (GDT) phase. The Rifleman Radio’s GDT was concluded shortly before AUSA, with NIE 12.1 being used for the PRC-154’s initial operational test and evaluation, which will be the final field test exercise before a full rate production milestone decision.

Bill Rau, director, communications programs for General Dynamics C4 Systems, explained that demand for Small Form Fit (SFF) radios were closely tied to the Future Combat Sys-tems program. With that program’s cancellation, demand for the SFF A and B has naturally been reduced, but there is still active interest, and it is an integral part of programs like the small unmanned ground vehicle. Rau noted that PEO Aviation was installing SFF-Bs in Shadow UAVs in order for it to oper-ate as an additional relay payload for bridging and connecting soldiers

General Dynamics has also been active in supporting WNW via the waveform’s Software in Service Support program, awarded in September to the company and let by JTRS Network Enterprise Domain, the part of the JPEO responsible for creat-ing a repository of waveforms.

“General Dynamics C4 Systems and our team are providing subject matter expertise to the government for maintenance of the core code, bug fixes as well as enhancements. There are a number of enhancements that the government is going to want, such as the HAIPE crypto,” Rau said.

In support of the JTRS enterprise but outside of HMS is the company’s independent research and development-funded Sidewinder vehicle mount for the Rifleman Radio, which was launched in October.

“It allows you to take a Rifleman Radio and quickly plug it into a vehicle mount that allows that radio to connect into the voice intercom system and to plug into any platform computer, central display, and external antennas and vehicles power. Not every vehicle has to have the full capability of a manpack in it; there are certain vehicles like an ambulance or a logistic truck that could be connected into the network with Sidewinder,” Rau said.

MariTiMe cHanges

Work on the Lockheed Martin-led Airborne Maritime Fixed (AMF) JTRS program is well advanced, with engineering devel-opment models (EDM) now fielded to the C-130J and Apache AH-64D integration labs. The latter platform, Apache AH-64D, equipped with a pre-EDM Small Airborne set, has supported WNW capabilities and VMF messaging, with a functional check

flight in January 2011 as well as participation in NIE 12.1 with SR capabilities. In January 2012, the team will perform a functional flight test of pre-EDMs onboard a U2 Dragon Lady, testing the WNW, with the U2 replicating a high altitude UAV.

Lockheed Martin has also put forward plans to include AMF in the Army’s NIE 12.2 event in March 2012, in which WNW and SRW will be used to connect Army aviation and Air Force assets to the ground at altitudes of up to 50,000 feet.

Nonetheless, changes in this JTRS program are also under-way. In August, the team received contractual direction to pause work on the AN/URC-147 Maritime Fixed (MF) set and work a new structured program focused on affordability using the program’s other radio, the AN/ZRC-2 Small Airborne (SA) set.

“Under the restructuring plan, work on the MF will be paused indefinitely for affordability reasons,” said Jim Quinn, vice president of C4ISR systems at Lockheed Martin’s IS&GS-Defense. “We will go forward with the government and the determination that we will collectively have to make is whether we can achieve the mission of the MF form factor by using the Small Airborne form factor to accomplish what has to be achieved by submarines, ships and fixed stations. The vast majority of the guts of the radio are common to both.”

Another change has been the transition from cost plus to a cost cap for completion of AMF’s system development and dem-onstration phase, and then transition from that into low rate initial production. This leaves what Quinn described as “several hundred million dollars” to complete the work.

Quinn concluded, “We are still in discussions with the JPEO. It has not been accepted. We are still working the details. We have put forward a plan for the JPEO to consider and we are working with them to reach a decision.” O


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General Dynamics C4 Systems has an initial production contract for 100 PRC-155 two-channel manpacks. [Photo courtesy of GDC4S]

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By carl HoUgHTon

The touch-enabled smartphone revolution has profoundly changed how consumers communicate, as millions now access the Internet on a daily basis with just a few simple taps on their mobile devices. Since so many people take this technology for granted, the U.S. military is now testing and preparing to deploy touch-enabled devices to warfighters and commanders in the battlefield, dramati-cally altering the way the military communicates and accesses infor-mation. The devices are far less costly, virtually everyone is familiar with them and don’t need to be trained, and it’s much easier to develop tailored applications for missions.

While the obvious uses for smartphones, such as calling and texting, are undeniably valuable, there are other uses for the military that will be even more important. Uploading pictures and video with geospatial information attached to each image will play a critical role in intelligence and tactical planning. Each warfighter will gain the capability of sending out real-time video and imagery that can be added to a state-of-the-art situational awareness system that shows live what is happening in-theater.

Touch-enabled capabilities are also being leveraged on larger devices in mission-planning operations. Already deployed are large flat-screen monitors that use a multi-layered touch-screen applica-tion that allows decision-makers to touch-filter information tailored to their immediate needs, whether geospatially, categorically or tem-porally focused.

Since this technology is commercially driven and available worldwide, it has a number of implications for U.S. forces and their allies. The biggest impact is that it dramatically lowers the cost of entry because there are so many non-military entities developing applications for touch-enabled devices. The platform is already widely developed, so there is no up-front research and development that needs to be done.

There is the security aspect, which certainly impacts the use of commercial use of multi-touch devices in classified missions. Although the code driving the operating system is widely available, the U.S. military is currently working with developers to create a hard-coded, secure version of the Android operating system, so this concern is being actively addressed.

The fact that the system has been around for a while and many developers have been working on it makes the process easier. It’s also the reason that export control issues aren’t a valid concern, since these devices are commercially available virtually around the world and already have to go through an extensive export control process to be sold in the commercial market.


www.MIT-kmi.com.

cosT-effecTiVe ToUcH-screen aPPlicaTions anD DeVices coUlD HeralD a new TelecoMMUnicaTions anD iT era for THe U.s. MiliTary.

Some have also expressed concerns about whether the plat-form can be susceptible to unfriendly disruption. But because the commercial market has had to address this issue for years, it is not believed to be more susceptible to disruption or hacking than any other system. It also depends upon the platform— the Windows oper-ating system has been around for much longer than Android or Apple’s iOS system, so more people use the Windows system and it tradition-ally has been targeted more frequently. To date, the U.S. military has leaned more toward the Android and iOS platforms, believing they are more secure.

One very positive implication for the defense budget is the lower cost of acquiring and maintaining commercial touch-screen systems. Purchasing an Android device or iPhone is far less costly than tradi-tional proprietary communications devices, which often do not even have the touch screens that the military now wants. Because of that low up-front cost, the devices become almost disposable, which lowers the overall total cost of operations. Also, because some vendors are offering touch-screen devices with open source software, the military does not have to pay license fees, so the long-term cost for the software is significantly lower as well.

The biggest benefit, arguably, is the ability of touch-screen systems to make military users more efficient—it makes it easier for users to get to the information they need. They aren’t required to type on a keyboard or have a special stylus (which renders the device unusable if the stylus is lost). They just use their fingers, as they do at home on an iPhone or Droid device. No special training needed. And it makes virtually everything easier—particularly with mapping applications, which are used very frequently by warfighters. Through an intuitive touch interface on a map, users can access information on the move, even with just one hand.

These are just a few examples of how the advent of cost-effective touch-screen applications and devices are heralding in a whole new telecommunications and information technology era for the U.S. mili-tary. Consumer demand for touch-screen iPhones and Droid devices have shown the military that advanced communications devices don’t require proprietary platforms, extensive training and huge amounts of investment in R&D. The technology is already available, it’s not expen-sive, and virtually everyone knows how to use it. O

Carl Houghton is vice president of strategic planning at Intelligence Software Solutions.



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Jack WadeChief Executive Officer

Z Microsystems

Jack Wade, Z Microsystems’ founder and chief executive officer, has grown Z Microsystems from its inception in 1987, starting out as a consultant and systems integrator using Sun Microsystems com-puters. Since then, Z Microsystems has become a major supplier of ruggedized computers and display equipment to the U.S. military. Wade started his computer industry career at Indiana State Univer-sity and was part of the operating system software development team in early main-frame computers. He also helped EDS develop its Medicare software and worked on several projects for SAIC.

Q: What types of products and services are you offering to military and other government customers?

A: For more than 25 years, Z Microsys-tems has been supplying superior com-puting technology to the U.S. military and defense system integrators. Today, Z Microsystems designs and manufac-turers field-ready computing solutions for military, medical, industrial and law enforcement applications. Our company’s commercial off-the-shelf [COTS] products include advanced image processing and routing systems, rugged flat panel dis-plays, high-performance deployable com-puters and flexible storage systems used in military aircraft, ships, land vehicles and ground stations.

Q: What unique benefits does your company provide its customers in comparison with other companies in your field?

A: Z Microsystems specializes in adapting COTS technology to the challenging envi-ronments presented by military applica-tions. Our products address the need for reliable computer processing capability on the move, and are designed to withstand the harshest and most demanding envi-ronments.

Innovation, flexibility and continuous investment in quality are the hallmarks of Z Microsystems’ design strategy. Using skills that embrace customer specific

platforms, the Z Microsystems develop-ment team has raised the benchmark for producing solutions for fielded computing environments. Z Microsystems maintains an unwavering commitment to customer responsiveness, innovative products, qual-ity and on-time delivery.

Q: What are some of the most significant programs your company is currently working on with the military?

A: Recently we introduced new image pro-cessing technology in our intelligent dis-play systems designed for use in unmanned aircraft system [UAS] ground stations. Our advanced image processing and visual-ization systems offer superior real time enhanced video [RTEV] capabilities to improve critical surveillance missions. Our company’s advanced image processing systems use high-powered field program-mable gate arrays to apply image enhance-ment and edge detection algorithms to incoming video streams without adding latency. We also incorporate edge detection algorithms to identify anomalous shapes and highlight critical details for surveil-lance. A wide range of algorithms can be added to the platform to further broaden its capabilities.

Q: How are you working to strengthen the quality of your products?

A: Z Microsystems stakes its business and reputation on delivering product with impeccable quality. At Z Microsystems, we thoroughly test every product we build to ensure it can withstand harsh envi-ronments and meets military specifica-tions for extreme temperatures, electronic

interference, shocks and vibration, and moisture, to name a few. Z Microsystems’ quality management system follows all guidelines established by ISO 9001:2008. Our facility and processes have been audited by major multi-national compa-nies and have been fully certified.

Q: Are you currently developing new products and services relevant to military and government customers that you hope to bring to the market in the future?

A: Z Microsystems has developed three new product lines for the UAS market that incorporate our RTEV capability. The first product is the Intelligent Display Series [IDS] designed for UAS ground sta-tions. A second new product, the ZHawk, addresses the urgent need to deliver full motion video and actionable information directly to the tactical edge. The ZHawk video-enabled handheld PC attaches to a soldier’s handheld radio and adds a 5 inch HD touchscreen for selecting and viewing UAS video streams.

The third new product, the Any-Image-Anywhere [AIA] System, is for applications, such as a command center, that must man-age multiple incoming video streams. The AIA System is a well-designed, large-scale video enhancer and router. The system can route any video source through any num-ber of image processing algorithms, then output the video stream to any monitor, network, recorder or similar device.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

A: Z Microsystems has recently started to develop innovative products that leverage our advanced image processing technol-ogy to address a variety of compelling industry challenges. The new Z Microsys-tems Image Processor product has been purchased by customers in defense, broad-casting, energy and natural resources, traffic management, surveillance, and law enforcement markets. We welcome discus-sions with military and industry experts about new applications for this advanced image processing technology. O

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