{"id":12542,"date":"2017-08-01T17:59:26","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T17:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2017\/08\/01\/us-army-drives-toward-lighter-smaller-mobile-systems-at-network-integration-evaluation\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:37:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:37:20","slug":"us-army-drives-toward-lighter-smaller-mobile-systems-at-network-integration-evaluation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/it-networks\/2017\/08\/01\/us-army-drives-toward-lighter-smaller-mobile-systems-at-network-integration-evaluation\/","title":{"rendered":"Rethinking the battlefield: Army drives toward lighter, smaller, mobile systems at NIE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">FORT BLISS, Texas \u2014 For the new light infantry unit conducting the Network Integration Evaluation at Fort Bliss, Texas, smaller, lighter and more mobile systems that don\u2019t inherently make soldiers enemy targets due to heat and electromagnetic signatures are on the wish list for future system iterations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Several of the systems under test at the NIE \u2014 a two-week evaluation that occurs annually \u2014 are lighter, smaller and more nimbler versions of previous capabilities, which makes the fact a light infantry unit is putting them through the paces appropriate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But even though many of the systems have significantly reduced in size, more work could still be done to lessen the load on the soldiers using them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Up until this year, NIEs have been conducted using a designated, full-time heavy armored brigade unit, and so the Army drastically switched up how the systems would be tested by choosing a very different unit to take over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The service decided it would no longer be able to dedicate the 1st Armored Division\u2019s 2nd Brigade Combat Team as the full-time NIE unit because of an increased demand for armored capability, particularly in Europe. The Army therefore chose the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to conduct the NIE this year held in July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[<i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/it-networks\/2017\/07\/28\/light-infantry-unit-changes-game-at-network-integration-evaluation\/\">Light infantry unit changes game at Network Integration Evaluation<\/a><\/i>]<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An air assault unit spending two weeks in the desert outside of El Paso offered a drastically different perspective from a heavy unit that had become used to the pace and process of testing in such a location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Right-sizing WIN-T<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The unit was tasked to put to the test the Warfighter Information Network Tactical Increment 2 (WIN-T Inc. 2) system on a Humvee \u2014 known as the Tactical Communications Node-Lite (TCN-L) \u2014 and while WIN-T has been under fire for being too cumbersome and vulnerable, the reviews of the TCN-L at the NIE tended to be favorable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Previously the WIN-T node \u2014 essentially the Army\u2019s tactical network \u2014 required a 5-ton vehicle and could not work unless the vehicle was stopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[<i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/land\/2015\/11\/04\/army-moving-win-t-onto-humvees\/\">Army Moving WIN-T Onto Humvees<\/a><\/i>]<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now WIN-T\u2019s TCN-L is able to stay connected on the move and can be sling-loaded onto the battlefield using a CH-47 Chinook helicopter. The unit got the system into combat operation within 23 minutes at the NIE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe TCN-Lite is working pretty well,\u201d Lt. Col. Keith Carter, the brigade\u2019s 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment commander, told Defense News in an interview at the NIE. \u201cI mean there is nothing that sticks out as an obvious thing that I would want to change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the next evolutionary step would be to get WIN-T into something even smaller like an ATV or even a man-carried version, \u201cbecause every vehicle we have out there, every time we set up our tactical positions out here, we create a signature that the enemy can use to find our location,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A 2nd BCT operations officer, Maj. Timothy Chess, told Defense News that when WIN-T was in a Light Medium Tactical Vehicle a ladder was needed to access the equipment, and now it consists of one flat panel at waist-level for easy access. Most of the equipment is virtualized now so it saves space, and the air-conditioning to keep the system cool doesn\u2019t have to push as hard, so overheating isn\u2019t the issue it used to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chess said the only thing he\u2019d change would be to add extra pre-configured server spares because now \u201cif it were to crash, it would pretty much bring down this whole side of the network.\u201d A server swap would only take about 30 minutes, he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Beyond line-of-sight comms<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The unit also evaluated several concepts and capabilities to include the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) on a Manpack radio with a digital fire mission processing system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Army was required to deliver MUOS-capable Manpack radios by this year. MUOS is a U.S. Navy network \u2014 comprising four geosynchronous satellites and ground stations in Hawaii, Virginia, Italy and Australia \u2014 that uses cell phone technology to connect tactical communications around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Manpack is the ground link to the MUOS satellite, sending messages that can travel in less than half a second over 100,000 miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[<i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/land\/2016\/02\/26\/gd-rockwell-and-harris-to-build-manpack-radios-for-army\/\">GD, Rockwell and Harris To Build Manpack Radios for Army<\/a><\/i>]<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brig. Gen. Joel Tyler, the director of the Joint Modernization Command, said at the NIE that soldiers \u201chave really taken to\u201d to the MUOS capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have been getting beyond-line-of-sight over the MUOS pretty reliably,\u201d Carter added. He noted he was able to continue communications with his company commanders while being jammed on FM radio by switching to MUOS to extend communications range in the contested environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the capability being loaded into an existing PRC-155 Manpack radio was not particularly preferred, according to several users out at the NIE. A few soldiers suggested it might be better off in a vehicle-mounted configuration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carter told U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Commander Gen. David Perkins, as he toured the unit\u2019s set-up in the desert, that while the MUOS capability was good, the platform it\u2019s on is \u201csuffering from some severe limitations from battery consumption,\u201d and was roasting in the heat, reaching roughly 270 degrees in rucksacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the radio on a soldier\u2019s back, it\u2019s basically making that soldier a target to the enemy due the heat signature and the electromagnetic signature because the radio is always retransmitting, Carter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf you take, as a fundamental premise, that when you transmit you die,\u201d in an electromagnetic warfare-capable environment, Carter said, \u201cand this radio is always transmitting, then by wearing this radio you are dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The other issue is the Manpack with the MUOS capability makes a soldier\u2019s kit weigh roughly 130 lbs. And the battery life is an issue, requiring soldiers to carry 72 batteries for a couple of radio systems over a 24-hour mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The MUOS antenna could also be hardened, one soldier said about the system, as one of them snapped off coming out of an air operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>No more \u2018TOC Mahals\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The unit also worked over the course of two weeks to accelerate the amount of time it takes to relocate Tactical Operations Centers out in the field in austere environments. The TOCs require the unit to be extremely mobile to keep the enemy from finding its electromagnetic signature and therefore its whereabouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The unit jumped the field artillery TOC several times during the NIE. It took 18 hours to set it up the first time, Tyler noted. But in the early part of the second week, the unit moved it and had it set back up within two hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEvery time you emit an electromagnetic signature, that creates something that the enemy can locate if they have the surveillance equipment and they can use as a target for indirect fires,\u201d Carter told Defense News. \u201cOne of the solutions that we have embraced, the light infantry community, is that you have to keep moving, you have to push the pace of operations, you have to have a high operational tempo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[<i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/land\/2017\/05\/08\/army-crafting-strategy-to-reduce-logistics-tail\/\">Army crafting strategy to reduce logistics tail<\/a><\/i>]<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So Carter used the NIE to put the network and communications systems under evaluation, and its entire set-up to the test in one of the most stressing environments for such capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe decided to put my Tactical Assault Center [TAC] in a Humvee,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just move every 15 minutes or so since we are constantly talking on the radios. We just move that location a few hundred meters in every direction, for the ways that we are trying to achieve survivability in this peer and near-peer environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carter also streamlined the TOC and didn\u2019t place it far forward on the battlefield. He opted to strip the TOC of non-essential battle staff such as personnel and logistics officers. That created a smaller footprint in the TOC and took less time to pack and move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perkins noted, while inside an NIE TOC, that it was time to move away from the \u201cTOC Mahals\u201d used during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And a hard look should be taken to determine what capability is needed in the TOC for what missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For instance, the Distributed Common Ground System-Army systems provided to the unit during the evaluation were completely packed up because the unit fried two server stacks and the systems were having significant problems operating \u201cin this level of austerity,\u201d Carter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DCGS-A \u201cis a great capability for at the strategic level; it provides this huge capacity for analysis, but I need about this much of it,\u201d Carter said while miming peering through a narrow tube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The NIE was also a good opportunity, according to Carter, to really think about TOC survivability on a modern battlefield. \u201cIs this a thing that is real anymore, or do we need to be completely mobile and like basically expand the TAC concept into an LMTV that just drives around and provides mission command?\u201d he contemplated for Perkins during a TOC tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At this point, since all of the unit\u2019s mission command equipment is powered by air-conditioning and the server stacks need to be kept cool, the TOC, as it is, still seems necessary, he concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo survivability of the machine is driving the survivability of the TOC,\u201d Perkins said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the new light infantry unit conducting the Network Integration Evaluation out at Fort Bliss, Texas, smaller, lighter and more mobile systems that don\u2019t inherently make soldiers enemy targets due to heat and electromagnetic signatures are on the wish list for future system iterations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":39340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":16,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"5":{"categories":["your-army","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"your-army"},"10":{"categories":["land","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"land"}}},"categories":[8,106,16,32,26,82],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3286],"class_list":["post-12542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c2-comms","category-daily-brief","category-it-networks","category-newsletters","category-special-reports","category-tactical-networks"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"TLU6NZJHOFHCNHZDS7OTIK3W3Y","arc_canonical_url":"\/it-networks\/2017\/08\/01\/us-army-drives-toward-lighter-smaller-mobile-systems-at-network-integration-evaluation\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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