The Army is testing out new ways of doing things when it comes to is tactical networks, including open standards and a secret-but-unclassified concept set to undergo NATO testing this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The experimentation with tactical network capabilities comes as Army officials are putting to work their broader network modernization strategy and cross-functional team specifically targeting Army networks. Leaders are taking a fresh look at open standards and commercial off-the-shelf options that can be rapidly inserted with little training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s going to allow us options at the tactical edge,\u201d Col. Ed Barker, the Army\u2019s senior acquisition liaison and adviser, said May 2 at a Defense Daily event in Washington. \u201cThings will be able to be tailored based on mission needs, and that will give us a lot more flexibility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Specifically Army leaders are looking at potential capabilities that improve coalition information-sharing, including by using open standards that are more easily integrated in legacy and future equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve talked about leveraging [commercial-off-the-shelf technology] for a long time. But I think very recently the applicability of COTS in the tactical space has really expanded,\u201d said Joe Welch, technical management director at Army Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications-Tactical.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s also significant emphasis on a new secret-but-unclassified network capability that would enable a joint common operating picture with coalition partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSBU is a major change. It\u2019s something that we\u2019ve been getting around the edges on for a number of years and now we\u2019re getting Army leadership on-board and moving forward,\u201d Welch said. \u201cIt\u2019s an acknowledgement that at certain tactical echelons the requirement for a secret \u2026 is really hindering the ability to communicate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Army already is testing out SBU with end users, targeting their early involvement as part of short-sprint development and fielding. Those tests will lead up to a major demonstration of SBN at the upcoming Saber Strike joint exercise this summer in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Saber Strike demonstration will feed directly into a brigade-level assessment with the 1st<\/sup> Brigade\/82nd<\/sup> Airborne to be held next April, Barker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe goal will be to demonstrate the power of a secure-but-unclassified and integrated tactical network in a NATO and coalition environment. We\u2019re literally going to have a joint, coalition common operating picture with the means to federate what they\u2019re seeing on the ground and have that true interoperability,\u201d Barker said. \u201cThere are definitely short-term wins on the horizon.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Army is test-driving new network concepts for battlefield communications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":47201,"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":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"10":{"categories":["land","training-sim","training-simulation-report","newsletters"],"primary_category":"land"}}},"categories":[8,106,29,32],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2772],"class_list":["post-18722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c2-comms","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"XC75LYRL3BBZZDNPASHK3YGOQQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/c2-comms\/2018\/05\/02\/can-the-army-unlock-the-secret-to-coalition-comms\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n