Modernization is a top priority for the U.S. Army, with prototypes of both next-generation combat vehicles and futuristic helicopters expected in a few short years. But revamping the network, if not as high-profile as those items, is still a priority for Secretary Mark Esper\u2019s Army renaissance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He spoke recently with C4ISRNET\u2019s Jill Aitoro about the challenges the Army faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
C4ISRNET:<\/b><\/i> The network has run into trouble in the past. What do you hope to accomplish in the next two to three years?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
MARK ESPER:<\/b><\/i> The network is hard and different. It\u2019s different because, unlike the Next-Generation Combat Vehicle or [Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System] or Long-Range Precision Fires, the most capable and most advanced technologies will likely be found in the commercial sector. So, we\u2019re faced with chasing technologies that likely will change every year or 18 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The challenge is to make sure we can build a network that is \u2014 you know the buzzwords \u2014 reliable and mobile and has all the capabilities we need, using commercial products, mainly software over hardware. That\u2019s not something I think that you\u2019ll ever see a big major rollout for. There\u2019s never going be [the equivalent of] a Next-Generation Combat Vehicle [rollout], where we pull away the curtain, and there it is \u2014 and \u201cta-da,\u201d we name it after somebody, and everybody says, \u201cAh, that\u2019s it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The network is something that would grow and mature and evolve over time as we pull technologies from the private sector into the Army. I\u2019ve seen that already. As I\u2019ve visited units, they\u2019re using tactical radios. I have seen it in command posts where we used to have server stacks that were like a refrigerator-and-a-half high, and they\u2019re now down to the size of DVRs. I can see it in terms of technology getting smaller, more mobile and more capable. You\u2019re not going see one big bang, where it comes out as a system reveal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
C4ISRNET:<\/b><\/i> In a sense, the Army tried that with WIN-T.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
ESPER:<\/b><\/i> You know, WIN-T kind of gets put in a category sometimes, like [Future Combat Systems] or Comanche, but it\u2019s really not. WIN-T is a great system if you\u2019re at a mobile stationary base fighting, I don\u2019t know, the Taliban. But it\u2019s too big and bulky and clunky, and it\u2019s too easily intercepted and everything else, if you have to fight a near-field threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
C4ISRNET: <\/b><\/i>Traditional players will always be involved in a tactical network. How have you engaged with non-traditional players? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
ESPER:<\/b><\/i> I\u2019ve engaged with them all. I do dinners every week with industry. We have a lot of conversations. So we find innovations coming from them. I find innovation coming from the field, where soldiers are getting rid of this, and getting free of that, and putting stuff on trailers. And they\u2019re finding solutions. And when this comes up with soldiers at town halls, I try to tell them, \u201cLook, in my day, the radio I used in Ranger school was the same radio I had eight years, nine years later as a company commander in Italy.\u201d That\u2019s not going to be the case. I tell them, \u201cAt any one point in time, you will use different radios in your units, and when you go to your next unit a few years later, you\u2019re going to have different radios, and you\u2019re just going to have to get used to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
C4ISRNET:<\/b><\/i> They\u2019re used to upgrading their iPhone every year.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
ESPER:<\/b><\/i> Yes, this generation \u2014 they have a great deal of versatility in terms of understanding technology and adapting, so I think it\u2019ll be less of a challenge for them than it was for my generation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thoughts on modernization from Mark Esper, secretary of the Army.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":75101,"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":[]},"categories":[106,29,16,32],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2509],"class_list":["post-28462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-it-networks","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"AQ4ZMNQAKVHVZD7SUD6LBPL7IM","arc_canonical_url":"\/it-networks\/2019\/03\/05\/the-next-army-network-wont-get-a-grand-unveiling\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n