{"id":30457,"date":"2017-10-06T20:58:35","date_gmt":"2017-10-06T20:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2017\/10\/06\/why-program-cancellations-may-actually-be-a-hint-at-progress-in-the-military\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:29:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:29:42","slug":"why-program-cancellations-may-actually-be-a-hint-at-progress-in-the-military","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/ausa-digital-show-dailies\/2017\/10\/06\/why-program-cancellations-may-actually-be-a-hint-at-progress-in-the-military\/","title":{"rendered":"Why program cancellations may actually be a hint at progress in the military"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When a $6 billion program gets nixed, people on the Hill want to know the colossal screw up that led to such a decision. When Air Force rethinks a much-anticipated new battlefield management aircraft, the collective defense community yells about inevitable capability gaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People assume some aspect of program planning or program execution went terribly wrong. Or maybe a company overpromised. Or it was just politics at work. These are, in the eyes of many, procurement failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But consider what actually inspired the recent decisions to shift the Army\u2019s IT network strategy, and to look at alternatives to replacing the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System. In the case of the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical system, or WIN-T, the Army believed funds would be better filtered into capabilities that will deliver a more survivable, mobile and hardened tactical network. With more aggressive tactics out of Russia and unpredictably on the Eastern European flank, the tactical network, as it is today, didn\u2019t cut it.<\/p>\n\n\n\t