WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Army tactical network acquisition team requested a substantial $537 million increase for fiscal 2022 in an overall budget request with sizable cuts to other service programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The $2.3 billion budget for the Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications-Tactical signals the Army\u2019s commitment to modernizing its force as it prepares for Joint All-Domain Command and Control, which is how the Pentagon envisions the battlefield of 2030 and beyond, with data passing quickly and uninterrupted to soldiers on the ground and in planes in the air. The added money, part of the Army\u2019s proposed $2.6 billion for network modernization, would accommodate the service\u2019s plan to field radios and other advanced communications upgrades to soldiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As part of its massive modernization effort, the PEO C3T and the Network Cross-Functional Team are delivering new collections of network tools, known as capability sets, every two years. The Army is currently fielding Capability Set \u201821, and the $537 million increase would support the \u201ccontinued procurement of tactical radios and other commercial communications gear to support the Capability Set 21 fielding,\u201d said Paul Mehney, director of communications at PEO C3T, the N-CFT acquisition arm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bulk of the network modernization increase would be $228 million for the handheld, manpack and small form fit (HMS) radio program. That massive procurement program, totaling a $775 million total budget request, fields four categories of radios to the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Special Operations Command. With that money, the Army would purchase 5,440 leader radios in FY22 \u2014 up from 4,229 the year before \u2014 to support the continued fielding of Capability Set \u201821, Mehney said. The HMS program will include single-channel data radios that work with augmented reality through the Integrated Visual Augmentation System program. That radio programs has a baseline of about 104,000 radios, budget documents showed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For commercial off-the-shelf communications equipment, the Army requested $191 million, or $83 million more than enacted in FY21, for two radio modernization programs. One new budget item is the Low Cost Tactical Radio Replacement program for $51.6 million to replace and modernize the legacy Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System, a decades-old radio system that is increasingly vulnerable to advanced threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The replacement program would provide \u201cresilient and secured communications for Army ground forces to conduct Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) over extended mission ranges,\u201d budget documents said. The procurement dollars would buy hardware, warranties, one-time integration, spares and service support for the program, Mehney said. The Army plans to field the hardware to the first unit in November 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other new budget item the Army listed is a $31.8 million effort for tactical communications components, described as including \u201cseveral communication components\u201d that would support the service\u2019s integrated tactical network. Components would include Link 16, line-of-sight (LOS), beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS), and TSM waveform-capable radios. In FY22, the new effort would purchase Link 16 and line-of-sight radios, in addition to armored brigade combat team integration as part of Capability Sets \u201821 and \u201923. The Army plans to award that contract in April 2022 with first delivery in July 2022, budget documents showed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The service\u2019s major tactical network contribution to JADC2, its Tactical Network Technology Modernization in Service program, would receive $89 million over FY21 funding to total $436.5 million. The TNT MIS program provides network connectivity and transport for soldiers for units on the move and \u201cat the halt\u201d on the ground as part of the tactical modernization team\u2019s unified network efforts. The $436 million allocation would focus on modernizing the services \u201cat the halt\u201d capabilities, including a mission network refresh, spare parts, modernization of aging technology in units, and upgrades to regional hub nodes \u2014 five critical ground stations across the world that direct Army network traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The TNT MIS budget plan includes $16 million to modernize those regional hub nodes, which rely on aging infrastructure. From the modernization funding allotment, the Army would use $12 million to integrate commercial satellite communications in the tactical network transport, including those from low earth, medium earth and geosynchronous orbits, as well as from high-throughput satellites \u2014 all critical technologies that will increase the tactical network\u2019s speed and resiliency and allow multiple transport options if an adversary interferes with one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also for the TNT MIS budget line, the Army requested $155.7 million for \u201ctechnology insertion\u201d to modernize aging equipment in 22 at-the-halt units. That item is \u201ccritical to defending the network from emerging cyber threats, ensuring commanders maintain communications in contested or congested environments,\u201d budget documents read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tactical network team proposed an $11.1 million cut to its signal modernization program, which provides expeditionary communications and reduces the size, weight and power of network hardware. Mehney said this cut largely would affect the terrestrial transmission line-of-sight radio to reach soldiers in 2022. The number purchased would drop from 203 in FY21 to 131 in FY22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The service’s tactical network modernization team asked for a total of $2.1 billion in its fiscal 2022 budget request as growing radio requirements mount.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":75724,"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":14,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,14,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3340],"class_list":["post-34694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-land","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"OMBNV7CW4JEJFGC542HQQLZVSM","arc_canonical_url":"\/battlefield-tech\/it-networks\/2021\/06\/01\/army-wants-537-million-boost-for-tactical-network-driven-by-radio-needs\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n