Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
Preparations Underway As US Army Gears Up For Large-Scale Network Evaluations
by Katie Cain
Fort Bliss TX (SPX) Apr 06, 2011


File image courtesy AFP.

As preparations for the Army's Network Integration Evaluation (NIE) kick into high gear, Soldiers, engineers, combat developers and test officials are joining forces at Fort Bliss, Texas, and White Sands Missile Range, N.M., to provide full-time support to what will be the Army's largest and most robust network test and evaluation effort to date.

"We have hundreds of subject matter experts from the test, acquisition and requirements communities converging at Fort Bliss to begin integration work in support of the Army's top modernization priority...delivering an integrated network that will be evaluated during the June through July Network Integration Evaluation," said Colonel John Wendel, Deputy Program Executive Officer for Networks, PEO Integration.

"This is a monumental effort and it requires a new level of integration so we have assembled the right team to make sure we can synchronize the technologies into a composite brigade formation while working to ensure proper instrumentation from a data collection standpoint."

Wendel and his team are in charge of the synchronization and integration of network capability to support the NIE. These personnel, plus numbers that continue to increase weekly, will maintain a permanent presence at Fort Bliss through the end of July to support ongoing NIE efforts.

What has been termed "the largest operational test in the history of the U.S. Army Operational Test Command in terms of number of systems being tested and number of personnel supporting" by the Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC), this year's NIE is actually the first of a series of four major test and evaluation events aimed at synchronizing multiple programs and evaluating technologies to determine how well they fit into a larger, integrated tactical network.

The culminating event in late 2012 will help slate the content for the first Capability Set to be fielded to deploying brigades in the 2013-2014 timeframe. A Capability Set is a total package of networked and non-networked hardware and software fielded to a particular unit.

"The June/July NIE is not a stand alone 'pass/fail' event but the first of four major stepping stones leading to executing a fully integrated Brigade Combat Team Network Evaluation at the end of 2012," commented Paul Mehney, spokesman for PEO Integration. "These events are not individual activities but part of a culminating process that will allow the Army to build the network and then fill it with the best applications and systems that the network can handle."

Additional preparations are being made at the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division (2/1 AD), who will be executing the six-week test and evaluation. The 4,000 plus Soldiers from this unit will make up the first full brigade the Army has used in its test/evaluation process. They have spent the past several months preparing for the NIE in both field training and classroom exercises.

Currently, 2/1 AD is participating in Battle Command System of Systems Integration (BCSoSI) Training at Fort Bliss, designed to train the unit to use all current Command Post equipment in a battle command environment. During the 12-day training exercise that commenced March 14, Soldiers established both brigade and battalion level networked Command Posts and are participating in intensive integration training by conducting Command Post integration exercises.

"The goal is to build the infrastructure and architecture of a fully operational Tactical Operations Center (TOC) - 14 large 'tents' filled with the unit's own equipment," said MAJ Rick Galeano of 2/1 AD.

"This not only ensures the unit has the right level of connectivity to deliver Mission Command information to the Brigade prior to going out into the field, but also determines how emerging network capabilities at both lower and higher tactical levels will integrate into the Command Post and then communicate with each other."

Establishing a baseline with current capabilities at the brigade and battalion level will allow the unit to better assess how new capabilities at the platoon and company level will integrate with current and/or theater provided systems during follow-on communications exercises scheduled in May.

Additionally, the exercise provides an opportunity for the Brigade to carry out various tasks including: validate Command Post infrastructure and network; manage tactical information; learn how to restore capability in case of network malfunction; and create a Common Operational Picture.

Many brigade Soldiers are also enrolled in daily classroom training to learn how to integrate and operate everything from the Joint Tactical Radio System Ground Mobile Radio (JTRS GMR) to remote weapons delivery systems, to Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications (CSDA) - an Army initiative aimed at developing and evaluating handheld applications and capabilities.

Soldiers attend the classes at Brigade Headquarters, where there are six large new classrooms that can accommodate up to 40 Soldiers in each. Others attend equipment training on acres of sprawling motor pool lots, teaming with the latest Army combat and tactical vehicles including Strykers and fully outfitted M-ATVs. As integration efforts progress, the Brigade will begin New Equipment Training (NET) in April with the systems they will be testing and evaluating during NIE.

In June, the entire Brigade with a cadre of test officials will occupy White Sands Missile Range for the start of the test and evaluations. "By integrating systems across the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, we will ensure these capabilities get a thorough operational workout," commented Wendel.

"When the Army fields network capabilities, not all soldiers receive them at the same time. Part of our challenge during these upcoming rehearsal and evaluation events is to figure out how to make sure units who have the new capabilities can talk to units that don't have all the new capabilities. It's all about proper capability integration and real-world, soldier-driven, operationally-relevant evaluations - that's what this entire community is working to solve."

.


Related Links
US Army PEO Integration/PAO
Read the latest in Military Space Communications Technology at SpaceWar.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
Global Military Communications Market In 2010
Amsterdam, Netherlands (SPX) Apr 04, 2011
Despite pressure on defence spending worldwide, military communications look set to remain central to defence procurement and investment in the coming years. Military communications are a vital part of all armed forces, and have grown in scope as technology has continued to advance. Maintaining superior communications capability is paramount for both conventional and limited warfare operat ... read more


MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
84 Teams To Compete In NASA Great Moonbuggy Race

A New View Of Moon

Super Full Moon

LRO Delivers Treasure Trove Of Data

MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
Mars In Spain

Study Of 'Ruiz Garcia' Rock Completed

Next Mars Rover Gets A Test Taste Of Mars Conditions

Alternatives Have Begun In Bid To Hear From Spirit

MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
Branson unveils 'flying' sub to plumb ocean depths

Russia And US To Discuss Nuke-Powered Spaceship Project

Getting To Mars Means Stopping And Landing

Aerojet Propulsion Assists Voyager 1 Precision Maneuver At The Edge Of The Solar System

MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
What Future for Chang'e-2

China setting up new rocket production base

China's Tiangong-1 To Be Launched By Modified Long March II-F Rocket

China Expects To Launch Fifth Lunar Probe Chang'e-5 In 2017

MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
Space Debris No Threat To ISS

Astronauts head to ISS on spaceship Gagarin

Station Fires Engines To Avoid Orbital Debris

Successful First Mission For Aerospace Breakup Recorder

MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
SpaceX Antes Up With Falcon Heavy

India's GSAT-8 Delivered To French Guiana

SpaceX unveils heavy launcher

ILS And Melco Announce Contract For Launch Of Turksat Satellites

MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
White Dwarfs Could Be Fertile Ground For Other Earths

NASA Announces 2011 Carl Sagan Fellows

Report Identifies Priorities For Planetary Science 2013-2022

Planetary Society Statement On Planetary Science Decadal Survey For 2013-2022

MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS
Japan stems uncontrolled leak from nuclear plant

Facebook launches page for journalists

Radioactive water leak into sea stops at Fukushima: Jiji

Reppler helps Facebook users look good online




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement