UPFRONT

May 2006

Army Networks Test Limits Of Commercial Technologies

By Sandra I. Erwin

A tactical communications system currently deployed with Army battalions in Iraq and Afghanistan proves that commercial technology, for the most part, can meet military requirements. But the system also accentuates the difficulties of incorporating rapidly changing commercial technologies into lumbering Defense Department procurement cycles.

The Army began fielding the new satellite-based communications system, called the joint network nodes, or JNN, in 2004. While it normally would have taken the Army a decade or more to field a system of this complexity, it was only a matter of months for JNN to come to fruition. An influx of war-emergency funds and urgent requests from commanders for modern battlefield communications propelled the procurement and fielding of JNN to every unit tagged for Iraq or Afghanistan deployments.

While typically the Army would not field a system until it has been approved for combat use by an independent testing agency, JNN was needed in such a rush that the Army waived the traditional tests. Now, after two years in operation, JNN’s performance finally will be assessed by the Army Test and Evaluation Command.

There are no military-unique components in JNN except the humvee shelter where the system is set up for battlefield operations, says Michael LeBrun, an Army acquisition official who oversees JNN procurement. Inside the shelter, he says, all the components of JNN are items purchased from commercial vendors: Cisco routers, Juniper firewalls, IBM Blade servers and commercial satellite modems, among others. Even a satellite dish trailer towed behind is similar to the one that TV networks bring to Iraq to cover the war, LeBrun says.

There was no time for JNN to be tested before it went to war, he says. “We’ve done contractor tests. ATEC did a formal assessment in the theater,” but the first JNN formal test will take place in June.

The program demonstrates why the Pentagon’s procurement structure needs to change, LeBrun says. Often times, programs require two years’ worth of tests before they are fielded. That extended cycle is incompatible with the pace of commercial communications and network technology, which already would be obsolete by the time the testing is completed.

“The testers haven’t figured out how to test networks,” says LeBrun. “They will tell you that they know how to do it, but it’s a challenge.”

To be able to acquire JNN and deliver it to the units quickly enough, the Army had to jump through many bureaucratic hoops. “Our structures haven’t adapted,” LeBrun says. “It’s been tough buying these things.” The commercial industry already is saying that Moore’s Law — which stipulates that technology gets transformed every 18 months — is for wimps, he says. “We can’t program dollars fast enough. It takes 18 months to get ready for a test event. I’m obsolete by the time I get to test.”

Although the Army already has seen JNN in operation, it still wants ATEC evaluators to stress the system under rigorous conditions, and expects that the results of these tests will influence future JNN upgrades.

“We know very well how it works in Iraq,” LeBrun says. But questions remain about JNN’s performance in a fast-moving battlefield.

If a conflict erupted in the Korean Peninsula, for example, it would be a “highly mobile battle,” he says. “We need to test JNN under those conditions of mobility.”

In Iraq, units have benefited from an abundance of fiber-optic networks and line-of-sight radios. But the environment could be entirely different elsewhere, says LeBrun. “We don’t know how JNN supports a force on the move, and we haven’t characterized that as well as we’d like to.”

The JNN tests will be incorporated into training exercises at Fort Hood, Texas, and Fort Irwin, Calif., with the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division. A battalion or brigade will set up the network and shortly afterward, the unit will be asked to redeploy to a new location. Soldiers will have to tear down the equipment and set it up again at the new location. The goal is not just to time the move, but also to stress the network with loads of traffic — video, voice or mission reports from higher command.

“The communicator’s frustration always has been turning everything off and saying ‘sorry guys,’” says Lt. Col. Chuck Gabrielson, an Army communications expert who commanded troops in Iraq. “You have to move forward and set up as quickly as you a can — while the brigade commanders are screaming obscenities and throwing things at you because they want their networks now.”

Even though JNN is far more mobile than the Cold War-era technology it replaced, it requires more than just turning on a switch, Gabrielson says. “It’s complicated to manage all that.”

Because JNN is satellite based, “It stays better with rapidly moving forces. You don’t have to control areas between command posts. You can be hundreds of miles apart and communicate as long as you are under the same satellite.” A battalion area of operations can extend to 5,000 square miles.

One of the most commonly heard complaints about commercial computer networks is that they don’t perform well in extreme temperatures, but the Army has, over time, learned how to work around that problem, he says. “We have enough experience with commercial items that we know what will work and won’t. We know the window of when it’ll die or survive … A Cisco router at 105 degrees is going to start having problems.”

The Army Test and Evaluation Command would not release any of the results of previous JNN informal assessments conducted in Iraq. An ATEC spokesman, Thomas Rheinlander, says those results are classified. ATEC will keep on testing the system even though it’s already been deployed and additional JNN hardware is scheduled to be purchased, he adds. “As the JNN system matures, ATEC will continue its testing efforts using the ‘test-fix-test’ concept to work hand-and-hand with the R&D efforts of the program managers.”

Another issue JNN officials are contending with is how to go about procuring future systems via an open industry competition. Currently there is only one contractor — General Dynamics — overseeing the project. The company already has delivered seven divisions’ worth of JNN networks. Future buys will need to be opened to other bidders, as required by law, LeBrun says. It is not yet clear how the Army will manage this competition, which is expected to be worth nearly a billion dollars. Army officials are struggling with this, he says. JNN is a complex program with lots of moving parts, and it does not conform neatly into the Army’s traditional procurements.

The upcoming JNN competition could determine the outcome of another communications program that the Army predicts might be the next iteration of JNN — a mobile network that does not need to be broken down and set up again every time the unit shifts location.

This program, called the “war fighter information network tactical,” or WIN-T, also is being developed by General Dynamics. Recent tests at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., showed promising results, although the technology has a way to go before it is ready for combat, LeBrun says.

A system such as WIN-T would be a communications panacea because it would allow non-stop distribution of data throughout the battlefield down to the individual soldier, Gabrielson says. “Dissemination of information at the lowest level is incredibly difficult, but also incredibly important.”

In the WIN-T program — currently estimated to cost $1.4 billion — commercial technologies alone will not suffice, he says. “We deploy full communications and battle command on the move: that’s a military unique requirement. The commercial sector doesn’t have to do that. We integrate our equipment into vehicles that have a lot more other things. The integration is a challenge.” Much of the equipment required in WIN-T is the same as JNN equipment but the satellite modem is military unique, for use with military satellites. “We need very high throughput,” Gabrielson says. “We need a gimbaled antenna that can steer at the satellite as you bounce across rough terrain … Those things are developmental, and take time and money.”

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