A WIN-T Increment Two test vehicle awaits movement instruction during the WIN-T technology demonstration on Nov. 5, 2007, at Naval Air Engineering Station, Lakehurst, NJ. (U.S. Army photo by Russ Meseroll.)

In the future, the Army will continue to provide many capabilities to enhance the warfighter’s ability to fulfill his or her mission. Its communications pipe will expand to allow for such capabilities. Known as Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) Increment One (formerly the Joint Network Node-Network), the communications pipe used by today’s Soldier is filled with information that includes command and control applications and sensor-based video of the battlefield.

Bandwidth amounts will expand in WIN-T’s three remaining increments to support that data, as applications will always continue to fill the Army’s network. Future applications should be created with this in mind. “Part of the challenge is using that bandwidth smartly, because it’s not like a dial that you can just turn and crank up the amount of bandwidth that you have,” said COL William C. Hoppe, WIN-T Project Manager. “At some point it is finite. The spectrum is finite, so we have to find ways to use it smarter. Not just make the pipes bigger, but make our applications smarter and make our use of that finite spectrum more efficient.”

The remaining three WIN-T increments will allow the application’s data to be pushed to increasingly lower echelons. The immediate difference between WIN-T Increment One and WIN-T’s subsequent increments is WIN-T Increment One provides communications capabilities at the quick halt, where “you basically have to stop to communicate,” Hoppe said. WIN-T Increments Two and Three will bring the initial and full on-the-move capability, where stopping is not required for communications.

Known as WIN-T Increment One, the communications pipe used by today’s Soldier is filled with information that includes command and control applications and sensor-based video of the battlefield.

Hoppe used a cell phone scenario to illustrate the differences between the separate increments. “Your cell phone is a mobile device, but as soon as you leave the coverage area of your cell phone tower, you drop your signal,” he said. “That’s Increment One, where you have communications at the halt within a footprint. In Increment Two, we’re going to take that cell tower equivalent infrastructure and we’re going to move it along with the mobile device, so you have communications every place you have your infrastructure.”

The story behind WIN-T Increment One began with the launches of 2001’s Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and 2003’s Operation Iraqi Freedom. The system was developed as an immediate response for a beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) communications pipe. Its predecessor, the 20-year-old Mobile Subscribe Equipment network, only provides line-of-sight communications.

The WIN-T demonstration days educated the Army community about WIN-T and demonstrated its early progress. Here, WIN-T test vehicles are shown at the WIN-T technology demonstration. (U.S. Army photo.)

Mobile operations continue today, where commanders are provided with huge flexibility to move their infrastructure while maintaining communications. “In today’s fight, when they [commanders] are in the forward operating bases, they can rely on stationary or at-the-halt communications,” said Hoppe. “But, as we start moving people out into the combat outposts and we move in temporary things as we retake areas, we need to be able to take that infrastructure and set it up quickly to allow commanders to have communications. All of that comes with Increment One and Increment Two.”

Satellite communications are the focus of the present fight. Commercial KU band satellites are greatly needed for command and control operations. DOD initiatives, such as the recent launching of the Wideband Global Satellite Communications satellite, will reduce some reliance on commercial KU. The satellite, which is said to provide more than 10 times the communications capacity of its predecessor — the Defense Satellite Communications System III — was successfully launched on Oct. 10, 2007.

WIN-T provides the communications pipe that allows commanders to connect to ABCS 6.4 or situational awareness-related systems that allow them to make quicker and more effective decisions.

The ability to maintain communication links beyond the warfighter’s vision range will also play a role. “It has given flexibility to the commanders,” Hoppe remarked. “They like being able to communicate BLOS. That’s something that WIN-T Increment One currently provides and that the air tier will eventually provide when we get to Increment Three.”

Increment Three brings in air tiers, so that satellites are not always needed, and rolls it out to the rest of the Army. It brings some required configurations to support Future Combat Systems brigades. Increment Four is a bit more specialized. “That’s where we’re taking advantage of the secure anti-jam, low probability detection satellite communications off of things like the Transformation Satellite Communications system into our radio systems,” continued Hoppe.

WIN-T provides the communications pipe that allows commanders to connect to Army Battle Command Systems (ABCS) 6.4 or situational awareness-related systems that allow them to make quicker and more effective decisions. ABCS 6.4 is a suite of digital systems that include capabilities such as intelligence reports, digital fires planning, logistics layouts and terrain analysis. “It’s allowed the commanders to take those applications that they currently have and use them in a continuous fight,” said Hoppe. “They sometimes haven’t had the opportunity to use them before because they have had disconnected communications.”

COL William C. Hoppe, WIN-T Project Manager, discusses the system’s capabilities at the WIN-T technology demonstration. (U.S. Army photo.)

A broken communications link prevents the update of battlefield progress and the common operational picture (COP) that commanders share. “Now, we can continue that operational link, so that those COPs stay populated,” Hoppe said.

The future’s 30 node test, limited user tests and the Initial Operational Test and Evaluation will be critical steps, as were the WIN-T demonstration days held Nov. 5-6, 2007. The demonstration day was held to allow senior leaders to “see what we are seeing in terms of progress,” said Hoppe. The VIP Day was an opportunity to educate the Army community on WIN-T and demonstrate its early progress. It was a chance for members of the community to see and touch things that were not real 5 months prior. “If they don’t get an opportunity to see the real thing, except at major test events, then they can’t gauge the progress and they don’t get as excited about where we’re at as we are. We get to see the stuff — some of us daily — and learn how real it is. At the demonstration, we get to make it real for them,” Hoppe concluded.

Project Manager WIN-T is assigned to the Army’s Program Executive Office Command, Control and Communications Tactical (PEO C3T), Fort Monmouth, NJ.

JOSHUA DAVIDSON supports the PEO C3T Chief Knowledge Office at Fort Monmouth.He holds a B.A. in journalism and professional writing from the College of New Jersey (formerly Trenton State College). He previously worked as a municipal beat reporter for the Ocean County Observer.He has also written investigative and feature articles for many other publications.