US Army starts testing enhanced WIN-T Increment 2 tactical communication system 20410162

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Defence & Security News - United States
 
 
US Army starts testing enhanced WIN-T Increment 2 tactical communication system
General Dynamics Mission Systems announced today that new and improved versions of two key Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) Increment 2 capabilities have begun the test and evaluation process at U.S. Army installations across the country.
     
US Army starts testing enhanced WIN T Increment 2 tactical communication system 640 001The US Army is providing lighter weight, more transportable configurations of its tactical communications network backbone, WIN-T, including air transportable HMMWVs
(Credit: US Army/JRTC Public Affairs)
     
Integrated on HMMWVs instead of five-ton FMTVs, both the Tactical Communications Node-Lite (TCN-L) and the Network Operations and Security Center-Lite (NOSC-L) feature a greatly reduced footprint and improved transportability for expeditionary operations (C-130 roll-on/roll off and CH-47 sling loadable). The TCN-L and NOSC-L provide the same networking and network management capability to command posts while reducing the complexity to install, operate and maintain the Army’s mobile tactical communications network.

“These capabilities provide the Army a more agile network capability and greater expeditionary reach,” said Bill Weiss, vice president and general manager of the Ground Systems line of business at Mission Systems. “Additionally, the smaller footprint will result in reduced maintenance and logistics costs, which is crucial in today’s resource-constrained environment.”

Mission Systems has delivered four TCN-Ls and two NOSC-Ls to the Army to begin the test and evaluation process as part of the lead up to more formalized operational testing at the Army Network Integration Evaluation 17.2 in 2017. This testing includes wide area network transmission performance, safety and environmental and electromagnetic interference testing.

Additionally, Mission Systems is performing preliminary logistics and software evaluations on a TCN-L and a NOSC-L. Four additional TCN-Ls and one NOSC-L are currently in production and are expected to enter the test and evaluation process by the end of October.

WIN-T Increment 2 is the Army’s wide-area tactical communication network that delivers voice and data services across the battlefield. It entered full rate production in June 2015 and has been fielded to seven division headquarters and 14 brigade combat teams.