Army news service (Sept. 17, 2004): soldiers to see tactical network sooner.

FORT MONMOUTH, N.J. -- Soldiers may see the future of tactical network technology sooner, officials said, because the Army is proceeding under a revised acquisition strategy for the network.

Two industry teams that were each under separate contracts with the Army to develop the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical, known as WIN-T, have now combined forces.

Under the previous acquisition strategy, officials said, the future network solution would have been defined in late 2005 when the Army was scheduled to select one of the two contractors, General Dynamics or Lockheed Martin. Combining contractors establishes a single baseline for the WIN-T program rather than two possibilities as offered by competing WIN-T teams, according to Col. Angel Colon, the WIN-T project manager.

"This combined effort will allow us to settle the WIN-T network architecture within the next four months," Colon said. "A single-baseline approach sets the conditions to incrementally provide capabilities to the current force."

General Dynamics C4 Systems and Lockheed Martin Mission Systems were originally awarded contracts in August 2002 to conduct pre-system development and demonstration activities for WIN-T. The contracts called for the two teams to develop capabilities in parallel before selecting a single contractor immediately prior to production.

The new acquisition approach was authorized Sept. 10 by Acting Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology and Logistics) Michael W. Wynne, the Defense acquisition executive for the program, according to Army officials.

"Soldiers will benefit from this combined effort because it opens the door for the latest in information technology to be fielded where real-time, quality information is most highly valued--with our deployed and combat-ready units," Colon said.

"The single baseline approach also provides a single focus for other interdependent developmental efforts, including the Future Combat Systems and Joint Tactical Radio Systems," said Don Keller, project director for WIN-T. "The Army will also benefit in the final product by incorporating the strongest features of each contractor's design in a best-of-breed approach.

WIN-T is envisioned by G-6 to become the Army's integrating communications network, keeping soldiers connected through a high-speed, highly secure wireless network that will deliver voice, data, and video.

WIN-T will be the Army's tactical extension of the Global Information Grid, officials said. Under the new acquisition approach, General Dynamics will act as the prime contractor for WIN-T, and Lockheed Martin will provide complementary technical expertise and capabilities as a major subcontractor responsible for 50 percent of the effort.

(Information provided by the Fort Monmouth-based Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications-Tactical.)