Army Evaluations Wind Their Way to Equipment Fielding

Capability Set 13 going to eight Brigade Combat Teams

By Scott R. Gourley - January 24, 2013

Synchronized fielding is the outcome of the Network Integration Evaluations (NIEs) and Agile Process, the Army’s new approach to rapidly developing, acquiring, and fielding integrated mission command capabilities. The service is currently executing synchronized fielding efforts as it prepares to deliver Capability Set 13 to deploying Brigade Combat Teams beginning in October. Pictured are networked vehicles at the NIE 12.2, which is took place from May 1 to June 8, 2012, at Fort Bliss, Texas, and White Sands Missile Range, N.M. DoD photo by Claire Schwerin, U.S. Army

“One of the real things out of the NIE that we are doing better is our interface to industry,” he offered, highlighting a process during which the Army can be involved in three different NIEs at any point in time.

For example, in July 2012, elements of the Army organizations that supported NIE 12.2 were completing some of the final reports for that event. At the same time, decisions were being made regarding the final selection of systems under test (SUTs) and systems under evaluation (SUEs) for the upcoming NIE 13.1 in November. Finally, the Army was also in the final planning stages for releasing its initial “sources sought” announcement to solicit potential SUTs and SUEs for NIE 13.2 in May-June 2013.

“Next month we’re going to have our next ‘sources sought’ come out,” Hughes said. “There will be an industry day at Aberdeen Proving Ground immediately following that so we can get people in to see the new capabilities in the labs that we have up there.”

Network Integration Evaluation 12.2 exercise

Soldiers from Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 101st Airborne Division participate in the Army’s Network Integration Evaluation 12.2 exercise, May 9, 2012. This exercise was the largest network exercise the Army has ever attempted and ran from May 1 to June 8. DoD photo by Sgt. Scott Davis, 101st Airborne Division Public Affairs.

Highlighting the value of the new C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) labs established at Aberdeen, Hughes said, “[They] will allow us to not only have the capability to support our efforts as we go through the NIEs but also to support the synchronized fielding piece. If I find an issue on the network I can run through it in the lab at Aberdeen, real time, with the same setup we have either in a unit or down at the NIE, to find out an answer. I don’t have to have soldiers that are doing this in the field. I can do it in the lab and find out why that bit isn’t transiting the network correctly or why one piece of gear doesn’t work with another piece of gear,” he said.

“We’re trying to do all of that up front,” he noted. “But, as with everything in life, you actually find other things as you go along.”

Hughes also raised the issue of the cost savings that have resulted from the Army’s evolution of modernization efforts over the last several years.

“We talked about how we saved $6 billion worth of programs and still provided more capability to the force than we would have with that money in the first place,” he observed. “$4 billion of that was the E-IBCT program, which we figured out really wasn’t what we needed for the future. And every time we do an NIE and every time we do a fielding again we will incrementally find what we need and adjust off an integrated network baseline to get to those pieces of kit that we need that we want to invest in for the future.”

“By aligning our efforts and forcing this integration on the front end, it has had a significant fiscal advantage for the Army and our taxpayers as well,” echoed Morrison. “To date we have saved or avoided about $6 billion that we have been able to apply against other Army priorities, all while fielding more capabilities to operational formations sooner. That’s good for the Army. It’s good for our taxpayers. And it’s good for the nation,” he said.

“We are on a glide path to field eight Brigade Combat Teams as part of Capability Set 13,” Morrison continued. “And we will start fielding our first two brigades – the 3rd and 4th brigades of the 10th Mountain Division – starting this October. The coordination for that fielding is already ongoing.”

Morrison noted that three of the first eight brigades being fielded will be deploying to Afghanistan during the coming year and that three more of the eight will be the “fall in” units that will replace those units in theater. The remaining units will include one brigade in Korea and 2/1 AD at Fort Bliss (2/1 AD is considered to be the “first unit equipped” with CS 13).

“If we had talked to you 18 months ago it would have been a PowerPoint of our theory on how we were going to do network modernization,” Morrison said. “But I’m going to tell you today that we are now executing that strategy and we are well into the throes of that execution.

“So as we hand off these capability sets to deploying units they’re not just getting a box,” he concluded. “They are getting an integrated network as well as all the tactics, techniques, and procedures that have already been learned in the operational NIE setting as well. That is absolutely huge as forces prepare to deploy downrange.”

As of this writing, it appears that the follow-on CS 14, which will be fielded in FY 14, will be focused on adding new capabilities to six Stryker-based Brigade Combat Teams.

This story was first published in Defense: Fall 2012 Edition.