In announcing the fielding and start of new equipment training, the Army’s System of Systems Integration (SoSI) Directorate described CS 13 as “the first fully integrated package of radios, satellite systems, software applications, smartphone-like devices and other network components that provide an integrated connectivity from the static tactical operations center to the commander on-the-move to the dismounted soldier.”

It is anticipated that the CS 13 equipped brigades will be deployed to Afghanistan after several months of rigorous classroom courses and hands-on experience with the systems.

According to the Army’s announcement, “CS 13 is ideal for missions in austere environments such as Afghanistan because it provides mobile mission command to all echelons of the BCT. As U.S. forces continue to draw down in Afghanistan they will turn over many of their Forward Operating Bases and other infrastructure to the local forces, thus gradually losing fixed network infrastructure locations. CS 13 systems provide mobile satellite and robust radio capability for commanders and soldiers to take the network with them in vehicles and while dismounted as they conduct combat and security assistance missions. This mobile network greatly reduces the reliance [on] fixed infrastructure.”

The Army projects fielding the CS 13 package to a total of eight brigades, although the changes in the JTRS program noted above may contribute to a situation where the exact radio hardware elements will differ between the initially fielded CS 13 brigades and those BCTs that will receive their equipment later in the fiscal year.

Even as the initial BCTs were receiving their equipment, elements of 2/1 AD were back in the field in late October 2012, helping the Army to identify potential follow-on Capability Set 14 package elements during NIE 13.1. The findings and observations from that evaluation will feed the larger follow-on NIE 13.2 event, which will be held at White Sands in the May 2013 time frame.

In addition to continuing exploration of certain network enhancements, the 13.2 event will also increase its focus on non-networked operational energy issues, “to reduce operational energy consumption for mounted and dismounted soldiers, and to improve operational energy utilization efficiency.”

 

Ground Combat Vehicle

A second identified 2012 Army modernization emphasis in the Posture Statement surrounds the Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) program.

“The Infantry Fighting Vehicle is reaching the limit of its capacity to receive technology upgrades proven critical for soldiers in combat operations,” it reads. “The GCV is the Army’s replacement program for the Infantry Fighting Vehicle and the centerpiece of the Army’s overall combat vehicle investment strategy. It will be designed to deliver a full nine-man squad with improved survivability protection, mobility and network integration, considered crucial to our ability to conduct fire and maneuver in close quarters fighting in complex terrain. The vehicle will also provide the growth potential necessary to accommodate advances in protection, networking and space, weight, power and cooling technologies while reducing sustainment demands.

“No current vehicle can sufficiently meet all these requirements,” the statement adds, noting, “The GCV acquisition strategy implements affordability measures designed to ensure the long-term success of the program as the Army faces constrained resources in the future.”

As of this writing, the GCV program is executing across what service representatives describe as “the three prongs” of the program as directed by the August 2011 GCV Acquisition Decision Memorandum: a competition for the Technology Development (TD) phase of the program; a simultaneous examination of non-developmental vehicle options to the system designs being explored under TD; and an update to the base analysis of alternatives (AoA) for GCV that supported the program’s entry into its TD phase.