AFCEA SIGNAL Scape

The U.S. Army has taken delivery of equipment of the first increment of the Warfighter Information Network–Tactical (WIN-T). This phase of the program builds on the former Joint Network Node network and offers high-capacity secure communications when warfighters are not in transit. Devices include network hubs, management suites and nodes. The 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Stryker Brigade Combat Team is training with the equipment to prepare for operational tests and evaluations. The second increment of the program will include an initial on-the-move broadband networking capability using satellite and radio links. Fielding of phase-two equipment is scheduled to occur next year.

Members of the U.S. Coast Guard First District command center participated in an experiment simulating a scenario that examined decisions and actions to locate a vessel of interest and prevent a potential terrorist incursion. The Coast Guard worked with Raytheon Company on the experiment and used the company’s Mission Profiling process to study the potential for theoretical decision support tools and concepts of operations to improve a Coast Guard district command center’s maritime security mission. Several tools and concepts demonstrated potential for further investigation. The exercise was the first joint experiment under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement signed by Raytheon and the Coast Guard Research and Development Center.

The U.S. Navy has commissioned the first littoral combat ship (LCS). The 378-foot USS Freedom features interchangeable mission packages so that it can be reconfigured for antisubmarine, mine and surface warfare on an as-needed basis. It is filled with advanced networking capabilities that enable it to share tactical information with other Navy aircraft, ships and submarines as well as with joint units. USS Freedom can operate in water that is less than 20 feet deep and can travel at speeds exceeding 40 knots. In addition to tactical and communications tasks, the new LCS will serve as the platform for launch and recovery of manned and unmanned vehicles.

Here are some notable quotes from the November issue of SIGNAL Magazine. For the complete table of contents, click here

“There is no truly joint network here, just an Army network with joint subscribers.” —Col. John B. Hildebrand, USA, commander, 11th Signal Brigade, in Tactical Communications Advances Seize The Day in Iraq

“Cost is a big issue. No one is going to pay any amount just because the word ‘fuel cell’ appears on it.” —Jacob Weiss, president, Medis Technologies Limited, in Personal Power Takes a Walk

“We have operations in cyberspace, not cyberspace operations.” —Col. Wayne A. Parks, USA, director, U.S. Army Information Operations and U.S. Army Computer Network Operation-Electronic Warfare Proponents, Combined Arms Command, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in Army Programs Face Daunting Challenges

This month’s featured image:

Pfc. John Beckett, assigned to Company B, 1st Special Troops Battalion, Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division–Baghdad, surfs the Internet at an Internet cafe that opened in September at the Morale, Welfare and Recreation facility on Forward Operating Base Falcon, Iraq. Beckett, a multichannel transmission systems operator from Buffalo, New York, says the new Internet cafe is a convenience for him because he does not own a personal computer.

“Significant change” is needed in how organizations approach questions of efficiency and effectiveness, writes Lt. Gen. Harry D. Raduege Jr., USAF (Ret.) in this month’s Incoming column, Change Is a Requisite for the Future of Network-Centric Operations. Noting how businesses are embracing Internet-based Web services and social networking media, he makes a case for a culture of risk-taking and risk managment, and an ecosystem-like, nodal information structure to better achieve an interoperable information core and cut down on translation overhead. While he doesn’t discount the security, privacy and intellectual property issues that will come up, he says that we’re already well past anywhere we might have dreamed of just 10 years ago, and emphasizes that government must keep pace:

Continuous improvement in cybersecurity, situational awareness, decision making and response to events across all organizational venues is a national imperative and is being driven by speed. Technology is evolving at a rate that continues to leave behind those who lack the agility to accommodate its accelerating rate of change. Achieving this agility requires institutionalizing a culture of risk taking and risk management, along with streamlined acquisition processes.

The single enterprise concept or vertically oriented approach is not the answer. Power lies in shaping and advancing information and knowledge sharing as a global capability across all operational entities. This will create a competitive advantage that denies opportunities to adversaries and is capable of responding to their actions with speed, precision and measured effect. The resultant global adaptive network of networks eventually will challenge, if not render obsolete, present views on bandwidth limitations, information assurance, reliability and connectivity.

…

To date, the need for cultural change has exceeded the flexibility of traditional organizations. Moreover, federal acquisition principles, processes and practices have become obsolete and cumbersome as the rate of technology advancement accelerates. In short, the federal government has yet to adapt to this new world—a world of technical and cultural change that advances at a rate inconceivable even 10 years ago.

You can read his entire column here. And, for discussion on SIGNAL Scape this month:
How do you keep up with the rapid advances in technology and changes in culture that result from them? How can government agencies adapt to these changes more readily?

The U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force have signed a memorandum of agreement that will leverage development, production, sustainment and upgrade efforts for the RQ-4-based programs under each of the services. The agreement enables the services to continue to pursue common objectives across the RQ-4 enterprise while retaining each service’s specific mission and operational requirements. Military officials believe the agreement will promote cost savings and eliminate redundancies. The new memorandum will allow the Navy and Air Force to share data that will help ensure program effectiveness and help contractors increase quality and improve on-time delivery, they say.

The Malicious Code Research Center, Finjan Incorporated, has discovered examples of obfuscated code embedded not only in hypertext markup language Web pages on legitimate Web sites but also in rich-content files. According to a recently released Finjan report, popularity is increasing for online advertisements as well as user-generated content on Web 2.0 Web sites in directing users to malware-infected content files. Code obfuscation remains the preferred cybercriminal technique for their attacks, the report states.

The U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems’ (FCS’s) Active Protection System (APS) has successfully passed stationary and moving target tests. The APS is designed to protect the FCS family of future manned vehicles from a variety of anti-tank and artillery projectiles. The APS is a vehicle-mounted system that defeats incoming threats such as rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank guided missiles by physically destroying or deflecting them in flight. The APS launches vertically and then maneuvers to defeat single or multiple projectiles coming in from any direction.

The U.S. Army has begun its first large-scale deployment of a warfighter-wearable gunshot and sniper detection solution. The Army’s Rapid Equipping Force will begin distributingSoldier-Wearable Acoustic Targeting Systems (SWATS) to soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq later this year; the distribution is expected to be complete by early next year. Part of the Ears Gunshot Localization System family of products, SWATS includes next-generation sensors and is ruggedized so that it can be used in current operations.

The South Asia Terrorism Portal monitors terrorism events in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Recent incidents and news events are listed on the portal’s main page. The site also includes an extensive, if dated (it was written in 2003), overview of South Asian security issues. Links provide information on specific national data for the region as well as events and groups operating within India. Visitors also can access online issues of Faultlines, a journal of internal security issues in South Asia.