AC Summer 08 WIN-T Online - United States Army Signal Center of ...

Sensor, have shown an interest in
using the WIN-T Communications
Payload for direct dissemination of
platform data, as well.
Additionally, WIN-T is examining
the potential to deploy the
WCP on a high altitude platform.
These platforms can fly to altitudes
in excess of 60,000 feet, to provide
greater coverage with minimal
effects from weather.
In Increment 3, WIN-T will
deliver the first Internet Protocolbased
network node in the sky.
Using multi-beam directional
antennas coupled with the WIN-T
High-band Networking Waveform,
the airborne layer will provide
continuous robust network connectivity
to the ground nodes and allow
for on-the-move communication in
locations previously unreachable.
For more information on the
WIN-T Communications Payload,
please e-mail Timothy Rider, of the
CECOM Life Cycle Management
Command Public Affairs Office, at
Timothy.Rider@us.army.mil.
Denee Lake is the Project Lead for
the Air Tier in PM WIN-T.
ACRONYM QUICKSCAN
BLOS – Beyond Line-of-Sight
CLCMC – CECOM Life Cycle
Management Command
ER/MP – Extended Range Multi-
Purpose
HNW – High-band Networking
Waveform
LCMC – Life Cycle Management
Command
WCP – WIN-T Communications
Payload
WIN-T – Warfighter Information
Network-Tactical
Users examine
WIN-T Inc 1’s
challenges, successes,
lessons learned
By LTC Rodney Mentzer and Josh
Davidson
WIN-T Increment 1…Enabling
Army Transformation Today
After switching to WIN-T
Increment 1 from its predecessor,
the Mobile Subscriber Equipment
Network, “our pipe size increased
drastically,” said. SFC David Heil,
1/34 Brigade Combat Team.
“Where before, we were
having problems just getting files
across the network and getting
simple things moved from point ‘A’
to point ‘B’ for coordination, now
we’re getting a live feed,” he said.
WIN-T Increment 1, formerly
called the Joint Network Node-
Network, provides battalion-level
and above warfighters with the
ability to connect to the Army’s
digitized systems, voice, data, and
video via satellite Internet connection.
The story behind WIN-T
Increment 1 began with the launches
of 2001’s Operation Enduring
Freedom in Afghanistan and 2003’s
Operation Iraqi Freedom. The
system was developed as an immediate
response to the need for a
beyond line-of-sight communications
pipe. The need for that type of
capability surfaced when GEN
William S. Wallace led the Army in
a run for Baghdad, Iraq. Wallace
recognized that the pace of the war
outran the coalition forces’ ability to
communicate, which revealed a
gaping hole in the way they fought.
As the 3rd Infantry Division
was deployed to Iraq to support
OIF, the need for an evolution of
Mobile Subscribe Equipment, the 20year-old
existing LOS satellite
communications network, became
evident.
LOS communications limit the
warfighter’s communications to
areas they can see.
WIN-T Increment 1 is assigned
to Project Manager Warfighter
Information Network-Tactical of the
Army’s Program Executive Office for
Command, Control, and Communications
Tactical. What follows in this
article is a summarization of discussions
which took place at the first
annual WIN-T Increment 1 users
conference held at Fort Monmouth,
N.J., last fall.
Evolution to WIN-T Increment 1
BG Nick Justice, the PEO for
C3T, began the conference by
thanking the users for their role in
WIN-T Increment 1’s progress since
the Army’s first rotation into Iraq.
“They asked me to talk about
how we got to where we are
today…I can do that with one word:
you,” Justice told the users.
During WIN-T Increment 1’s
inception, staff from various Army
organizations such as Training and
Doctrine Command and the Signal
Center laid down a new infrastructure
for communications Army
wide, Justice said.
“We broke the old infrastructure
and put a new infrastructure in
place… We have done a tremendous
job to collectively change our
Army,” he said.
BG Jeffrey Smith Jr., commander
for 5th Signal Command in
Germany, was “absolutely right,”
when he said, “The road for WIN-T
is through JNN,” Justice added.
“If anybody in here asks the
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