Supporting Objective Force

The Army's Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) program, a tactical intranet for wired and wireless voice, data and video communications, will support the warfighting capabilities of Objective Force, said Col. Tom Cole, WIN-T project manager at the Army Communications-Electronics Command in Fort Monmouth, N.J.

Fielding Objective Force, which will transform the Army's forces to make them better able to survive an all-out fight, by the end of the decade will require not only WIN-T, but its integration with other transformational systems, including:

* Future Combat System — The Army's vision for FCS is to create an integrated battlespace, in which networked information and communications systems provide a competitive edge to soldiers in the field and commanders in the control room. The lead systems integrator team, Boeing Co.'s Space and Communications Group and Science Applications International Corp., was awarded a $154 million contract in March and in June added eight more companies to the mix.

* Joint Tactical Radio System — The Army in June awarded Boeing Co. an $856 million contract to lead the development and initial production of the first generation of JTRS, which uses software-centric radios that can be programmed to patch users into various radio frequencies, unlike today's radios, which are not interoperable.