MDNG signal company gets first dibs on Communication upgrade

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”2174″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeIn”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1500649643985{margin: 0px !important;border-width: 0px !important;padding: 0px !important;}”]By Staff Sgt. Michael Davis Jr., Maryland National Guard Public Affairs Office[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css_animation=”fadeIn”]The Maryland Army National Guard’s Company C (Signal) of the 29th Infantry Division was the first unit in the Army to field and train on the latest tactical network at the Military Reservation in Pikesville Md., Jan. 14, 2015.

Known as the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical Increment 1 (WIN-T Inc 1), it provides Soldiers at the battalion level and above with a high-capacity voice, data and video communications.

This networking system has been a major support for over 94 percent of the Army and National Guard’s tactical network and a full range of military operations since 2004.

“It’s about getting better communication to the Guard,” said Maj. Gen. Daniel P. Hughes, program executive officer for command, control, communications-tactical. “This really will increase the ability of this unit to support the nation in the fight or even support the governor.”

Hughes said the new upgrades on the WIN-T Inc 1 would allow faster responses when there are natural disasters and the Maryland National Guard is needed to support its citizens.

“Look what happened to Hurricane Sandy on the coast of New Jersey, there are places right now that don’t have basic services. The Guard’s critical mission in the state is now enhanced greatly. It’s great to have the Guard getting [this] first,” Hughes said.

The four modernizations to the WIN-T Inc 1 networks are: End Of Life Technical Refresh (EOL Tech Refresh), the WIN-T Inc 1b Upgrade, Network operations (NetOps) Convergence Upgrade, and the High Capacity Line Of Sight (HCLOS) Radio upgrade.

The EOL upgrades include new commercial hardware and software components such as routers, switches, servers and firewalls. The new products reduce size, weight and power (SWaP) by combining capabilities that once required their own hardware on virtualized servers.

The EOL also enables the Army to reduce the number of required Increment 1 transit cases by one third, shedding 1,000 cases over the next three years, and reduces the weight of the remaining cases.

The WIN-T Inc 1b upgrade adds the Network Centric Waveform (NCW) modem that takes advantage of NCW, a dynamic waveform that optimizes bandwidth and satellite utilization. Another key attribute of the NCW is that it enables Soldiers to send all information across the battlefield securely.

“The 1b allows us to do a number of different things,” said Lt. Col Joel Babbitt, product manager for WIN-T Increment 1. “It makes the Increment 1 a Swiss Army knife of communications. We could put Top Secret traffic through it; we could commercial traffic through it like we’re doing right now for Operations United Systems in West Africa for Ebola response.

The NetOps Convergence Upgrade simplifies and reduces the number of network management tools that communications officers use to manage the tactical communications network.

And finally, the HCLOS radio upgrade provides more than a fourfold increase in throughput, enabling higher-data applications such as full-motion video, high definition video teleconferencing, and network convergence.

Twelve National Guardsmen within this Maryland-based signal company have the privilege to learn, utilize and to train their fellow Soldiers on the new the WIN-T upgrades.

“Some of the other Soldiers couldn’t make the training today, so moving forward we’re going to have to get them up to speed, just in case one of us is out,” said Sgt. Dewayne Carruth, a nodal network systems operator-maintainer, with the 29th Inf. Div.

An aggressive fielding schedule is planned to rapidly bring this new equipment capability to all Army WIN-T 1 units by the end of 2017.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]