US Army starts fielding WIN-T Increment 2 tactical communication system to Stryker Brigades

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Defence & Security News - United States
 
US Army starts fielding WIN-T Increment 2 tactical communication system to Stryker Brigades
The U.S. Army is fielding the General Dynamics-built Warfighter Information Network –Tactical (WIN-T) Increment 2 to the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division (2/2 SBCT) at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., and the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas. The WIN-T Increment 2 secure communications network backbone is also fielded to 12 infantry Brigade Combat Teams (BCT) and four division headquarters.
     
US Army Stryker Brigades start fielding WIN T Increment 2 tactical communication system 640 0011st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division operate Stryker vehicles equipped with Warfighter Information Tactical Increment 2 (WIN-T Inc 2)
     
"Fielding WIN-T Increment 2 to Army Stryker Brigades closes the communications gap between fast moving SBCTs and 'boots on the ground' soldiers," said Chris Marzilli, president of General Dynamics Mission Systems. "The highly mobile and operationally simplified Increment 2 allows soldiers to quickly and simultaneously address multiple missions in any environment, across the mission field or between continents."


WIN-T is the Army's top-tier, mobile command and control system that connects and protects voice and data communications to support the full spectrum of Army operations worldwide.

General Dynamics Mission Systems' engineers and technology experts are working continuously to make the WIN-T Increment 2 system easier to use, while reducing the size, weight and power needs of the system overall. Ideas and suggestions for system improvements come from soldier feedback during evaluation events, from soldiers returning from their deployments and from training activities both at home base and at the Signal School at the Cyber Center of Excellence at Fort Gordon, Ga.

WIN-T Increment 2 (Inc. 2) brings on-the-move communications to the Soldier’s Network, allowing commanders to use voice and data communications and mission command applications while mobile. These capabilities provide a new “digital reach” the U.S. Army has never before had in the operational environment.

The 10th Mountain Division was the first to have this new capability when it deployed for Afghanistan in July 2013. WIN-T Inc. 2’s unique value was immediately recognized, as it provided soldiers with communications even as fixed infrastructure was removed.

The tactical communication nodes in Inc. 2 are the first step to providing a mobile infrastructure on the battlefield. Consisting of mobile points of presence systems (installed on select vehicles at battalion levels and above, which include four companies of up to 200 soldiers and about 10 to 30 vehicles each), vehicle wireless packages, and the soldier network extension (for Company-level connectivity).

Increment 2 enables mission command from brigade to division to company through a completely ad-hoc, self-forming network. Commanders and select staff now have the ability to maneuver anywhere on the battlefield and maintain connectivity to the network, without the need to stop and set up communications, making them vulnerable to attack.