Joint Network Node (JNN)
The Joint Network Node was begun through supplemental appropriations bills as a near-term fix until the objective system, the warfighter information network, is fielded. Because of delays in the objective system, the program has mushroomed into a multi-billion dollar, sole source procurement program.
The Joint Network Node (JNN) responded to a 2004 urgent needs statement from U.S. Central Command to provide communications capabilities better than the current Mobile Subscriber Equipment in Army units today. The requirement was met with commercial-off-the-shelf-based equipment using a sole source contract. The WIN-T program meets the same requirements as JNN but with greater capability. Moreover, WIN-T will provide a communications-on-the-move capability while the JNN will not.
Immediately after OIF-1, the Army launched an ambitious fielding of JNN that solved a significant portion of the bandwidth problem. It used OIF supplemental funds to equip each division rotation into Iraq, beginning with the 3 ID in 2004. This fielding was unencumbered by the formal acquisition process of a program of record. In other words, JNN fielding was on track to be good, fast, and, at less than $100 million per division, cheap. The JNN was first fielded to the 3 ID for its second rotation to Iraq. During OIF-1, the 3 ID's 123rd Signal Battalion had been equipped with MSE. Upon returning to CONUS after OIF-1, the 3 ID had converted to a modular force, deactivated its signal battalion, and exchanged its MSE assemblages for the JNN suite. This was a monumental effort. Faced with a twelve-month turnaround to Iraq, the division had to accept an expedited fielding plan. In less than a year, the division stood down its signal battalion and retrained its personnel with the new equipment, particularly the satellite systems operators.
The Joint Network Node (JNN) mobile communications system went from design to fielding less than six months. The system was designed as a collaborative effort led by the Army's Project Manager for Tactical Radio Communications Systems with General Dynamics C4 Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Research Development and Engineering Center, U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command Software Engineering Center and other Army organizations.
The Army awarded General Dynamics an initial contract for engineering development of the JNN in February 2004 and the first systems were delivered in August 2004. The company also received a $9.3 million contract on Sept. 28, 2004, to deliver additional JNN equipment over the following 12 months. The Army began using the equipment in mission readiness exercises in advance of the 3rd Infantry Division's deployment to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. By October 2004 US Army soldiers at Ft. Stewart, Ga., had completed training on JNN.
By October 2004 the 3rd Infantry Division had replaced a 15-year-old communications system with an Internet-inspired system that will substantially increase its communications capabilities and support its conversion to a modular formation. Replacing the Army's Mobile Subscriber Equipment is the Joint Network Node network, a mobile system that uses an array of networking components that can operate out of modular unit-of-employment headquarters, brigade combat team and battalion echelons. The JNN takes advantage of satellite access and up-to-date commercial Internet technology to increase bandwidth throughout the division and improve the reliability and agility of the communications network.
The U.S. Department of Defense through its contract authority, the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, reallocated $247 million to deploy the system to the 101st Airborne Division, the 4th Infantry Division and the 10th Mountain Division with deliveries scheduled to begin in January 2005.
The JNN is not a joint program and that the Army General Counsel has stated that JNN must be competitively procured. Further, the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation's Fiscal Year 2005 Annual Report, states that, `the Army continues to procure JNN as an interim satellite capability without conducting an Operational Test and Evaluation.'
Even though it was not a program of record, JNN would be subjected to an initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E), just like a program of record. JNN was awarded initially as a sole-source procurement. However, programs of record almost always require full and open competition for a full rate of production. Now - after eight of the ten Army divisions have been fielded-JNN is required to comply with this competition rule. Competitive bids would have to be solicited for the remaining two active divisions.
The Army awarded a sole-source contract to General Dynamics in 2004 but said it intended to issue a request for proposals to build and deliver the third phase of the program in November 2005. Northrop Grumman began forming a team of partner companies for the anticipated competition of the U.S. Army's Joint Network Node (JNN) program. Northrop Grumman's Mission Systems sector has negotiated teaming agreements with L-3 Communications Holdings, New York City; Ultra Electronics, Quebec, Canada; Harris Corporation, Melbourne, Fla.; ITT Industries, White Plains, N.Y.; ManTech International, Fairfax, Va.; and Agile Communications, Los Angeles.
DataPath served as the prime contractor for the satellite communications portion of the U.S. Army's Joint Network Node (JNN) program. The company helped build the JNN into what influential consulting firm Frost & Sullivan refers to as "the largest, most successful SATCOM network ever deployed by the Army." In just over two years, DataPath built 800 Satellite Transportable Terminals (STTs) for the U.S. Army -- quickly and on budget. In addition to STTs, DataPath has deployed unit hub trucks, software and other solutions to establish this reliable, rugged end-to-end SATCOM network.
In 2007 proposed legislation would restrict funding for the Joint Network Node, an internet-based voice, video, and data network, until certification is made with regard to compliance with DOD acquisition regulations, that a test plan has been approved, and that procurement of future lots are competed. The Senate markup of the National Defense Authorization Bill for Fiscal Year 2008 included a provision which consolidates the Joint Network Node (JNN) and the Warfighter Information Network - Tactical (WIN-T) programs into a single Army tactical network program.
In September 2007 General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies was awarded a $24 million contract from the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command in Fort Monmouth, NJ, to provide specialized satellite communications earth terminals and support services for the Joint Network Node-Network (JNN-N) program, now known as Increment One of the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T). This award was made through the U.S. Army's World-Wide Satellite Systems (WWSS) contract vehicle managed by the Commercial Satellite Terminal Program (CSTP). WWSS, awarded in October 2006, is available to support all federal communications missions and is intended to provide communications systems that are capable of overcoming existing and projected bandwidth constraints for Department of Defense transformation programs worldwide.
Under the contract, General Dynamics will provide 33 Satellite Transportable Terminals (STT) and two Unit Hub SATCOM Trucks (UHST). General Dynamics will also supply Ka-band upgrade kits, training and logistics services. The delivery order is part of a base-plus-four-option-years contract that has a total potential value of $721 million for 1,233 STTs and 44 UHSTs if all options are exercised. The WIN-T Increment One SATCOM terminals will provide deployed warfighters with robust, beyond-line-of-sight communications for a broad spectrum of information services. General Dynamics' new designs will allow U.S. warfighters to easily deploy and use these terminals in hazardous and extreme conditions. SATCOM terminals will also be available for NATO and other U.S.-allied forces as an economical solution to meet mobile tactical SATCOM requirements. The next-generation STT terminal can be configured to operate over Ku- or Ka-band satellite frequencies. The lighter weight design allows for additional enhancements over previously fielded units. The new UHST provides Ku- or Ka-band operation and increased modem capacity. The new STTs and UHSTs are interoperable with previously fielded JNN-N Lots 1-9 baseband STT and UHST units.
On 15 November 2007 General Dynamics C4 Systems announced a $78.3 million initial order from the U.S. Army as part of an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract worth up to $1.4 billion for Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) Increment One, which provides U.S. Army soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan with broadband network and satellite communications capabilities. General Dynamics C4 Systems is the lead contractor on WIN-T. Subcontractors for WIN-T Increment One include Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin. Delivery of equipment under this order will begin in May, 2008. It will include networking hubs; network nodes serving battalion, brigade and division/corps command posts and Expeditionary Signal Battalions; and network management suites.
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