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	Director, Operational Test & Evaluation
FY97 Annual Report

GLOBAL TRANSPORTATION NETWORK (GTN)

	USTRANSCOM ACAT IAM Program One system (8,000 users worldwide) Total program cost (TY$) $140M Full-rate production (IOC) 3QFY97 Life cycle cost (TY$) $275M Prime Contractor Lockheed-Martin Corp.

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION & CONTRIBUTION TO JOINT VISION 2010

GTN is an automated command and control information system being developed by the United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM). The system collects information from selected transportation systems operated by the Services and the Defense Logistics Agency, integrates it into a single database, and supports a worldwide family of transportation users and suppliers (both military and commercial). Based primarily on an existing commercial application (ENCOMPASS), GTN integrates supply, cargo, passenger, and unit requirements and movements with airlift, air refueling, and sealift schedules and movements to provide intransit visibility (ITV) of personnel, materiel, and military forces. The system also provides a planning capability for current and future transportation operations and furnishes the movement and scheduling portion of the Global Command and Control System (GCCS).

GTN supports USTRANSCOM's ITV mission requirements by bringing together accurate, timely transportation information (currently available only through numerous unrelated systems) into a single, integrated view of the Defense Transportation System (DTS). This information is also available for use by several thousand transportation providers and customers. When combined with planning and analysis tools as well as decision support systems, GTN will provide a capability essential to planning, directing, and controlling USTRANSCOM current operations. The system will organize and display vital transportation asset and resource information to assist USTRANSCOM in understanding, identifying, and implementing various transportation options and courses of action. To support future operations, GTN will provide information and simulation models to improve transportation feasibility determination, plan refinement, and replanning. Through a set of coordinated strategic transportation models and related tools, planning support will provide capabilities to develop and analyze various transportation options; forecast total DoD movement requirements; determine the best mix of modes, channels, and shipment quantities; compare planned versus actual movements; determine limiting constraints; and identify potential resource shortfalls.

Two separate GTN databases are maintained at Scott AFB, IL, at the UNCLASSIFIED and SECRET security levels. The UNCLASSIFIED database is replicated in the SECRET version, which also receives input from classified sources. An alternate GTN site is being established at Robins AFB, GA. The GTN client application is installed on user-owned personal computers (PCs) that access the integrated database via the public switched telephone network or the Defense Information Systems Network (DISN). (Users at Scott AFB access the system directly, via a local area network.) USTRANSCOM also has a deployed GTN capability that can access the database through the International Maritime Satellite (INMARSAT) system. In addition, authorized users can run simple queries of the GTN database through a protected site on the World Wide Web (WWW). GTN supports the JV2010 concept of dominant maneuver by managing the deployment of widely dispersed joint air, land, and sea forces, and reducing "buildup time." It supports the JV2010 concept of focused logistics by fusing information, logistics, and transportation technologies to provide rapid crisis response, and to track and shift assets, even while enroute.

The contractor is developing the GTN incrementally, with five deliveries scheduled from 1996 through 1999. The first delivery completed DT&E at Scott AFB in October 1996. AFOTEC, the independent OTA, conducted selected OT in conjunction with the DT. In December 1996, a three-week period of dedicated OT was conducted at 13 test sites in the United States and Europe. The OT primarily addressed the accuracy and responsiveness of GTN when subjected to typical queries from users in their operational environments, and also measured operational availability.

GTN Delivery 1, which constitutes the initial operational capability (IOC), completed IOT&E in February 1997, in compliance with the TEMP approved by DOT&E on June 30, 1995. Subsequently, conditional Milestone III approval was granted to deploy Delivery 1 software and continue the development of Delivery 2.

GTN is operationally suitable, but operational effectiveness remains unresolved due to the limited system functionality in GTN Delivery 1. The evaluated Delivery 1 system, although not meeting all user-defined requirements, does enhance USTRANSCOM ITV capabilities, and there is little or no risk to providing the software to any new user who wants to use it. GTN has the potential to be more effective and suitable if the quantity and quality of data contained within the GTN database are increased. Improvements are also needed in the areas of user documentation, security, connectivity, and logistics support. USTRANSCOM needs to consider enhancing the GTN interface with the WWW to expand its role in the GTN architecture.

Better ways need to be found to test comprehensively the currency, accuracy, and completeness of data in the GTN database. Past DT&E and IOT&E were intended to measure currency only in terms of how quickly GTN is able to store the data that it receives. Accuracy has been measured only in terms of whether the data provided to the user matches the data in the GTN database, as provided by the source systems. Data completeness has not been addressed at all. Although the original test methodology proved effective in assessing whether GTN meets user requirements, the ultimate needs will be met only when (1) the system provides a preponderance of the information that is needed, (2) the information is truly accurate, and (3) the users receive it in time to accomplish the mission.