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	Director, Operational Test & Evaluation
	FY98 Annual Report

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION & CONTRIBUTION TO JOINT VISION 2010

The Global Transportation Network (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 data base, and supports a worldwide family of transportation users and suppliers (both military and commercial). GTN integrates supply, cargo, passenger, and unit requirements and movements with airlift, air refueling, and sealift schedules and movements to provide in-transit visibility 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.

GTN supports USTRANSCOM's in-transit visibility mission requirements by bringing accurate, timely transportation information (currently available only through numerous unrelated systems) into a single, integrated view of the Defense Transportation System. This information is also available for use by several thousand transportation providers and customers via the World Wide Web. When combined with planning and analysis tools and decision support systems, GTN will provide a capability essential to planning, directing, and controlling current USTRANSCOM 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 re-planning. 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.



• Identify potential resource shortfalls.

Two separate GTN data bases are maintained at Scott AFB, IL, at the UNCLASSIFIED and SECRET security levels. The UNCLASSIFIED data base is replicated in the SECRET version, which also receives input from classified sources. An alternate GTN site has been established at Robins AFB, GA. GTN supports the Joint Vision 2010 concept of dominant maneuver by managing the deployment of widely dispersed joint air, land, and sea forces, and reducing "buildup time." It supports the Joint Vision 2010 concept of focused logistics by fusing information, logistics, and transportation technologies to provide rapid crisis response, and by tracking and shifting assets while en route.

The contractor is developing GTN incrementally, with new functionality being delivered every few months and continuing through 2003. 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.

OT&E was not conducted during 1998. GTN Delivery 1, which constitutes the IOC, completed IOT&E in February 1997, in compliance with a TEMP approved by DOT&E on June 30,1995. Subsequently, conditional Milestone III approval was granted to deploy Delivery 1 software and continue development. The TEMP is currently being updated to support a FOT&E during 1999.

GTN is operationally suitable, but its 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 in-transit visibility capabilities, since there is little or no risk in providing the software to any user that wants it. GTN has the potential to be more effective and suitable if the quantity and quality of data contained within the data base is increased. Improvements are also needed in the areas of user documentation, security, connectivity, and logistics support.