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Tactical Radio Program Takes New Course
by Henry S. Kenyon
The U.S. Defense Department has approved the launch of a reorganized Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) program. Beset by spiraling costs and a lack of clear oversight in some areas, key parts of the multibillion-dollar effort teetered on the brink of cancellation. The reorganized program now features a new management structure designed to minimize risks and to control costs.
JTRS is considered vital to the U.S. military’s transformation plans because it connects tactical forces to the Global Information Grid (GIG) and satellite communications. But access to high-bandwidth fiber optic line connections and satellite uplinks currently stop at the command center. The goal of JTRS is to extend this data pipeline to the warfighters operating in what is known as the “last tactical mile”—the smaller tactical formations that come directly into contact with enemy forces.
An acquisition decision memorandum signed on March 31 officially endorses the new strategy for the JTRS program, allowing it to begin development and procurement efforts for its first phase, known as Increment 1. According to Dennis Bauman, joint program executive officer (JPEO) for JTRS, and the U.S. Navy’s PEO for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence and space, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, San Diego, the program had evolved from a radio replacement effort into a mobile ad hoc networking initiative designed to support the GIG. This change in focus altered requirements, budgets and technological capabilities, which drew criticism and concern from Congress and was detailed in Government Accountability Office reports.
Prior to restructuring, JTRS was divided into five distinct, service-specific clusters and a joint program office (JPO) responsible for developing waveforms. Bauman notes that this arrangement had no overarching management and oversight structure, which led to unrealistic program expectations and to cost overruns.
To change the course of the program, the Defense Department established a new JPEO in February 2005 and selected Bauman to head it in March 2005. Bauman then initiated an assessment of the status of the JTRS clusters. The JPEO instructed contractors involved with Cluster 1 and Cluster 5 to demonstrate the capabilities of their systems. The data showed that the hardware and software was not technically mature enough to support the program’s original requirements.
Another factor contributing to the program’s woes was that the complexity of the information assurance programming was not fully understood. Bauman explains that front-line communications systems create security challenges because the enemy can capture them. He adds that the National Security Agency (NSA) did not appreciate the overall ramifications of this environment or how to fully mitigate the security issues. Instead, the NSA continued evolving its security requirements for clusters 1 and 5, which led to rising program costs. “The bottom line was we needed to make a major change in the way we were managing and executing those programs,” he says.
Accurate budgeting was another concern; the radios’ initial operational capabilities would have cost $6 billion in Defense Department research and development funds. However, this estimate fell $4 billion short with only $2.3 billion allocated to JTRS at the time. The JPEO was directed to identify potential tradeoff areas, allowing the program to deliver a meaningful transformational concept, but one that was affordable and had lower risk.
By late November 2005 the JPO presented the Defense Department with three options. The first was to live within the existing $2.3 billion budget. Option two focused only on delivering the electronics systems under development. The third choice centered on delivering all of the program’s primary options. The Defense Department chose the third option, now known as Increment 1, and expanded its budget to $4 billion.
Other parts of the JTRS program were trimmed to meet the new financial goals. The number of waveforms was cut from 36 to nine and form factors were reduced from 26 to 13.
The newly restructured program now operates on an enterprise model designed to minimize risks and to manage costs. Bauman explains that key development elements include using an open-software structure, which is now a requirement for all software delivered to the government. The JPO also created a software repository to store programs and made it available to contractors, and it has adopted an open systems architecture approach based on the Defense Department’s software communications architecture. Additional changes include enterprisewide networking and information assurance initiatives.
Four goals were set at the first JTRS joint stakeholders’ meeting in late April. They assessed the current status of the program, set achievable operational requirements, established budget guidelines and implemented an enduring joint organization. Bauman notes that the JTRS JPEO is the first and only program manager who reports directly to the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
The meeting also created a strategic structure to best fulfill the Defense Department’s needs. Bauman maintains that the first two goals that emerged from the meeting already have been met, which now allows stakeholders to concentrate on the remaining parts of the effort.
The changes to the JTRS program also have altered its naming conventions. The five clusters are now grouped into four domains. The Ground Domain consists of ground mobile radios for vehicles—equipment that was formerly in Cluster 1—and handheld, manpack radios and small form fit radios, formerly Cluster 5 items. The Airborne and Maritime Domain represents airborne, maritime and fixed-site radios, which were part of clusters 3 and 4, and a multifunctional information distribution system. The Network Enterprise Domain involves network enterprise services, including gateways and waveforms. The last domain is Special Radio Systems, formerly Cluster 2, which includes the JTRS enhanced multiband intra-team radio (MBTR), or JEM.
Increment 1 of the revamped JTRS program is now synchronized with the Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) program. Bauman notes that the rollouts of the JTRS Ground Domain radios are now tied to FCS spinout 1.
According to Bauman, the first systems to be delivered will be the JEM enhanced radios, with a production decision
scheduled for this fiscal year. Airborne JTRS systems for tactical aircraft currently are undergoing a design review for Link 16 applications, but a low-rate initial production decision is scheduled for fiscal year 2007. Low-rate initial production for the Ground Domain mobile radio is set for 2010, and the handheld and manportable systems are set for 2009 or 2010. “The name of the game for the JTRS JPO is to put products into production and not to conduct science,” he says.
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