Army leaders detail modernization plans

The Army has requested a budget of $3.2 billion for its modernization programs in 2011 and plans to field advanced networks systems to a brigade combat team based at Fort Bliss, Texas, next year, Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey said this week.

At a hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, Casey said most of the modernization budget will go to developing and fielding network equipment, unmanned air and ground systems, and sensor systems under the Brigade Combat Modernization Program.

Casey also said the modernization funds would support initial development of a ground combat vehicle. The Army released a request for proposals for technology development of a new infantry fighting vehicle on Feb. 25.

Casey and Army Secretary John McHugh told the committee in a joint statement that the modernization budget also would be used to field multiple types of unmanned aerial vehicle systems.

In April 2009, Defense Secretary Robert Gates canceled much the Army's Future Combat Systems project, which began in 2003 and was estimated to cost $23 billion, not including the network and unmanned systems. Casey reported the Army invested $15 billion in FCS and said it was a "great test bed" for the service's current modernization program.

The Army plans to use two systems to support its modernized force: the satellite-based Warfighter Information Network-Tactical, budgeted at $620.9 million in 2011; and the Join Tactical Radio System, budgeted at a little more than $1 billion next year.

JTRS, in development since 1999, still has its share of problems, J. Michael Gilmore, the Defense Department's director of operational test and evaluation, told the House Armed Services Committee on March 10.

An April 2009 test of the Rifleman Radio, slated for use by individual soldiers, uncovered deficiencies in reliability, battery life and range. Two other JTRS radios under development failed to get passing grades during those tests, according to Gilmore.

The Ground Mobile Radio, planned for use in vehicles, had the latest in a series of slips in development testing because of hardware and software problems, he said.

Casey acknowledged "performance issues" had surfaced in user tests of some equipment and said the Army would not deploy any gear until it was ready.

The Army plans to demonstrate improvements it has made to JTRS to the media next month at Fort Bliss and White Sands Missile Range, N.M.

Meanwhile, the service faces the possibility that some of the spectrum used for the radio system could be auctioned off to commercial carriers as part of the National Broadband Plan the Federal Communications Commission released this month. The FCC wants to auction the 1755-1850 Mhz band used by the Rifleman Radio. Air Force Lt. Col. Eric Butterbaugh, a Pentagon spokesman, said the Defense Department will not be able to address the FCC's plan until it competes a spectrum study later this year.