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E-IBCT Increment 1 Limited User Test currently underway at WSMR by Kathryn Cain (PEO
Integration)
Two battalions
with the U.S. Army's 5th Brigade, 1st
Armored Division, from Fort Bliss are
conducting exercises at White Sands
Missile Range (WSMR), in New Mexico to
test Early Infantry Brigade Combat Team
(E-IBCT) Increment 1 equipment and
technologies during the two-week Limited
User Test (LUT) that commenced Sept. 15.
The LUT is a soldier-driven independent review of maturity, readiness and functionality of Increment 1 capabilities. Test data will be used to identify capabilities and limitations based on the system requirements and potential enhancements for the future. Additionally, the LUT will provide data to complete an evaluation to support the December 2010 decision on producing additional quantities of Increment 1 systems. Increment 1 systems tested include the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle, the Class 1 Unmanned Aerial System, two types of Unattended Ground Sensors and the Network Integration Kit (NIK) which receives and passes sensor data from the unmanned systems to the Soldier. Additionally, the tests will make use of components of the Army's network that are not part of Increment 1, including RAID Towers, Network Interoperability Kits, Aerostats and the Joint Tactical Radio System Ground Mobile Radio. The 2010 Increment 1 testing focuses on network advancements and hardware fixes to enhance connectivity between Soldiers - ultimately providing increased Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance capabilities, as well as increased survivability and lethality. Testing and evaluation methods have been updated since 2009 and the Army has rectified 100 percent of Increment 1's reliability, maintainability and durability problems found during last year's LUT. More than 160 corrective actions have been incorporated into the IBCT systems, including 86 design changes. "By utilizing an integrate-test-fix strategy the Army is not only addressing incident reports and enhancing capability, it is ensuring that fixes are made before the Soldier is issued the equipment in the field," Col. John Wendel, Project Manager IBCT said. Feedback from Soldiers and their superior officers was used to make modifications that were made in as little as six months. Exercises conducted during the LUT consist of iterations executing attack, defend and stability missions conducted over rolling desert terrain, mountainous terrain, and in urban areas. Enemy forces will replicate those in the Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) operating environment. ""We're covering approximately 920 square kilometers," said Col. Dan Pinnell, commander of the Army Evaluation Task Force. "Storylines have been created and it's constant action, reaction and counter reaction of everyone involved. This is the type of exercise where Soldiers in the field are forced by necessity how not to make the same mistakes again." WSMR was chosen as the site for all 2010 Increment 1 testing and training activities because of the robust operational environment. The two Afghan villages being simulated, Yucca Village and Mountain Village, encompass both caves and mountainous terrain designed to replicate urban operational environments similar to that found in Afghanistan. An important consideration is to make this year's testing "as accurate and realistic as possible," said Col. Steve Duke, of the Army Test and Evaluation Command's Operational Test Command. To add to the operational realism, Army Evaluation Task Force Soldiers have spent the past six weeks living in the two villages, 24 hours a day with only a handful of days off. "Blue Forces" use Increment 1 network and hardware to conduct offense, defense and stability operations over the 35 km test site which harbors insurgents and local populations. "Opposing Forces" dress like insurgents and live in the villages they've created to replicate Afghanistan, complete with a hotel, used electronics shop, a local dining commons called 'Cassidy's Cantina' and a mosque, where the village elder conducts a daily call to prayer for the local "Afghanis." The last two years of tests were conducted at Fort Bliss but were moved to WSMR in order to have a larger area where multiple sources could be attacked. Additionally, the WSMR test sites are more amenable to a large-scale maneuver and were constructed to support the latest test requirements, including greatly expanded test ranges and a battalion level of operations. Each mission conducted during the LUT will be based on IBCT concept with an Increment 1-equipped infantry battalion task force mission, which will focus on company and platoon operations utilizing Increment 1 equipment. |
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| Source: www.army.mil, September 22, 2010 | |||
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