Weapons Upgrade Faces Big Hurdles

Modified Humvees are equipped with early versions of Future Combat Systems software that provides soldiers with a single common operating picture of the battlefield, including the locations of friendly forces and enemy threats as well as radios to distribute the data across the networked battlefield. (Photo Courtesy Of Boeing)

According to the GAO, the overall cost of the JTRS program is about $37 billion. That figure includes inflation, according to the military. When JTRS formally began development in 2002, the cost was estimated at $20 billion, but since then several components have been added to the program, the military said.

Communications Network

Future Combat Systems will depend on another costly program that has been restructured, the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical, or WIN-T. An Army project, it is a high-speed communications network that uses radio and satellite technologies, officials say. WIN-T, made up of computing and network gear in boxes in military vehicles, will be able to move more data at higher speeds than JTRS. Future Combat Systems would allow commanders on the battlefield to wirelessly communicate so that, for instance, a robot could identify enemies on the move and transmit their location to other commanders who could then launch laser-guided missiles.

WIN-T is expected to provide more bandwidth than JTRS, providing better-quality video and more of it. But streaming cannot yet be done among moving vehicles. In 2006, David M. Walker, then the GAO's comptroller general, told Congress that the Defense Department approved the start of development in 2003 when "only three of WIN-T's 12 critical technologies were close to full maturity."

But Bill Weiss, vice president of tactical networks for General Dynamics, WIN-T's lead contractor, said, "The basic underlying technology is sufficiently mature." The company said it has recently completed critical design reviews, leading up to field testing in October, which it said will keep the program on schedule.

The GAO also said that when WIN-T began, the developers of Future Combat Systems did not fully understand the project's networking requirements. As a result, the WIN-T program was restructured last year, in part to better synchronize its development with Future Combat Systems. In a report around then, the GAO said this required substantial changes that created delays and increased costs.

General Dynamics said it is unclear on the program's overall price because it depends on Army plans, and the company deferred cost questions to the military, which said the program is expected to cost about $16 billion, including inflation. That's about $4 billion, or a third more than the project's original cost, an increase the military largely attributes to the absorption of another program and the rising number of brigade combat teams.

Air Force Component

At risk also is the development of the Transformational Satellite Communications program, or TSAT, an Air Force project that is supposed to work with Future Combat Systems. The Defense Department is planning to cut about $4 billion of the TSAT budget over the next five years, partly because of congressional concerns about an expensive and technical project that already has been cut, delayed and restructured. The Air Force has yet to select a contractor for the project, though Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the two leading contenders, have both been working on development contracts.

TSAT would be about 100 times faster than military satellites in orbit now, Air Force officials say. That's to an extent because the satellites would take advantage of the latest Internet technology to reroute communications traffic more efficiently, they say. TSAT is expected to also provide more securely encrypted communications for Future Combat Systems to prevent enemies from intercepting or jamming signals.

Until recently, military officials said the program would launch its first satellite in 2016, though now they say the schedule is uncertain. According to a 2006 report, the GAO said TSAT began without sufficiently mature technology, noting that costs have increased and the timetable has been delayed.

Before the latest cutbacks, according to the Air Force, the program had increased by about $8 billion, or 50 percent, to $24 billion, including inflation. The new cutbacks will defer work, delaying the timetable and adding to the program's overall expense because of "the costs associated with extending the contract to perform necessary work," the military said. But Richard Pino, the Air Force's TSAT program director, said "the technologies are all at the right levels of maturity."

Boeing's Muilenburg said the prospect of additional cuts should not pose a problem for Future Combat Systems. In lieu of TSAT, he said that the Army program could use current military and commercial satellites.

Loren B. Thompson, a defense consultant at the Lexington Institute, a public policy think tank, said, however, that TSAT "is crucial to the secure networking capabilities that underpin" Future Combat Systems. Given the cutbacks, he said, "If TSAT collapses, which looks like a distinct possibility, soldiers may have to rely on links that are harder to access on the move, more vulnerable to jamming and interceptions, and offer nowhere near as much bandwidth."