Joint Network Node-Network (JNN)

Joint Network Node-Network (JNN) provides the full spectrum of information services to the modern Army in support of the Global War on Terrorism. JNN transports timely, reliable and mobile information that allows Soldiers to control the battlefield tempo. JNN will replace the Army's existing tactical communications network, which was not designed to support current and future warfighting needs. Mounted on vehicles equipped with satellite communications, voice-over Internet Protocol and dynamic IP technologies, JNN connects military networks, providing voice, video/multimedia, imagery and graphics data in an overall "Common Operating Picture," Bruning said.

By May 2006 U.S. Army Operational Test Command (USAOTC) was conducting a series of tests and evaluations on digitized, network-based communication systems through June at Fort Hood, Texas, and the National Training Center at Fort Erwin, Calif. The realistic, operational environments of the National Training Center and Fort Hood will allow the Army to determine whether these systems are effective, suitable and survivable in combat. Initial operational tests were being conducted on the Joint Network Node-Network (JNN) and the Standardized Integrated Command Post System - Command Post Platform (SICPS-CPP).

During an exercise in early 2007 with the I Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif., Raytheon Company successfully demonstrated that a traditional, transportable satellite communications terminal could be field configured to communicate without acquiring a satellite connection. This capability, known as Troposcatter, or TROPO, transmits radio waves over the curvature of the Earth without using satellites. The U.S. military currently employs these systems for tactical and strategic communications throughout the world. Raytheon established the TROPO communications link between its Dual-Mode, All-Band Re-locatable Tactical Terminal, or DART-T, and a modified Joint Network Node satellite transportable terminal. The demonstration showed that the widely fielded JNN terminal could be adapted to include a high-bandwidth troposcatter mode, which not only minimizes the current limitation of existing satellite bandwidth, but also provides continuous and reliable communications in areas of the world that do not have access to SATCOM.

In June 2007, the Army announced that it would restructure and accelerate the WIN-T program to have a single program for all Army battlefield networks. WIN-T Increment One builds on the former JNN-N and will be used by soldiers in the field to securely access communications services using an enhanced Internet Protocol-based satellite communications network for flexible and reliable transmission and reception of high-bandwidth video, voice and data.