Re: Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS)

[Kilgallen@SpamCop.net (Larry Kilgallen)]

In article <4ZZue.12291$eM6.11698@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net>, Marin David Condic <nobody@noplace.com> writes:
> In doing some research into other things, I bumped into the Joint 
> Tactical Radio System (JTRS). This appears to be a relatively new 
> initiative by the DoD and from what I can gather, they seem to want to 
> open it up to some extent to commercial applications.
> 
> Given that its all pretty new stuff, it looks like an opportunity for 
> Ada to be a player in an emerging market - or at least a big DoD 
> project. Does anybody know anything about the programming language(s) 
> being used to develop versions of this radio? It looks like it is 
> intended to have some sort of underlying OS and an API and then "radio 
> apps" can be written to go on top of this and reconfigure the unit to 
> different uses.
> 
> Google turns up lots of stuff, but most of what I can find is not of a 
> "Tutorial" nature. (Lots of stuff written in government-programese that 
> talks about how wonderful its going to be one day.)

since the above was posted, there has been some non-governmentese posted,
but not quite favorable:

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RISKS-LIST: Risks-Forum Digest  Sunday 10 July 2005  Volume 23 : Issue 93

ACM FORUM ON RISKS TO THE PUBLIC IN COMPUTERS AND RELATED SYSTEMS (comp.risks)
Peter G. Neumann, moderator, chmn ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy


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Date: Fri, 8 Jul 2005 18:32:46 +0100 (BST)
From: Pete Mellor <pm@csr.city.ac.uk>
Subject: Future Combat Systems procurement problems: GAO report

Dawn S. Onley, GAO: Army's FCS initiative faces uncertain future, 
Government Computer News, 8 Jul 2005

The major communications programs that will support the Army's
transformational Future Combat Systems initiative are in jeopardy of failing
to meet technical challenges and an accelerated schedule, according to the
Government Accountability Office.  GAO found that each of the communications
pillars of the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program - two Joint
Tactical Radio System (JTRS) clusters, the Warfighter Information
Network-Tactical (WIN-T) program and the System of Systems Common Operating
Environment (SOSCOE) - would likely fail to meet aggressive schedules due to
immature technologies.

"As currently structured, the JTRS, WIN-T and SOSCOE programs are at risk of
not delivering intended capabilities when needed, particularly for the first
spiral of FCS," according to GAO. "They continue to struggle to meet an
ambitious set of user requirements, steep technical challenges and stringent
time frames."

FCS is designed to link 18 manned and unmanned weapons systems via a common
computer network known as WIN-T and the System of Systems Common Operating
Environment.

The Army restructured its FCS program last year into spirals, with 
officials announcing the first spiral would happen in fiscal 2008. But GAO 
said the first spiral may not demonstrate key networking capabilities.

GAO found the FCS program faces network, developmental and financial 
challenges that continue to slow progress. FCS' information network is 
dependent on the success of JTRS, WIN-T and SOSCOE - programs that are not 
included in FCS costs.

"Because JTRS, WIN-T and SOSCOE all rely on significant advances in 
current technologies and capabilities and must be fully integrated to 
realize FCS, there are substantial risks to this effort," wrote Paul L. 
Francis, GAO's director of acquisition and sourcing management, in the 
report.

For the full article, with a link to the original GAO report, see: 
  http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/36302-1.html

Peter Mellor, Centre for Software Reliability, City University, 
Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB  +44 (0)20 7040 8422

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