The Army told House lawmakers Wednesday it has decided to abandon a troubled effort to develop a battlefield wireless network, a program called WIN-T that has cost the service $6 billion over the past decade.
The service asked the House Armed Services Committee to strip $545 million for the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical system from the Army’s requested 2018 budget so it can instead use the money elsewhere.
The Army admission that the program was headed in the wrong direction riled committee members.
“It’s an abrupt change, it’s months after we were told with a firm conviction from the Army in what direction you were going and now an undefined, unclear new direction,” said Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, the chairman of the Armed Services’ tactical air and land forces subcommittee.
The Senate Armed Services Committee, under Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., already proposed cutting the program in 2018 after Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley said an Army review of WIN-T had raised questions over “whether it’s going to work” despite development funding since at least 2008.
“After almost a year of careful review … we’ve come to the conclusion that the network we have is not the network that we need,” Lt. Gen. Bruce Crawford, Army deputy chief of staff told the committee.
WIN-T was meant to provide integrated wireless and wired communications between commanders and soldiers in combat zones but shifted directions at least twice during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and had a new focus in more recent years on cyber warfare, according to the Army. The service will continue to use parts of the system that have already been developed over the next five years.
“I’ve got to tell you, this is just a stunning hearing and turn of events, I’ve got to go home and now explain this to constituents back home,” Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., said. “It just falls into the category of ‘you’ve got to be kidding me.'”
The $545 million in the budget passed by the House would be shifted for improvements to Army electronic and cyber warfare capabilities and mobile command posts, according to Crawford.
“I think there is real risk in moving to a new network strategy and … I think we just have to have a much clearer way forward before I could support the funding changes you are proposing,” said Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Mass., the ranking member of the Armed Services subcommittee.
