WASHINGTON — A U.S. Army hub for battlefield communications development will soon oversee a larger portfolio.
The Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications-Tactical, or PEO C3T, will by Oct. 1 absorb the network-heavy assignments of the Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems, or PEO EIS.
The move coincides with the start of the government’s fiscal 2024, and work to transition the integrated enterprise network projects is already underway, according to Paul Mehney, a spokesperson for PEO C3T.
“In a nutshell, it’s the camp-, post- and station-modernization efforts that are coming to us,” Mehney told C4ISRNET on March 17. “It’s the larger satellite efforts that are coming to us, and then all of the base first responder-type radios and networks are coming over, as well.”
PEO C3T handles networking gear and spearheads so-called capability sets, tranches of upgraded kit rolled out to infantry and armor alike every two years. PEO C3T works closely with the Network Cross-Functional Team. PEO EIS, on the other hand, manages the information technology and business systems that soldiers rely upon day-to-day.
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The hand-off was teased this week by the leader of PEO C3T, Maj. Gen. Anthony Potts, who spoke at the Satellite conference in Washington, D.C.
The shift in responsibility aligns with the Army’s pursuit of a unified network: connectivity no longer divided by differences in the field, back at home or in radically different environments around the globe.
“As the Army is now executing the unified network plan, it makes not only business sense, but also sense from an integration and development perspective, to merge the network efforts together,” Mehney said. The unified network plan, a document of more than a dozen pages, was published in late 2021.
PEO C3T will have its name reworked as a result of the portfolio update. A new moniker and its related initialism have yet to be decided.
The Army is expected to further discuss the changing roles and their ramifications at the Technical Exchange Meeting X in Philadelphia in May. The meetings are forums at which military leaders, acquisition officials and hundreds of defense industry representatives gather to discuss the future of Army information-sharing.
Colin Demarest was a reporter at C4ISRNET, where he covered military networks, cyber and IT. Colin had previously covered the Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration — namely Cold War cleanup and nuclear weapons development — for a daily newspaper in South Carolina. Colin is also an award-winning photographer.
