The Army Engineer Brigade is used to conduct mission command of echelons above brigade (EAB) engineer battalions. During OEF and OIF, the Army Engineer Brigade has historically been co-located with Division and Corps level units. The current MTOE of an Army Engineer Brigade doesn’t include communications equipment to conduct mission command. Future operations may require an Army Engineer Brigade or Battalion to be located several miles from Division or Corps elements and the engineer brigade and battalion would need additional equipment in order to communicate with higher headquarters and subordinate units. For an Army Engineer Brigade or Battalion to communicate without relying on an external unit, the brigade and battalion must have networking capabilities to include VOIP, SVOIP, SVTC, SIPR and NIPR data. The Army currently has two different systems that provide a unit with the previously named networking capabilities, the Joint Network Node (JNN) and the Command Post Node (CPN). Both of these systems include the High Capacity Line Of Sight (HCLOS) system, which is needed to communicate with other JNN and CPN systems. The JNN, LIN J05001, costs approximately $1.2 million and the CPN, LIN B67234, costs approximately $225,000.

A CPN alone would not have enough bandwidth to support an Engineer Brigade Headquarters. In addition, recommend the Army authorize and fund one CPN and one HCLOS at the Army Engineer Battalion Headquarters level MTOE as the solution for the Army Engineer Battalion’s tactical communications problems. The addition of these systems would enhance the overall communications capability of the Engineer force and increase the readiness of the Army National Guard.