Army unified network plan 2.0 prioritizes zero trust

The Army released a new version of its unified network plan, emphasizing the integration of zero-trust cybersecurity principles and efforts to streamline the transfer of data to better connect warfighters.

Network modernization is a top priority for service leadership. The deputy chief of staff, G-6, trumpeted the unveiling of Army Unified Network Plan 2.0 in a LinkedIn post Tuesday.

“AUNP 2.0 is new guidance on how the warfighter actually approaches, accelerates and operationalizes the unified network across the board,” Lt. Gen. Jeth Rey said in a statement. “It’s going to enable multi-domain operations and chart the roadmap of where we’re going for the unified network by 2027. It also talks about the critical enablers required to achieve a multi-domain operational Army by 2030.”

The first iteration of the unified network plan was released in 2021.

“Since then, a confluence of emerging technologies and events has transformed the world into a multidomain, persistently contested information environment that demands a far more data-centric approach to harness the power of the Army Network to fight and win,” officials wrote in version 2.0.

Integrating zero trust — a cybersecurity framework that assumes adversaries are already moving through information technology networks and therefore requires organizations to continuously monitor and validate users and their devices as they move through the network — is a key element of the second iteration. It’s also a top IT modernization priority for the Defense Department writ large. The DOD’s goal is for all components to achieve “target levels” of zero trust by the end of fiscal 2027.

The Army’s new document is “a strategic guide to operationalize the Unified Network through a focus on ZT principles that improve how the Army’s network moves and secures data,” officials wrote. “The plan incorporates observations and lessons learned from ongoing operations around the globe, as well as best practices for security. Static command posts are no longer uncontested in combat operations; neither are our data or network. As with command posts, the network and data must be agile, adaptable, and able to rapidly move to the point of need even in a denied, disrupted, intermittent, and limited bandwidth (DDIL) environment. Whereas past network strategies homed in on perimeter defense and hardware, the AUNP 2.0 is focused on common principles and standards to centrally deliver and manage the network and data.”

Other key principles include reducing or eliminating information technology complexity at the tactical edge; centralizing IT service delivery and resourcing; establishing and employing common standards, processes and systems; pursuing priorities for command and control in support of multi-domain operations; enabling faster, secure data-sharing across security domains and with allies and partners; and developing concepts of operation and “validated operational requirements at echelon.”

In the near term, the Army is focused on efforts to “operationalize” the unified network, including by completing the operations construct for the Army’s portion of the Department of Defense Information Network with supporting force structure; implementing a hybrid compute capability in support of tactical formations operating in denied, disrupted, intermittent and limited bandwidth environments; and establishing a “persistent” Mission Partner Environment and funding strategy, inclusive of “all hardware, software, infrastructure, sustainment, and people” from the tactical edge to the enterprise level, among other initiatives.

“This phase ends with the establishment of a Unified Network based on Zero Trust principles, enabling the seamless transfer of data across all echelons, postured to support” multi-domain operations, according to officials.

For the next phase beginning in 2027, the focus will be on additional modernization and transformation, such as final integration of the zero-trust architecture and continued integration with the other services and mission partners.

Emerging technologies that are expected to play a key role in that effort include dynamic and diverse transport, robust computing and edge sensors; data-centric data management technologies and platforms with tagging and labeling at the source; robotics and autonomous operations; quantum-resistant encryption and technologies; and AI and machine learning models and capabilities, among others, according to the Army.