BATTLE COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

Airborne & Maritime / Fixed Station Joint Tactical Radio System (AMF JTRS)

This system has been developed by Boeing for the US DoD to "greatly improve communications and information sharing among warfighters," apparently in "battlespace" itself.

It is a family of software programmable radios that "will ultimately become the primary means of wireless information transfer among mobile military users in the air, on the ground, and at sea."

The US Air Force had awarded Boeing a 15-month, $54.6 million contract in 2004 to develop the system. A System Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase was to follow, and a contract award was handed out early this year.

Once operational, the website says, the AMF JTRS "will be integrated into more than 150 airborne, shipboard, and fixed-station platforms, enabling maritime and airborne forces to communicate seamlessly and with greater efficiency in the joint battlespace environment."



Advanced Information Systems (AIS)

This is a Boeing office headquartered in Anaheim, California, with additional facilities in Herndon, Virginia. It has five areas of focus:
1) Advanced programs
2) Information systems
3) Marine systems
4) Network systems
5) Tactical systems

What do they do? Key programs and activities include:
-- The Echo Ranger commercial surveying unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV)
-- The acoustic subsystem for the US Navy's Multi-Mission Maritime
Aircraft (MMA) program
-- Exploratory development work conducted in the AIS Network Laboratory

It is a division of Boeing Space and Intelligent Systems, "the Boeing business unit that is dedicated to government and commercial space systems as well as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance."

Amazingly, "more than half of the work performed by AIS supports classified government programs."



Combat Survivor Evader Locator (CSEL)

This system is based on a modular communication network that provides multiple satellite links for secure (i.e. hard to detect) over-the-horizon (OTH) communications, as well as line-of-sight (LOS) voice communications, GPS, and navigation functions, all in a small, portable, lightweight handheld radio.

CSEL includes:
-- "A multifunction hand-held radio offering communication and message encryption"
-- "Secure digital message communications, GPS, LOS voice, and the full spectrum of radio and ground equipment interfaces required to work with existing search and rescue (SAR) systems"

The CSEL is under contract to the US Air Force Electronic Systems Center, which is housed at Hanscom AFB, MA.



Family of Advanced Beyond Line-Of-Sight Terminals (FAB-T)

FAB-T is a program (whose main customer is the US Air Force) that "is intended to provide strategic and command and control forces with a multi-mission-capable family of satellite communications terminals.

The terminals' common design and open system architecture allow the integration of multiple satellites and enable information to be exchanged between ground, air, and space platforms."



Grenadier BRAT (GB)

The GB is "a small transmitter carried by individuals that communicates with satellites to let commanders follow movements of forces and supplies in 'near-real' time anywhere in the battlescape, even when they are out of physical viewing range." In other words, the GB lets everyone know what is happening as it happens and where it happens.

The customer?

The Space and Missile Command's Army Space Program Office, a small branch of the US military.



Joint Tactical Radio System Ground Mobile Radios (JTRS GMR)

This is a family of software-programmable tactical radios. "They provide combat personnel with voice, data, and video communications that are interoperable among all battlefield participants, regardless of the branch of service."

JTRS GMR is to be implemented on US Army ground vehicles in the very near future, if it hasn't been done already in Iraq and Afghanistan.