26th Yankee Brigade and the 102nd Intel Wing show TAG what they can do

Photo By Sgt. David Wilkinson | JOINT BASE CAPE COD, Mass. -- Maj. Gen. Gary W. Keefe, the Adjutant General of the Massachusetts National Guard, is briefed on the capabilities of the Lakota Video Downlink, Oct. 6, 2019. (Massachusetts National Guard photo by Dave Wilkinson)  

JOINT BASE CAPE COD, MA, UNITED STATES

11.27.2019

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Laura Berry 

Massachusetts National Guard Public Affairs

Members of the 26th Movement Enhancement Brigade (YANKEE) and the 102nd Intelligence Wing, Massachusetts National Guard, demonstrated some of their coolest new toys to Maj. Gen. Gary W. Keefe, the Adjutant General of the Massachusetts National Guard at Joint Base Cape Cod, Mass., Oct. 6, 2019.  
The first system showcased was the Lakota camera / video down link feed that can assist civilian incident commanders with Incident Assessment and Analysis capability during National Guard domestic support missions. This Lakota system is authorized as part of the National Guard Counter Drug program but is available to all Hazard Operations Teams with the appropriate proper use memorandum process.   
During Vigilant Guard 19-1, which was a full scale civil-military exercise conducted in Massachusetts sponsored by US Northern Command in conjunction with National Guard Bureau, the 26TH MEB leveraged the Lakota system in a domestic operations collective training event. In doing so, they practiced essential required tasks for its mission command functions in both warfighter and domestic operations. 
“The Lakota helicopter was used primarily to transport the adjutant general here, but while it was there it was taking video and the Air Force has a system that allows them to pull in the video and analyze it sort-of on-the-go,” said Cpt. John F. Triolo, Chemical/Biological/Radiological/Nuclear Liaison, 26th MEB. “They were able to project that upon a screen in our command post over here and they did the same thing in Vigilant Guard 2019. They were able to use that imagery in support of training for wide area support operations which we were doing with civilian wide area search elements as well.”
The second system exhibited was the National Guard - Chemical/Biological/Radiological/Nuclear Response Enterprise - Information Management System, which is a system of phones and laptops that provide real time tracking of friendly forces.  This system is comparable to the Army's Warfighter Joint Capabilities Release, the updated version of the Blue Force Tracker System, which tracks friendly forces on the battlefield.  
“This 6 October demonstration featured both of these systems communicating between TAG on the move in the air, the Yankee Brigade Main Command Post is located in Natick, and the Yankee Brigade Tactical Command Post, located outside the Otis Air National Guard Headquarters of the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Joint Base Cape Cod,” said Col. Brett Conaway, Domestic Operations Branch Director, Massachusetts National Guard.  
NG CIMS uses sensors to allow the Mobile Field Kit, Android Team Awareness Kit and other software packages to provide a better understanding of the situation and to manage the information gathered.  These components work together with other systems used by Northern Command and National Guard Bureau. Both MFK and ATAK deployed to multiple National Special Security Events since 2015, responses to natural disasters like the 2017, 2018 and 2019 hurricane seasons, and numerous national level exercises. It provides a real-time graphical picture of tactical operations, geographical-location status on units/teams/personnel and sensor devices (CBRN/non-CBRN), and integration of sensor data visibility across the system suite. 
“Our primary consumer for this is really the CBRN task force based out of Reading (Mass.),” said Triolo. “This allows them to increase the speed with which they can employ their decontamination elements or even more so their search and extraction element and see what’s happening.  People can upload pictures to points they’ve placed on a map as they’re making a survey.  They can essentially make their report while they’re working.  Our command and control element can determine what they want to make as their next move, whereas in the past, they have 30 minutes, even an hour of lag time as you’re collecting all the information you need and figuring out what you need to do next.  They can, from a phone linked into a digital network that we’re creating with radios, tell the command and control element what it needs to plan for the next phase of the operation.”

ATAK has been widely adopted as a day-to-day command and control tactical operation management tool for many civilian agencies such as the FBI, Customs and Border Protection, US Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security and US Coast Guard.  Instant cross-agency situational awareness can be obtained by federating TAK-Servers.
According to Sgt. Maj. Gary Mauk, NG CIMS Technical Advisor, the Massachusetts National Guard has been in the lead of the development of the NG CIMS capability since 2011, beginning with the 1st Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Team and recently the Region 1 Homeland Response Force/1 CBRN-TF as pilot teams working with NGB, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division.
The demonstration also endeavored to connect all stations with the Falcon II PRC 150 High Frequency Radio and FM Radio.  This radio offers immediate communication capability across all echelons, from 0-10,000 km with no retransmission or satellite requirement.  Additionally, it can communicate via computer at 9,600 bits per second. 
Falcon II PRC 117 F radios have the ability to talk on FM, UHF public service bands and satellite. This means the units have organic radios that can talk to our emergency service friends during an emergency. 
Although only a small fraction of these systems were used in the demonstration for Maj. Gen. Keefe, it served as an effective illustration of the 26th MEB's impressive capacity to command forces defending our Nation and Commonwealth.  This demonstration and the unit’s corresponding efforts in Vigilant Guard 19-1, reinstate the value of the National Guard as part of the Department of Defense capacity to protect the Homeland and fight our Nation's Wars.  
“Either in combat, field training or responding to DSCA missions, the JCR, Harris Falcon II high frequency (HF) radio, multiband and TACSAT technology, allows the commander to communicate over long ranges using voice, data and text capabilities without reliance on existing civilian infrastructure.  In a communication restrictive environment that will emerge in future emergencies, these systems offer the commander additional options to exercise command and control at no additional cost,” said Maj. Michael P. Noyes, 26th MEB TAC Officer-in-Charge. 

• Date Taken: 11.27.2019
• Date Posted: 11.27.2019 13:39
• Story ID: 353822
• Location: JOINT BASE CAPE COD, MA, US