Navy civilian engineers work side-by-side with warfighters in Afghanistan to field new communications system

Courtesy Photo | Civilian contractor Douglas Kummings - deployed to train and support Distributed Tactical Communications System users in Afghanistan - demonstrates the DTCS "radio only" handset and accessories. Kummings, a DTCS program field service representative, is also a Gunnery Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. He is one of several NSWC Dahlgren Division civilian engineers - government employees and contractors - who have been working with warfighters in Afghanistan to evaluate and field the Netted Iridium radios since September 2008. The handsets ensure a reliable connection to a constellation of satellites providing global availability for joint forces on the ground, in vehicles and aboard aircraft.  

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AFGHANISTAN

08.11.2009

Courtesy Story

Defense Media Activity - Proper         

BAGRAM, Afghanistan — A team of Navy civilian engineers are working with warfighters in Afghanistan to evaluate and field Netted Iridium radios designed to solve a communications capability problem in the country's complex and rugged mountainous terrain.

"We've had a continuous presence in theater for ten months," said Capt. Sheila Patterson, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division commander. "Our civilian engineers continue to meet the needs of warfighters by applying systems engineering and commercial off-the-shelf technology for quick response to address irregular warfare."

Since a September 2008 Limited User Evaluation, between three and five NSWC Dahlgren Division engineers have been conducting Distributed Tactical Communications System training and field support to warfighters.

DTCS handsets will provide on-the-move, over-the-horizon, beyond line-of-sight voice and position location information without the need for ground infrastructure, according to NSWC Dahlgren engineers who responded to an urgent request from U.S. Central Command.

"This in not just a user phone handset — it's a system of systems," said Igor Marchosky NSWC Dahlgren DTCS technical manager. "In addition to the military tactical radio, warfighters will get the whole network and everything behind it — including the Iridium constellation of 66 commercially-owned satellites, the Defense Information Systems Agency gateway in Hawaii and the support of people in nine integrated product teams."

The integrated product teams support the satellites, the gateway, platforms, systems engineering, human systems integration, information assurance, operations, testing and the handsets.

"We did not build the satellite gateway, the space vehicle or the radio," said Marchosky. "We took commercial off-the-shelf parts and made DTCS tactically suitable by applying science, technology and systems integration."

"Netted Iridium will be the most significant tactical communications improvement developed and fielded during the Global War on Terror," said Army Brig. Gen. Mark Bowman, U.S. Central Command C4 director. "Since Desert Storm, we've had an unsatisfied requirement for command and control on the move - and no material solution to date has had such great potential in filling that requirement across such a broad spectrum as Netted Iridium does."

NSWC Dahlgren engineers say DTCS — also known as Netted Iridium — handsets ensure a reliable connection to a constellation of 66 satellites providing global availability for joint forces on the ground, in vehicles and aboard aircraft.

"It took a very diverse team to bring these capabilities to the field," said Marchosky about the scientists and engineers from NSWC Dam Neck and four technical departments at Dahlgren — Asymmetric Defense Systems, Warfare Systems, Engagement Systems and Strategic and Weapon Control Systems Departments — who integrated the handset's systems.

Marchosky's team proved DTCS's reliability by partnering with the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center to test DTCS handsets in the rugged California Sierra mountains — similar to Afghanistan's mountainous terrain — which constantly challenge and defeat terrestrial-based line-of-sight communications.

"Our confidence in the effectiveness and reliability of DTCS is extremely high," said Col. Norman Cooling, MCMWTC commanding officer. "Since DTCS was delivered here in February 2008, it has been our most reliable source of voice communications and our only source of position location information."

The Training Center in Bridgeport, Calif., is used for pre-deployment training of Marine Corps forces going to Afghanistan because of the similarity of its terrain and environment to that country.

The Range Management Division at the Mountain Warfare Training Center — used for training Marine Corps forces going to Afghanistan — routinely experiences communications "dead spots" that could not be overcome by existing line-of-sight systems.

"With the DTCS, we have experienced no dead spots," said Cooling. "This satellite-based voice communication system has proven to be an invaluable asset in our overall range safety plan."

The Marines at MCMWTC also provided feedback to Dahlgren engineers on fit and form-factor decisions as well as concept of operations development to better support the U.S. Central Command joint urgent operational need.

In Afghanistan, three NSWC Dahlgren engineers conducted a site survey and the LUE, a user evaluation which identified and developed processes and procedures for the long-term fielding and support of DTCS systems.

This system allows each handset to display not only its own position on a map, but also the location of other members of the same network, while still maintaining voice priority over data.

"Some view the fact that Netted Iridium has commercial encryption as a problem," said Bowman. "I view it as a huge benefit because commercial encryption enables coalition forces to use it too."

"Most radios are line-of-sight or low frequency," said Brig. Gen. Thomas Murray — Marine Corps Warfighting Lab commanding general — in a September 2008 Sea Power article. "This is an Iridium satellite-based system that works over-the-horizon and on-the-move, so you can communicate with anyone, no matter what. It's giving[warfighters] an immediate capability they need now."

• Date Taken: 08.11.2009
• Date Posted: 08.11.2009 14:57
• Story ID: 37379
• Location: BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AF