Photo By Karen Abeyasekere | U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Israel Solorzano, center, 100th Communications Squadron special...... read more read more
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As part of an Agile Combat Employment initiative, a mobile satellite terminal system, known as Star Link, was set up by the 100th Communications Squadron in support of Exercise Deft Leopard at Royal Air Force Fairford, England, Nov. 1 to 5, 2021.
Star Link is a terminal developed by an American company around seven years ago, to revolutionize how satellite internet works.
“Their goal was to send up the largest amount of satellites into space that anyone has ever done, then have a user terminal that can be set up almost anywhere in the world to provide access to high-speed internet,” said 1st Lt. Israel Solorzano, 100th Communications Squadron special missions officer in charge.
He explained there are approximately 1,700 satellites currently in orbit by the company, making it the largest internet provider in space to date.
“The package consists of a small dish that connects to a satellite in space, which then sends the signal back down to a data center that routes your information to wherever you’re trying to access on the internet. Essentially, it’s like a router modem that you have at home, but mobile,” said Solorzano.
The mobile satellite system began beta testing at the start of 2021, and was first tested by RAF Mildenhall in October, before then being used to support the exercise at RAF Fairford. Solorzano said he and his team of 20 are responsible for the system, which plays a vital role in communications.
“We used it at Fairford to expand the current capability we had; in the past we’ve used wireless pucks, which are reliant on cell towers but throughout the United Kingdom, especially on bases, but there can be a lot of degradation in cell service,” he said. “Star Link allows you to interface directly with satellites, which opens up the possibility to get much higher (internet) speeds. The reason we used it there was so we could entertain more people, allow for a larger user group, and also get higher speeds in remote locations.
“At one point we had 26 concurrent users using just one Star Link terminal, which is unprecedented,” remarked Solorzano. “With the pucks, the maximum users at one time was just three or four. The system was used for our intelligence and operations counterparts, including our flyers, leadership on the ground. The primary use was for SIPR to support communications on the ground, and we had a team of three Airmen supporting it from my team.”
The 100th CS Airmen spent time setting up all the Star Link equipment at RAF Fairford which allowed people to access SIPR and connect wirelessly to NIPR.
“This mobile satellite system allows us the opportunity to be mobile and go with the small footprint. One of the principles of Agile Combat Employment is that we’re able to move on a moment’s notice with just a small number of people, yet be able to support a larger contingent,” explained Solorzano. “We’re small in the fact that we don’t need that many folks to support and operate the system, yet we’re able to support a multitude of people who need the services for communications on the go. The flexibility of it, being able to go almost anywhere, allows us to use it from almost any end point. In the future we’ll be able to expand to go anywhere we need to, on a moment’s notice.”
The special missions OIC explained that Star Link literally covers the world.
“The wifi pucks are much smaller than this satellite dish, but they are very limited on how fast they can receive and transmit data. Star Link is easy to use, a lot faster and it can support so many more people than our old capabilities could,” he said. “It also means the Airmen have been able to rely on some of the newest technology on Earth; something that is proven to be a lot faster on the field, compared to our old capabilities. So it’s easier for them to set up and provides a lot more ease of use for everything in general.”
The new system can be set up anywhere with direct line of sight with the sky.
“I was leading the two-man team at RAF Fairford, and we set up the equipment to ensure all the operators could get online and access whatever they needed to,” said Senior Airman Jeffrey Gage, 100th CS cyber transport system technician. “I enjoyed it because while we support the mission every day, we don’t often get the opportunity to see it in action, so being able to see it first-hand was a lot of fun. One part I particularly enjoyed was being able to fly on a KC-135 Stratotanker to go there – it was my first time on one.”
The team’s hard work did not go unnoticed.
“Star Link provides us a fast, reliable network connection to be able to connect our warfighters to the command and control structure,” said Maj. Nate Kane, 100th CS commander. “At the end of the day, it’s our job to deliver the command and control link to meet combatant commander needs, and this is a significant step in that direction.”
“Before we had this technology available to us, we were able to connect at a max 10 Mb per second, but once you put it through the secure methods it drops down to hotel wireless speeds… now we’re able to pull over 100 Mb per second. We’ve been able to increase the bandwidth 100 times compared to using the wireless puck,” said the 100th CS commander.
“It really moves the needle to make us more credible, dynamic and more reliable, and gives us the ability to get the information to the warfighter faster. I couldn’t be more proud of our team for leading the command and the mobility efforts to tackle our ACE initiatives,” said Kane.
| Date Taken: | 01.10.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 01.10.2022 10:08 |
| Story ID: | 412656 |
| Location: | RAF MILDENHALL, SFK, GB |
| Web Views: | 342 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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