Photo By Robert W. Mitchell | Technicians from Tobyhanna Army Depot install new cabling in a Satellite Earth...... read more read more
FORT BUCKNER, Japan (June 10, 2025) - Furthering the Army’s push to overhaul its global communications network, Product Manager Wideband Enterprise Satellite Systems (PdM WESS) recently launched an extensive modernization project aimed at installing advanced satellite communications (SATCOM) technology and capabilities at a newly constructed teleport facility on Fort Buckner, Okinawa.
The Satellite Earth Terminal Station–Relocation (SETS-R) enhances the facility’s capabilities by installing new ground-based systems that connect military units to satellites, enabling secure, high-speed voice, video, and data transmission over long distances. The project, once complete, will incorporate sophisticated hardware and software to better process, manage, encrypt and route data before it is transmitted via satellite.
PdM WESS will deliver three Modernized Earth Terminals (METs) and new baseband IT computing hardware to the 78th Signal Battalion—a unit at Buckner responsible for providing secure communications and network support to U.S. and allied forces across the Pacific region.
The Army established the SETS-R project to replace aging SATCOM equipment and to co-locate gear (previously dispersed) to facilitate faster maintenance and service. PdM WESS initiated its own version of the project in conjunction with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed a new Army satellite teleport facility to replace an earlier version whose infrastructure could no longer support the mission,” said Eric Belle, Assistant Program Manager for PdM WESS, who is leading the project. “[We] are outfitting the new facility with newly procured IT hardware and METs.”
The project, Belle noted, directly supports the Army’s Network Modernization strategy for a unified global network and is expected to reach Initial Operational Capability (IOC) by November 2025.
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PM IEN serves as the Army’s global network modernization arm under the Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications, and Network (PEO C3N). PEO C3N develops, acquires, fields, and supports the Army’s Unified Network (Tactical and Enterprise) to ensure force readiness across current missions and potential future large-scale combat operations. This critical Army modernization priority delivers resilient terrestrial and satellite communications capabilities that ensure commanders and Soldiers remain connected and informed—even in the most austere and contested environments. PEO C3N continues to deliver an integrated Unified Network across the globe, enabling high-speed, high-capacity voice, data, and video communications for Army users, joint forces, coalition partners, and other mission stakeholders.
| Date Taken: | 03.10.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.10.2025 08:13 |
| Story ID: | 500178 |
| Location: | OKINAWA, JP |
| Web Views: | 159 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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