The High Tech Way the U.S. Military Wants to Talk to Satellites
Quickly sharing data to the right units and commanders is critical in wartime.
The U.S. military excels at acquiring intelligence, but central command and boots on the ground engaged in combat operations often run into technical bottlenecks when trying to share that mission-critical data over single beam terminals, such as parabolic antennas and other outdated infrastructure.
The U.S. Army, Air Force and Navy are conducting a series of ongoing key trials of cutting-edge satellites and terminals in a concerted effort to break through communications hurdles in an increasingly adversarial world. High-powered connectivity delivers a real competitive edge in battle.
Army preps for key tests of seeker capable of attacking maritime targets January 20 Lockheed Martin s PrSM missile was tested for a third time at White Sands Missile Range, in New Mexico, on April 30, 2020. (Lockheed Martin) WASHINGTON The Army is preparing for key tests of a multimode seeker for munitions that will be capable of attacking maritime targets, but current funding will prevent a faster timeline to integrate it into the Army’s future long-range missile, according to Brig. Gen. John Rafferty, who is in charge of the service’s long-range precision fires modernization efforts. The Precision Strike Munition (PrSM) is on track for initial fielding in 2023, but the in-development multimode seeker, known as the Land-Based Anti-Ship Missile (LBASM), will be integrated into the capability at a later date.
US Army looks to millimeter waveforms to strengthen communications December 30, 2020 The U.S. Army wants to use millimeter waveforms to better protect communications. (Staff Sgt. Armando R. Limon/Army) WASHINGTON Future deliveries of U.S. Army tactical network tools could include new waveform technologies that would reduce adversaries’ chances of interfering with communications. The research and development organization tackling future capabilities for the Army’s tactical network team has several efforts underway with millimeter wave technology, a frequency channel that could allow for improved communications in the future. The Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command’s C5ISR (Command, Control, Communication, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) Center is exploring new capabilities that could allow for more secretive communication.
U.S. Army’s ERCA Prototype Hits Targets 70 km Away Our Bureau 2232
M109A7 Paladin self-propelled howitzer
The U.S. Army recently fired M982A1 Excalibur weapons from its Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) prototype that hit its target 70 km away.
“What we demonstrated a few minutes ago … is the success of a systems approach to upgrading our cannon system and the ERCA system is just that – a platform, the propellant, the projectiles and the fuses,” Brigadier General John Rafferty, the head of the Long-Range Precision Fires Cross-Functional Team, told reporters following the tests on December 19.
“We’ve successfully pushed that out to a direct target hit at 70 km, that’s 43 miles…. We have a long way to go but it’s a great way to finish 2020,” he added.
Army fortified radio capabilities in 2020 to withstand electronic warfare December 22, 2020 Soldiers embedded within the C5ISR Center test the Squad Area Network capability during the Network Modernization Experiment at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., Sept. 10, 2020. The Network Modernization Experiment is held annually and serves as an opportunity to take technologies that are still maturing out of the lab as early as possible and into a fail-safe environment for assessment. (Jasmyne Douglas/U.S. Army) WASHINGTON The U.S. Army made critical advancements this year to strengthen the radios it plans to use for multidomain operations in contested and congested environments in the future.