US DoD orders 6,350 JTRS HMS radios from GDC4S

[buglerbilly]

July 08, 2011

General Dynamics C4 Systems has received an order from the U.S. Department of Defense for the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Handheld, Manpack, Small Form Fit (HMS) Rifleman radio (AN/PRC-154) and Manpack (AN/PRC-155) radio. Following a recent Milestone C decision, the Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) order, which has an initial value of approximately $56.4 million, calls for the production of 6,250 Rifleman and 100 Manpack radios and includes expenses for non-recurring startup costs, accessories, training, related equipment and supplies.

The JTRS HMS networking radios are the first ground-domain radios that will be fielded by the U.S. military that meet the full suite of JTRS requirements. Department of Defense documents indicate that the Army plans to purchase more than 190,000 Rifleman and approximately 50,000 Manpack radios.

JTRS HMS Rifleman radios will enable soldiers on the battlefield to have secure, mobile voice, video and data communications capabilities that are similar to those available through commercial cellular networks.

“The Rifleman radio, enabled by the Soldier Radio Waveform, will be the first secure tactical radio to extend the network down to the individual soldier, significantly improving their safety and mission effectiveness,” said Chris Brady, a vice president of General Dynamics C4 Systems. “The two-channel Manpack radio bridges Rifleman networks to both legacy and future high-level command networks so everyone in the force is on the same page.”

The Rifleman radios recently demonstrated their value and utility in a March 2011 exercise conducted by the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. In a follow-up report by the unit’s commanding officer, Maj. Gen. James L. Huggins said that the radios performed in “remarkable fashion,” effectively filling critical communications gaps that are unmet by current tactical communication systems. These gap-filling capabilities include secure voice and data communications, improved command-and-control and non line-of-sight communications at the battalion level and below; and improved situational awareness for dismounted soldiers.

The initial 100 Manpack radios will be used for further operational testing to support full-rate production.

For the LRIP order, General Dynamics and Thales Communications will manufacture the Rifleman radios while General Dynamics and Rockwell Collins will build the Manpack radios.

When the radios are approved for full rate production, the JTRS Acquisition Strategy states that at least two qualified vendors will compete for production. As designed, the JTRS HMS System Design and Development and Low Rate Initial Production contract efforts will yield two qualified vendors for each radio type.

General Dynamics C4 Systems is prime contractor for the JTRS HMS program. The JTRS HMS team includes BAE Systems (Wayne, N.J.), Rockwell Collins (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) and Thales Communications (Clarksburg, Md.).

Source: General Dynamics C4 Systems

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Ares

A Defense Technology Blog

Army Radio Program Moving On

Posted by Paul McLeary at 7/8/2011 11:55 AM CDT



After achieving a Milestone C decision on June 17, the Joint Tactical Radio System’s (JTRS) Rifleman radio and Manpack radio program is ready to move on. General Dynamics C4 Systems announced Thursday that it had received an order from the Department of Defense for a Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) order of $56.4 million for 6,250 Rifleman and 100 Manpack radios. The Army has indicated that it has plans to purchase more than 190,000 Rifleman and 50,000 Manpack radios.

Rifleman radios enable soldiers to access secure voice, video, and data communications capabilities. Chris Brady, a vice president of General Dynamics C4 Systems said in a statement that the Rifleman radio “will be the first secure tactical radio to extend the network down to the individual soldier,” while the “two-channel Manpack radio bridges Rifleman networks to both legacy and future high-level command networks so everyone in the force is on the same page.” The company also said that the initial 100 Manpack radios will be used for further operational testing. Under the terms of the LRIP order, General Dynamics and Thales Communications will manufacture the Rifleman radios while General Dynamics and Rockwell Collins will build the Manpack radios.

[buglerbilly]

Lockheed Martin AMF JTRS team delivers Joint Tactical Radio

August 24, 2011

High-capacity, secure battlefield communications links between all elements of the US military forces are one step closer to truly being connected. The Lockheed Martin team has delivered a Small Airborne Joint Tactical Radio Engineering Development Model (EDM) to the C-130J and C-5 System Integration Laboratories in Marietta, Georgia. This is the second EDM delivered to the US Air Force to support platform integration activities of the Airborne & Maritime/Fixed Station Joint Tactical Radio System (AMF JTRS).

AMF JTRS will link Airmen and Sailors with Soldiers on the ground, enabling secure (NSA Type 1) voice and data communications across diverse military units, and also providing compatibility with legacy equipment already in the force.

"This is yet another successful milestone as we move to link Air Force, Army and Navy communications," said Mark Norris, vice president for Joint Tactical Network Solutions with Lockheed Martin's IS&GS-Defense. "This delivery of an official EDM Joint Tactical Radio hosting Link-16, coupled with the earlier delivery to the US Air Force of a pre EDM supports platform integration risk reduction efforts for both C-130J and C-5 and further demonstrates the ability of a software defined radio to meet the evolving communications needs of our warfighters."

The EDM delivered to the C-130J lab is integrated with Link-16 Waveform functionality and will be used to support integration and architecture validation activities, within the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Mobility Air Forces Airborne Networking Installation & Integration program. It also provides the US. Air Force the opportunity to perform numerous networking, avionics and software checks prior to integration. Nine C-130 models, including C-130J, C-130 AMP, AC-130U, HC-130 and MC-130, are projected to incorporate AMF JTRS.

The AMF JTRS network will provide an order of magnitude improvement in allowing Warfighters in disparate areas to seamlessly communicate. To validate the difference, Lockheed Martin conducted war fighting simulations using the AMF JTRS variant being developed for aircraft and warships. Compared with existing communications gear, AMF JTRS delivers a significant gain in situational awareness and speed of command. In addition, JTRS networking waveforms provide an enormous increase in transmission capacity in any given period of time for vital targeting information and intelligence. Compared with existing communications gear, AMF JTRS delivers a significant gain in situational awareness and speed of command. In addition, JTRS networking Waveforms provide an enormous increase in transmission capacity in any given period of time for vital targeting information and intelligence.

Lockheed Martin's AMF JTRS team includes BAE Systems, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon.

Source: Lockheed Martin

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DSEi 2011: GDC4S unveils JTRS HMS

September 12, 2011



General Dynamics C4 Systems (GDC4S) will unveil a vehicle adapter unit for its Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Handheld Manpack Small-formfit (HMS) radio at DSEi this week.

According to Bill Rau, GDC4S director of communications programmes, the ‘Sidewinder’ unit is designed to provide an extension to the company’s JTRS HMS radios which include the handheld AN/PRC-154 Rifleman radio and AN/PRC-155 manpack systems.

It is understood that the adapter unit will make its evaluation debut at the US Army’s Network Integration Evaluation (NIE) exercise at Fort Bliss and White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico in October as well as tests scheduled early next year.

Speaking to Shephard, Rau described how Sidewinder would be integrated into the vehicle intercommunications systems of a ‘variety’ of mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles including 30 Navistar Defense’s MaxxPro systems and six Oshkosh MRAP All-Terrain Vehicles (MATVs).

‘Information has to get back somewhere so the AN/PRC-155 comprises a two-channel manpack allowing it to participate in the network and meaning it has a briefing capability to network up through higher security networks,’ Rau explained.

Designed to connect to the ‘edge’ of the tactical network, sensors and dismounted soldiers, JTRS HMS is part of a ‘renewed push’ to make a squad of soldiers more ‘strategic’, he added.

Meanwhile, AN/PRC-154 ‘needs to be successful’ in October’s NIE for the US DoD to grant permission for the full rate initial production of the radio system, which could be confirmed as early as February. ‘We are looking to continue to validate feature sets and performance and we will demonstrate the utility of Sidewinder [at NIE],’ Rau said.

It is understood that GDC4S will supply 165 rifleman radios and 21 manpacks for the NIE which will basically encompass an initial operational test and evaluation programme which Rau described as a ‘necessary pre-requisite ‘ before the programme goes to FRIP. ‘It is the only formal system under test at NIE,’ he added.

To date, the DoD has contracted GDC4S for 6,250 Rifleman radios although total requirements are yet to be published. However, sources said the army could be looking for more than 200,000 units.

Designed to ‘deploy a network covering the battlefield’, the Rifleman provides the warfighter with position location information; access to maps; photographs; as well as a capability to disseminate information in order to prosecute a mission.

Andrew White, London

[buglerbilly]

DSEi 2011: GDC4S unveils pathfinder tactical radio

September 13, 2011



General Dynamics C4 Systems (GDC4S) is unveiling its Pathfinder tactical radio at DSEi this week in a bid to fill a gap in the market between personal role radios and ‘higher-end tactical mesh-type systems’, company officials have revealed.

Speaking to Shephard ahead of the event, GDC4S director strategy and emerging business for secure technology, Joe Miller said personal role radios currently offered a ‘valued capability at squad level’ but lacked any networking capacity.

‘For networking capabilities, [users] need to take a giant leap in expense,’ he explained. ‘There are some emerging networking radios for example and there is interest in the US to upgrade other systems to “mesh” capability.’ Such upgrades are being considered for the Harris AN/PRC-152A multi-band handheld radio and Thales MBITR.

Capable of providing voice and data, the handheld Pathfinder is designed for ‘squad type applications’, providing a mobile ad-hoc networking (MANET) capability which Miller claimed ‘doesn’t exist today’.

The 0.61lb Pathfinder provides up to 18 hours battery life and will allow a single radio to ‘mesh’ network up to 32 radios while also providing position location information. It also boasts gateway options for communications with other networks for VHF/UHF, IP, SATCOM and GSM.

‘We are just unveiling [Pathfinder] to different organisations within the [US] DoD and we think there will be interest from special operations and the US Marine Corps,’ Miller told Shephard.

He added that GDC4S is also marketing Pathfinder as a coalition radio and said: ‘Interoperability has been a problem across the allies for a long time. The whole world is looking at MANET’.

‘We think the core army will stay with JTRS and we are now responding to major programme RfIs in Sweden, the UK and Canada. There are a number of next-generation tactical radio [programmes] where we see a fit for this,’ he added.

Sweden has already released an RfI for its Inter and Intra Group Communications (IGR) programme and Canada is beginning to study ‘aspects of next generation architecture’, he described. In addition, Miller said a ‘networking radio initiative’ remained in the UK coming on the back of the FIST programme. ‘That initiative is still there,’ he stated.

The company is also considering putting the radio forward for the US Army’s Network Integration Evaluation programme with Miller adding that there were also potential to integrate the radio into JTRS via a gateway structure.

Andrew White, London

[buglerbilly]

MIDS Program Office Awards Additional Contracts for MIDS-LVT and MIDS JTRS



New Contracts in Effort to Develop Tactical Data Link and Networking Technologies

08:54 GMT, October 7, 2011 SAN DIEGO | The Joint Program Executive Office for the Joint Tactical Radio System (JPEO JTRS) announced today that the Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS) Program Office has completed additional contract actions in pursuit of its mission to develop, field, and support interoperable, affordable, and secure MIDS tactical data link and programmable networking technologies and capabilities for the Joint, Coalition, and International Warfighter.

U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) has issued a new delivery order for Multifunctional Information Distribution System-Low Volume Terminals (MIDS-LVTs). The contracts were awarded to Data Link Solutions, LLC (DLS) and ViaSat, Inc. on July 15, 2011. The DLS delivery order initially called for 123 MIDS-LVT Lot 12 terminals, valued at approximately $24 million total, while ViaSat received $27.5 million for 149 terminals. A supplemental buy awarded September 15, 2011 adds $1.6 million (8 terminals) for DLS and $2.4 million for ViaSat (13 terminals), bringing the total contract awards to $25.6 and $29.9 million, respectively.

DLS will produce MIDS-LVT (1), (2), (4) and (11) variants for use by the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Army, and Department of Defense, as well as Australia and Japan via Foreign Military Sale. Work will be performed in Wayne, New Jersey and Cedar Rapids, Iowa and is expected to be completed by January 31, 2013.

ViaSat will produce MIDS-LVT (1), (2), (4), (6), and (11) variants for use by the U.S. Navy, Air Force, and Army, as well as Australia and Japan via Foreign Military Sale. Work will be performed in Carlsbad, California and various other sites worldwide. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in July 2012 and continue through March 2013.

Since their original introduction in 2000, MIDS-LVTs have provided secure, high-capacity, jam resistant, digital data and voice communications capabilities for a variety of platforms, including ships, aircraft, missile defense systems, and national and international command and control agencies. Over 8,100 MIDS-LVTs are on contract or have been delivered worldwide, with thousands of future installations and applications (US & International) projected through 2021.

The MIDS Program Office also recently completed contract actions related to the development and production of the MIDS JTRS terminal. On September 14 and 15, 2011, SPAWAR awarded engineering development orders to DLS and ViaSat. DLS received approximately $9 million, while ViaSat received over $13 million. The orders are part of the MIDS Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract, which was initially executed in March 2010. The contracted work will deliver the first series of annual block cycle software updates for MIDS JTRS terminals. Block Cycle 1 will provide information assurance modernization upgrades and additional enhancements.

MIDS JTRS is a Pre-Planned Product Improvement (P3I) upgrade to the MIDS-LVT. It provides core MIDS-LVT capabilities such as Link-16, TACAN, and secure voice, and is also capable of hosting the next generation airborne networking waveform(s). MIDS JTRS is scheduled for Full Production and Fielding (FP&F) and Initial Operational Capability (IOC) on F/A-18E/F and JSTARS in December 2011.

Regarding the recent batch of awards, MIDS Program Manager CAPT Scott Krambeck, USN, said, “I am extremely pleased with the capability that MIDS brings to the warfighter. MIDS provides the Link-16 backbone for the U.S. and 37 nations with installations on airborne, ground and maritime platforms. I am excited about incorporating new waveforms into the MIDS JTRS terminal and delivering even greater networking capability in the future.”

[buglerbilly]

No Cell Towers, Big Problem: Army Aims for Battlefield Network

By Mark Riffee October 11, 2011 | 6:30 am



It’s been four and a half years since Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone. Since then, the Jesus Phone and its competitors have penetrated every social stratum — with one exception: the Department of Defense. “Historically, we have not been good at fielding things quickly,” Maj. John McGee told Danger Room at the Association of the United States Army’s annual conference in Washington, D.C. The hardware isn’t the problem — I’ve seen dozens of ruggedized tablets and smart devices at the conference today. The issue is the network. One defense contractor, the Harris Corporation, says it may have an answer.

When you and I walk around in New York, Los Angeles, or even Kabul, we are surrounded by a matrix of cellular towers, which makes it very easy to use our iPhones and Androids. But the U.S. military can’t count on having that sort of infrastructure on its next battlefield.

Harris currently has two portable devices in the field that are capable of establishing a network that could help troops communicate, anyway. The Falcon III AN/PRC-152A handheld radio and the AN/PRC-117G manpack and vehicular radio can latch onto all different kinds of waveforms and networks. (AN/PRC, if you’re wondering, stands for Army/Navy Portable Radio used for two-way Communication.)

If these were commercial devices, they’d connect to 3G, 4G, or WiFi networks within range, allowing smart devices to then connect with each other using the hotspot as a fulcrum. Instead, Harris’ devices primarily connect to established military radio waveforms such as Soldier Radio Waveform, Wideband Networking Waveform, and Adaptive Networking Waveform. So far, the AN/PRC-117G and AN/PRC-152A have primarily been connected to Panasonic Toughbooks with a USB cord, and used to transmit operations commands, tactical strategies, maps, and live video.

So far, Harris has sold over 160,000 AN/PRC-152As and 16,000 AN/PRC-117Gs to the Department of Defense and U.S. allies. More than 3,500 backpackable versions and tens of thousands of handhelds are already being used in the field.

But enough stats and specs — Maj. McGee explained how these radios work might work in a battlefield situation while showing me around the tactical radio communications booth. Let’s say there’s an Army unit tucked away in a remote valley. They have portable satellite towers and radios, but the surrounding mountains block the signals. If they have an interoperational radio like the AN/PRC-117G, the unit can use it to communicate, or “hop,” to another radio within their line of sight. Theoretically, the U.S. Military could communicate all around the globe so long as there are enough radios to circumscribe it and each radio is within the line of sight of the next (like a giant game of telephone with Styrofoam cups tethered together by yarn). But it is impractical and sometimes impossible to try to establish a line of communication out of every remote valley. So what now?

Harris and the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS, pronounced “jitters”), a Department of Defense program that oversees and evaluates the development of radio networks, are taking to the air. JTRS has already put AN/PRC-117Gs in Persistent Ground Surveillance System blimps, Shadow drones, and a variety of other rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, to create a network in the sky, says retired Maj. Gen. Dennis Moran, a Harris executive. This should allow the isolated unit’s multiband radio to hop over the mountain and connect with a radio on more favorable terrain.

Emphasis on should. Right now, a fully integrated, wireless network appears to be a long way off. One major factor, as always, is price. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, AN/PRC-117Gs sell for $30,000 apiece. With rumors of budget cuts in the defense sector rising daily, it seems unlikely that the Department of Defense will splurge on a radio for every vehicle and soldier (though the AN/PRC-152 is considerably cheaper) anytime soon.

Progress is being made slowly but surely — just the way the Pentagon likes it. JTRS’s second bi-annual Network Integration Evaluation will begin on Oct. 21 and run until Nov. 19. Nearly 50 networking systems will be tested in hopes of bolstering the existing wireless infrastructure. All I can say is, at least they’re being thorough.

Photo: Courtesy of Harris RF Communications

[buglerbilly]

JTRS Rifleman and Manpack radios to arrive in November

Posted by Chris Kelly | October 11th, 2011 | AUSA 2011


PRC-154 Rifleman Radio

BY MICHAEL HOFFMAN – The Army’s first low rate initial production Joint Tactical Radio System Rifleman and Manpack radios will arrive in November, although the Army’s top JTRS officer tried to tamp down expectations Monday.

Both radios tested well in the recent Network Interation Evaluation (NIE), but Brig. Gen. Michael Williamson, JTRS’ joint program executive officer, said it will receive a tougher test in the second NIE.

Team and squad leaders operate the PRC 154 Rifleman radios while the Army issues PRC 155 Manpack radios to units above platoon. General Dynamics C4 Systems builds both radios.

Williamson’s hesitation comes because he said NIE soldiers only test 30 radios at one time. In the second NIE, which starts this month at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., the Army will test up to 300 radios at a time to see how that volume of radios integrates into the Network.

“Sure we have some guys jumping up and down saying get me these radios now,” Williamson said. “But we have to be careful and do the right tests. Make sure the infrastructure can handle it.”

The Army ordered 6,250 units in their low rate initial production order. Rifleman and Manpack radios work in concert, allowing squads to send data and talk to units beyond their platoon.

The Rifleman can also connect to smartphones with the ability to send and receive data through the Network. The Manpack is a two-channel radio that can connect to the Soldier Radio Waveform and legacy narrowband waveforms.

Williamson said he remains more concerned with the waveforms and the infrastructure rather than the radios the soldiers hold in their hands, carry in their rucks or mount in their vehicles. Those are easier to fix and, like in the commercial market, they are constantly updating.

What matters more is ensuring the Army builds the right communications structure to send and receive the constantly increasing data demands for soldiers in combat. That is why Williamson wasn’t as concerned about complaints the radio got hot.

“I can fix that a lot easier than setting up a completely new waveform,” he said.

[buglerbilly]

Army Kills JTRS, Goes 'Platform Agnostic' With Network Plan

By Carlo Munoz

Published: October 12, 2011



This article is majorily misleading in that major elements of JTRS remain and are being or about to be, delivered.........just look at the posts above this one!

Washington: The Army needs a new way to connect soldiers on the battlefield, and it doesn't care how it gets there.

The service is taking a "platform agnostic" approach to the way it is carrying out its new network strategy, a senior Army program official told me yesterday during the U.S. Army Association's annual symposium here.

In other words, the Army doesn't care what kind of industry-built black box it uses to communicate with troops in the field, as long as it can carry the two key waveforms that the service will base its entire communications network on, the official said.

Army leaders made that message crystal clear to their industry counterparts this week, deciding to kill the Army version of the Joint Tactical Radio System and re-open the competition for a tactical ground radio, according to recent news reports.

Large cost overruns and numerous schedule delays forced the Army's hand in canceling the JTRS Ground Mobile Radio system. To that end, DoD has told Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor of the air and sea version of JTRS, to restructure that program with an eye toward affordability.

Army spokesman Paul Meheny declined to comment on the possible cancellation of GMRS, but did reiterate the backbone of the Army's networking strategy will be the waveforms and not the specific hardware transmitting them.

Those two key networks are the Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) and Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW). Using those two networks, ground troops will be able to communicate and coordinate operations among each other, as well as relay information back to combat commanders via satellite.

On unit-to-unit communications, the Army says the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) "is the answer" according to Meheny.

To that end, service officials are planning to test newer versions of WIN-T, among other programs during the Network Integrated Evaluation trials, scheduled for later this month at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

It was during these NIE trials where the Army discovered the significant problems that ultimately led to the cancellation of the GMRs, Army acquisition chief Heidi Shyu said yesterday.

"We learned a lot of things" about GMRs and other network systems during those trials, she said. "We neded up killing one program because the soldiers hated it," she said.

During the previous NIE, the Army was inundated with "very negative comments" about the GMRs radio, Shyu said. In the end, Army testers found out the radios used during the trials were filled with "broken connections" that affected their performance.

Shyu said the problem fell more on Army personnel not installing the radios correctly on the vehicles used during the NIE trials. However, with the cancellation of the entire system, those problems may have been tied to more than just user error.

For the Army, JTRS is clearly not the answer. And as the service continues to move ahead with its networking strategy, that answer is increasingly up in the air, the Army official admitted.

But what is clear to the Army is that its networks must continue to evolve, regardless of what black box it uses to get there.

[buglerbilly]

Army Asks For Help Closing Holes In Network Strategy

By Carlo Munoz

Published: October 17, 2011



Washington: The Army is looking for industry solutions to close unexpected gaps in its new combat network system.

In a notice sent out to defense firms late last week, Army officials ran down the litany of "capability gaps" uncovered as part of the service's effort to build a new communications network for its ground units.

Analysts at the Army's Training and Doctrine Command identified these gaps, based on information gathered during the latest round of Network Integration Evaluation trials, held in June, Army spokesman Paul Mehney said.

Unsurprisingly, at the top of that list was need for a new multichannel radio. Last week, the Army killed its version of the Joint Tactical Radio System and kicked off a competition for a replacement.

The Army also requested industry help in developing a "tactical" router to help support the network, as well as options for "improved operational energy" sources to help power it it all, according to the industry solicitation.

The Army plans to test industry-provided solutions to these capability gaps during the next NIE, scheduled for November at the Army's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, he added.

Information taken from the last round of network trials led to the cancellation of the Army JTRS radio, service acquisition chief Heidi Shyu told attendees at the U.S. Army Association's annual conference last week.

On the positive side, The Army was also able to take the lessons learned from that previous NIE and refine its NettWarrior system.

As a result of information gleaned from the June network tests, the Army completely revamped NettWarrior, adopting a smartphone-like system using a secure version of the Android operating system.

[buglerbilly]

After cancellation, Army pivots to new radio strategy

By Philip Ewing Wednesday, October 19th, 2011 9:08 am



Joint Tactical Radio System-Ground Mobile Radio? What Joint Tactical Radio System-Ground Mobile Radio?

The Army is marching right along after canceling Boeing’s underwhelming, over-budget GMR, it says. Like the best battlefield commanders of yesteryear, it’s going to wheel left and flank this requirement with a new “‘Non-Developmental Item’ effort designed to procure lower-cost, commercially-available radios able to meet JTRS GMR requirements, service officials said,” per its official story.

The JTRS saga might have been a national “60 Minutes”-type story if it were glamorous like a fighter jet or had the heartbreak qualities of MRAPs or body armor, but fortunately for DoD, it seems to have mostly stayed inside the family. The Army and the other services have wanted the joint family of radios for years now, and although parts of the program are phasing in, they’re behind schedule. But as we’ve seen, today’s Army acquisition officials aren’t the type to let the sun catch ‘em cryin’ — as their official story makes clear, they believe they can still get the capability they want here. Remember how the Army rejected the notion that its Comanche helicopter was a failure, because some of its progress theoretically trickled forward? Get ready:


This NDI effort is designed to harness years of investment and technological progress associated with JTRS GMR development and procure available radios that can transmit information using high bandwidth, non-proprietary waveforms such as Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW) and Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) able to move voice, video, data and images across the force in real time.

SRW is targeted for the individual Soldier, individual small units and sensors; WNW can move information longer distances and is designed for technologies such as Aerostat blimps, vehicles and mobile command posts. Both waveforms can contribute greatly to the creation of a mobile, ad-hoc terrestrial network able to connect dismounted units in austere, forward locations to other units and up to higher echelons of command.

“The key piece is that we have waveforms that deliver capability. Now, as part of this evolution we are going to go back out to industry and say, ‘can you deliver these waveforms at a lower cost?’” said [Brig. Gen. Michael] Williamson [joint program executive officer for JTRS]. The maturation of these waveforms combined with technical advances in the radio market make the NDI approach a positive step forward for the Army, Williamson said.

“What we have done is develop non-proprietary waveforms. Radio manufacturers that want to leverage this do not have to start from scratch and develop their own waveform. They can port the waveform we have tested and developed onto their radio so we can achieve the interoperability,” said [the Army’s acquisitions boss, Heidi] Shyu.

Similar to the GMR radios, the NDI solutions will be able to better network the force by using WNW and SRW to move information and connect units on-the-move to one-another. Many of the proposed radio solutions will have two channels, and the new radios will also be backward compatible with legacy or existing radios already in use across the services such as Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS) and Enhanced Position Location Reporting System (EPLRS) radios. A formal RFP asking industry to propose technical solutions to meet the NDI requirements is expected in the coming weeks, Williamson said.

See that? The Army won’t miss a beat, it thinks. There’s only one small challenge, one the Marines are dealing with on a larger scale with their new amphibious vehicle: If the system that performed the task you wanted got too expensive to buy, but you still want to perform the task in question, how can you develop another system that does the same thing without it falling victim to the same fate as the first?

Read more: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2011/10/19/after-cancellation-army-pivots-to-new-radio-strategy/#ixzz1bEfbRahv
DoDBuzz.com

[buglerbilly]

Marines Search For New Network Radios

By Carlo Munoz

Published: October 20, 2011



Washington: The Marine Corps is eyeing a wide range of systems to augment the service's radio network, thrown into doubt by the Army's recent decision to cancel its main ground radio.

These potential replacements are based on current communication systems, modified "on the battlefield" by combat units deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, James Craft, deputy chief information officer for the Marine Corps, said.

Craft declined to provide specifics on what those systems were and how they would replace the JTRS Ground Mobile Radio (GMR). He spoke at a luncheon sponsored by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association.

Craft did provide one detail: network security would be the top priority in any solution the Marines end up putting in the field. "From the Marine Corps point of view, if it isn't secure, we are not interested," Craft told the industry attendees at Wednesday's event.

The JTRS replacement would have to be energy efficient, Craft pointed out. Resupplying batteries and other power sources needed to make JTRS and other systems work in the field has become an increasingly dangerous task, Craft said. Supply convoys are constant targets for enemy attacks, either by improvised roadside bombs or preplanned ambushes by insurgent forces.

The longer Marine units can use things like JTRS on the battlefield without having to rely on new shipments of batteries or other supplies, the less number of convoys combat commanders have to send into harms way. "We need to be more efficient than our enemies," Craft said.

Earlier this month, the Army scrapped its plans to deploy the GMR and announced it would be restarting its competition for a new tactical radio. The Marines also planned to purchase a number of the radios for their combat units, along with the Army.

This is not the first time the Marines, or the other services, have been forced to come up with new communication systems because of delays to JTRS. In mid-2000, the Pentagon granted millions in development waivers to the services, so they could build temporary communication systems for troops who had expected the new radios to already be in service.

With this latest setback, the Marines and the Army are again being forced back to the drawing board, to find a way to work around the JTRS program.

[buglerbilly]

Army Lowers Curtain on Service's Software Radio

By Carlo Munoz

Published: October 27, 2011



Washington: Time has officially run out on the Army's Joint Tactical Radio System.

The Army will release its proposals request for a new handheld network radio to industry next month, the service's top uniformed acquisition official Lt. Gen. Bill Phillips said.

Army and Pentagon officials decided to nix the Boeing-built JTRS Ground Mobile Radio earlier this month. The new proposals request will formally kick off the radio replacement effort.

"There are a number of industry partners out there that can deliver" a GMR replacement Phillips told members of the House Armed Services tactical air and land subcommittee yesterday.

"At the end of the day, this is positive for us," Phillips added during the hearing. "We will get this radio quicker [and] it will be at a lower cost."

However the Army will not cancel the JTRS contract with Boeing immediately, Phillips noted.

Acquisition officials will do a "graceful termination" where the Army will not renew its deal with Boeing and let the contract "terminate on its own," he added. The company's deal with the Army is set to expire next March.

Army engineers will use the lessons learned from their work on GMR on whatever follow-on radio system it chooses, Phillips said. This falls in line with the "platform agnostic" approach the Army is taking with the GMR replacement and the rest of its networking strategy.

The service does not care what kind of hardware it uses to communicate with troops in the field, Lt. Gen Robert Lennox, chief of the Army office in charge of funding service programs told me after testifying yesterday. As long as the radio replacement can carry the two critical waveforms in the Army's network plan -- the Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) and Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW) -- service officials will be satisfied, Lennox said.

Service leaders hope to have a network radio prototype ready for testing at the Army's Network Integration Exercise later this year, according to Phillips. The next NIE is scheduled for November at the Army's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Information gathered at the last NIE trials led to the cancellation of the GMR, Army acquisition chief Heidi Shyu told attendees at the U.S. Army Association's annual conference earlier this month.

The Marine Corps is working its own GMR replacement plan, based on current communication systems, modified "on the battlefield" by combat units deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

[buglerbilly]

Green light for MBITR satellite upgrade

02 November 2011 - 9:43 by Andrew White



Coalition forces will finally receive the SATCOM Integrated Waveform (IW) upgrade for the JTRS Enhanced MBITR (JEM) communications system following its certification by the US Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC).

JEM manufacturer Thales Communications had originally hoped to gain certification and begin deliveries of the next-generation SATCOM IW to military users by the end of 2010. Sources told Shephard that the programme had suffered from unforeseen delays.

However, the go-ahead now means the company is in a position to provide the upgrade to US forces as well as coalition partners around the world including the UK. A spokesperson for Thales Communications confirmed that deliveries to military customers had now begun.

The IW comprises a software upgrade of the handheld JEM system and is designed to eliminate the need to carry manpack tactical radio systems, allowing team members to deploy with a Beyond-Line-of-Sight (BLOS) communications capability.

Effectively, the waveform comprises a replacement for the Demand Assigned Multiple Access (DAMA) SATCOM capability, although they will remain interoperable with each other, Thales Communications confirmed.

The IW will provide up to 14 networks at 2400bps each, allowing support for Narrowband Voice Operations with Mixed Excitation Linear Prediction (MELP), the company added. More specifically, this means improved voice quality, higher data throughput and increased command and control capability on the battlefield, Thales Communications described.

‘The JITC certification is an important milestone for the JEM radio, bringing both increased capability and significant value to our nation’s warfighters. The JEM radio with SATCOM IW significantly reduces the warfighter’s carry load,’ said Michael Sheehan, president and CEO of Thales Communications.

To date, Thales Communications has supplied around 75,000 JEM radios to US forces with around 200 systems delivered to NATO countries including the UK. Software upgrades will be done at unit level without the need for return of radios to Thales facilities.

[buglerbilly]

Army Gives JTRS One More Shot -- On Apaches

By Carlo Munoz

Published: November 2, 2011



Washington: The Army is giving a version of the Joint Tactical Radio System one more shot at becoming part of its new networking strategy, weeks after terminating a separate version of the next-generation radio.

An airborne JTRS variant built by Lockheed Martin is set to fly next week as part of the Army's latest Networking Integration Exercise at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The variant will be mounted on a prototype version of the Army's newest Apache attack helicopter during the tests, program manager Col. Shane Openshaw said today. It will be used to pass voice and image data from the helicopter to ground units during the exercise. This version of the radio will use DoD and NATO-standard Link 16 network to pass information around the battlefield, according to Openshaw.

Testing on the air version of JTRS comes as the Army begins its search to replace the handheld version of the system known as the Ground Mobile Radio. Excessive costs and schedule delays prompted the cancellation of that Boeing-built JTRS variant. Lackluster performances at past NIEs helped seal the program's fate, Army acquisition chief Heidi Shyu said at the U.S. Army Association's annual conference in October.

Service officials plan to have a proposals request for a GMR replacement out to industry this month. The Marine Corps is working its own GMR replacement based on battle-tested communication systems already deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

But program officials at Lockheed Martin remain confident the aerial JTRS variant they have built will not suffer the same fate as the GMR. Getting their airborne JTRS radio -- known as the Airborne and Maritime Fixed Station variant -- to the Army as fast as possible is the company's top priority, said Mark Norris, the program's vice president.

To get there, the Army will run the AMF radio through six different combat vignettes during the White Sands network trials, Doug Booth, Lockheed's team leader for the NIE exercise, added. Those vignettes will show how well the Link 16-based AMF radio can link up with other communication systems in the Army's network, he said. Once proven, Army and industry officials can then start integrating the service's two key networking waveforms -- the Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) and Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW).

Those two waveforms have been touted by the Army as the backbone of its future networking strategy. The service is adamant it will be the waveforms, not the individual radio systems, that will ensure the network strategy's success. Norris all but guaranteed future versions of the AMF radio will be able to carry WNW and SRW. The big question is when the company can deliver those systems to the Army.

The Pentagon has ordered Lockheed to rejigger the AMF program to make sure the radio stays on budget and on schedule. Earlier versions were designed to handle a slew of communication networks -- from Link 16 through the Army waveforms -- in a single radio. That approach proved too costly. The restructured plan breaks the program into manageable pieces. Those pieces will focus on individual networks, rather than piling them into a single radio.

Restructuring of the program will not affect the Army's evaluation of the Link 16-based version of radio during the NIE, Openshaw said. The changes to the program will be felt when the Army develops the waveform-based version of AMF, he added. Norris said the AMF would be able to "fully support all of the other waveforms" the Army wants on the radio -- whenever that ends up happening.

[buglerbilly]

Army Rushes To Test Tactical Radio Replacements At NIE

By Carlo Munoz

Published: November 8, 2011



Washington: Just weeks after the Army canceled the JTRS Ground Mobile Radio system, the service is rushing to test a number of industry prototypes during the Network Integration Exercises at White Sands Missile Range.

Army officials have already picked the Harris-built Falcon III wideband radio as the interim replacement for the GMR system, Dennis Moran, the company's vice president for government business affairs, told me yesterday.

The Low-Cost Reduced Size Radio effort will only consider radios that are already in production. That could help the Army save millions in research and development dollars. "The world, as far as tactical radios, has changed in the past few years," the Harris executive said. The Army "is seeing that and taking advantage of the investments," made by industry, he noted. Service officials plan to issue a formal proposals request for the LCRS radio this month.

Until then, the Army plans to use the Falcon III as its main wideband ground radio, according to Moran.The Army has fielded earlier versions of the Falcon to Afghanistan over the past three years, he said. Nearly 3,000 Falcons are already being used by Army units in the field, Moran added. "Our strategy was to always grow that capability over time" and to keep increasing the Falcon's capabilities with each iteration, he said.

The Army plans to deploy the Falcon III with eight brigade combat teams in fiscal 2012. The ongoing tests at the NIE will help get the Falcon ready for that deployment, Moran said. The ongoing NIE is more of a "dress rehearsal" for the kinds of conditions and situations the Falcon will be exposed to in the field, Moran said. The Falcon is also being pushed "deeper into the formation" compared to past NIEs, he added.

In past network drills, Army leaders limited the radio's use to the company and brigade levels, Moran said. This time around service planners are pushing that down to the platoon and squad levels. That approach is "absolutely spot on" for Army to vet key aspects of the Falcon and the eventual GMR replacement during the NIE, according to Moran. "There is nobody that is going to stress [the radio] harder than a soldier," he said.

[buglerbilly]

Lockheed's JTRS Clears Flight Tests, Sets Stage For Key Army Review

By Carlo Munoz

Published: November 17, 2011



Washington: After a series of successful flight tests in New Mexico last week, a version of the Joint Tactical Radio System could be back in the Army's arsenal as soon as next fiscal year.

An airborne version of the Lockheed Martin-built radio, known as Airborne/Maritime Fixed JTRS, flew several test flights aboard the Army's newest Apache attack helicopter last week. The tests coincided with the service's ongoing Network Integration Experiment at White Sands Missile Range. The AMF-equipped Apache flew one of its six operational "vignettes" as part of the NIE, Mark Norris, Lockheed's vice president for AMF JTRS, said. The other five were conducted by company officials, he said.

Program officials put the AMF through its paces during the drills. The first two tests looked at the radio's effective range and ability to connect with ground units, said Doug Booth, director of business development for the system. The next three exercises examined how fast the radio could reconnect with ground units after a signal loss, as well as the system's ability to transmit imagery from the Apache's on-board camera. The final test, with the Army, looked at how AMF performed within the the service's network. Without going into operational specifics, Booth said the radio passed all six tests "with flying colors."

Service officials will decide whether to move AMF into initial production in early fiscal year 2013.
That decision will coincide with service plans to replace the handheld version of JTRS known as the Ground Mobile Radio. Excessive costs and schedule delays prompted the cancellation of that Boeing-built JTRS variant in October. Lackluster performances at past NIEs helped seal the program's fate, Army acquisition chief Heidi Shyu said at the Association of U.S. Army's annual conference that month.

Overall success of AMF aside, there are a few things the Lockheed team still has to work out on the program. Getting the radio to work flawlessly with both the Apache and the Army communications network is one of those challenges, noted Alex Moore, AMF business development lead for Lockheed. "Integration is going to be a big piece . . .and we are just trying to take it one step at a time," he said. During the imagery tests there was some difficulty between the Apache and AMF with collecting the images, he said. But once the data was moved into the Army network, the data moved "seamlessly", Moore added. That issue among others were just "small pieces that [we] have to work through," Booth said.

Just getting the AMF-equipped Apache ready for live-flight tests was a significant achievement on its own, Norris explained. Lockheed officials outfitted the helicopter with AMF, synced up the radio with the helicopter's own communications systems and got it flying in a matter of weeks. "I would challenge anybody to do that," he said.

[buglerbilly]

General Dynamics JTRS HMS Rifleman Radios Complete Formal Operational Testing


Paratroopers from 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, use Joint Tactical Radio System radios to communicate during a field exercise at Fort Bragg, N.C., in March, 2011. The JTRS Rifleman Radio completed its operational test at the Army's Network Integration Evaluation 12.1 in November.

The JTRS HMS networking radios are the first ground-domain radios to meet the full suite of JTRS operational requirements for the U.S. military

09:19 GMT, December 15, 2011 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. | The JTRS HMS AN/PRC-154 Rifleman radio by General Dynamics C4 Systems completed its Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) during the U.S. Army's recently concluded Network Integration Evaluation at Fort Bliss, Texas. The Rifleman radio, one of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Handheld, Manpack, Small Form Fit (HMS) family of radios, is the first JTRS radio to use the Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) to enable secure networked communications among platoon, squad and team-level soldiers and their leaders. The IOT&E is the last formal test required by the military before the radios enter full-rate production.

"We're getting great feedback from soldiers who prefer the Rifleman radio, rather than lugging bulky wideband handheld radios that require extra batteries," said Chris Brady, vice president of Assured Communications for General Dynamics C4 Systems. "With the Rifleman Radio, soldiers can connect their cell phone or computer and join the network anywhere they fight."

Members of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division (2/1 AD) evaluated the AN/PRC-154 Rifleman radio in a variety of tactical exercises that included convoy operations, reconnaissance, counterinsurgency and medical evacuation missions. In a recent Army announcement, Capt. Ryan McNally, a company commander with the 2/1 AD, said the ability to communicate with the radios instead of shouting or using hand-and-arm signals had altered his soldiers' tactical approach to their missions.

"We have to factor in being able to talk to each other over a distance, rather than everybody being essentially co-located with a limited amount of space and distance between them. Now we can expand that space and distance. We can cover a larger area," McNally said.

In the same report a 2/1 AD platoon leader, 2nd Lt. Travis V. Mount, said the technology showing the positions of his troops allowed him to save time by immediately adapting and executing his plans rather than tracking down personnel first.

"No matter what kind of organization you're running, if you have dismounts who are going to be on the ground you like to be able to see where your personnel are," Mount said. "If all I need is information on their position, I don't have to go through an intermediary. I can on the spot adapt my plan."

In June 2011, the JTRS HMS program achieved a Milestone C decision, enabling the Low Rate Initial Production of 6,250 AN/PRC-154 Rifleman and 100 AN/PRC-155 Manpack radios. JTRS HMS radios take full advantage of the government's library of waveforms, including the Soldier Radio Waveform, and in the future, the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) and Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW) critical to communicating on the Army's emerging tactical communications network.

General Dynamics C4 Systems is prime contractor for the JTRS HMS program. The JTRS HMS team includes BAE Systems (Wayne, N.J.); Rockwell Collins (Cedar Rapids, Iowa); and Thales Communications (Clarksburg, Md.).

The full Army announcement is available online at www.dvidshub.net/news/80654/rifleman-radio-completes-key-operational-test-nie.

For more information about JTRS HMS radios by General Dynamics C4 Systems, please visit www.gdradios.com.

[buglerbilly]

Rangers Give New Army Radio, Smartphone First Combat Test

December 16, 2011

Military.com|by Matthew Cox



Army Rangers in Afghanistan are now carrying new radios and tactical smartphones that allow them to track each other's position when their teammates are out of sight.

Units from the Army's elite 75th Ranger Regiment have deployed to Afghanistan with the AN/PRC-154 Rifleman Radio -- a device developed under the Joint Tactical Radio System program, or JTRS -- that will connect them to the Army's tactical network, according to officials from Joint Program Executive Office JTRS.

Rangers also packed the Android-based GD300, a smartphone-type device that can be used to send and receive text messages and detailed maps and graphics while connected to the Rifleman Radio.

The deployment marks the first battlefield evaluation of the Rifleman Radio and the GD300, both made by General Dynamics C4 Systems. The move marks the latest attempt by the Army to connect dismounted infantryman to the service's tactical network with equipment light enough for the rigors of the battlefield.

"The purpose of the Rangers' operational assessment is to evaluate the suitability and reliability of the system and determine how networked communications and situational awareness can improve mission effectiveness," said James Mercer, a spokesman for JPEO JTRS. "In addition, their feedback will provide critical information to incorporate prior to fielding elements of the system to the U.S. Army as a whole."

The Rifleman Radio was developed as part of the Handheld, Manpack, Small Form Fit, or HMS program. HMS radios are designed around the Army's future tactical network strategy to create secure tactical networks without the logistical nightmare of a tower-based antenna infrastructure.

The concept of teaming a smartphone with JTRS radio came out of the Army's long-gestating Land Warrior and Nett Warrior programs. Stryker units have deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan with Land Warrior's computerized command and control ensemble.

Land Warrior's components gave soldiers the ability to communicate by text and voice and track the positions of other Land-Warrior equipped soldiers as icons on a digital map. But the gear weighed more than 10 pounds and required constant maintenance to keep the complex system running.

Nett Warrior was the Army's attempt to streamline the technology and make it lighter and easier to operate. After months of testing in the field, soldiers told leaders they liked the capability, but would rather have something like the civilian smartphones that connect them to the World Wide Web.

If all goes well, this pairing of the Rifleman Radio and the GD300 could be the solution. Rangers can attach the compact GD300 to their wrist or load-bearing kit. They can connect it to Rifleman Radio and use the device's touchscreen to watch icons on a digital map that represent the location of their fellow soldiers, General Dynamics said.

The 75th conducted three separate training evaluations throughout 2011 to ensure the system was mature enough to use in theater, Army officials said.

Program officials used the information gathered during those exercises to make significant software modifications, which made both the radio and the display more tactically relevant and user friendly. The successes of those evaluations convinced the "regiment that the system was ready for combat evaluation," Army officials said.

© Copyright 2011 Military.com. All rights reserved.

[buglerbilly]

General Dynamics systems selected by US

23 January 2012 - 15:51 by the Shephard News Team



General Dynamics has announced that two of its communications systems, the General Dynamics C4 Systems JTRS HMS Rifleman Radio (AN/PRC-154) and the General Dynamics Itronix GD300 wearable computer, have been selected to deploy to Afghanistan with the US Army 75th Ranger Regiment later this month. If the products perform effectively during planned operational assessments they are being considered for roll out to the US Army as a whole.

General Dynamics made the announcement in a 23 January 2012 company statement, saying that the capability provides ‘unprecedented communication and situational awareness that changes how soldiers fight’.

According to the statement, the Rangers are equipped with the Rifleman Radio for intra-squad communications and with the GD300, running the Tactical Ground Reporting (TIGR) tactical 'app,' to send text messages, situation reports and other information to individual solders.

The JTRS HMS programme office and the Ranger Regiment decided to conduct the operational assessment following three separate successful evaluations in 2011. The Rifleman Radio is part of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Handheld, Manpack, Small Form Fit (HMS) radio family.

The JTRS HMS Rifleman Radio provides reliable networked voice and data communications in austere and cluttered urban environments using the government's Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW). The General Dynamics GD300 is an Android-based, full-rugged, wrist or body-worn computer. When paired with the Rifleman Radio, the GD300 displays the position-location information of all soldiers in the network. Soldiers can also use the GD300 touch-screen display to place pictorial graphics and send maps to team members or their leaders using the TIGR 'app.'

[buglerbilly]

General Dynamics Rifleman Radio and GD300 Go to Afghanistan with U.S. Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment

(Source: General Dynamics; issued January 23, 2012)

More on this...............

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. --- The General Dynamics C4 Systems JTRS HMS Rifleman Radio (AN/PRC-154) and the General Dynamics Itronix GD300 wearable computer deployed this month to Afghanistan with elements of the 75th Ranger Regiment. The Rangers are equipped with the Rifleman Radio for intra-squad communications and with the GD300, running the Tactical Ground Reporting (TIGR) tactical ‘app,’ to send text messages, situation reports and other information to individual solders. Feedback from planned operational assessments will be used to inform the future fielding of the Rifleman Radio to the Army as a whole.

“This capability provides unprecedented communication and situational awareness that changes how soldiers fight,” said Chris Brady, vice president of Assured Communications for General Dynamics C4 Systems. “The JTRS HMS Rifleman Radio is ready for combat and could reduce the military’s dependence on interim radio solutions that are unable to deliver anything like this.”

The JTRS HMS program office and the Ranger Regiment decided to conduct the operational assessment following three separate successful evaluations in 2011. The Rifleman Radio is part of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Handheld, Manpack, Small Form Fit (HMS) radio family.

The JTRS HMS Rifleman Radio provides reliable networked voice and data communications in austere and cluttered urban environments using the government’s Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW). The General Dynamics GD300 is an Android®-based, full-rugged, wrist or body-worn computer. When paired with the Rifleman Radio, the GD300 displays the position-location information of all soldiers in the network. Soldiers can also use the GD300 touch-screen display to place pictorial graphics and send maps to team members or their leaders using the TIGR ‘app.’

The75th Ranger Regiment, a rapidly deployable strike force, is the largest special operations combat element in the U.S. Army. The 75th Ranger Regiment has been continuously deployed in support of the War on Terror since October 2001.

General Dynamics C4 Systems is a business unit of General Dynamics.

-ends-

[buglerbilly]

Army Rangers test new software-defined radio

February 10, 2012

By Kris Osborn, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology Public Affairs

I'm sure Kris Osborn's title is getting longer...................:rofl :rofl





WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Feb. 10, 2012) -- The U.S. Army's 75th Ranger Regiment in Afghanistan recently completed an operational assessment of the software-programmable Joint Tactical Radio Systems, or JTRS, Rifleman Radio. The assessment highlighted the radio's ability to share combat-relevant information, voice and data across small units in real time.

"We have just entered the era of the networked Soldier," said Col. John Zavarelli, program manager, Joint Program Executive Office, or JPEO JTRS, Handheld Manpack Small. "The individual rifleman now has a game-changing capability."

The Operational Assessment marked the first formal combat use of the single-channel, software-defined Rifleman Radio, which uses Soldier Radio Waveform, or SRW, a high bandwidth waveform which draws upon a larger part of the available spectrum compared to legacy radios to share information and "network" forces.

Rifleman Radio is part of a family of software-programmable JTRS radios, which make use of NSA-certified encryption to safeguard and transmit information. The radios are built to send packets of data, voice, video and images via multiple waveforms between static command centers, vehicles on-the-move and even dismounted individual Soldiers on patrol.

The operational assessment of Rifleman Radio is part of an overall acquisition strategy aimed at rapidly and effectively harnessing Soldier feedback as a vital element of procurement and technology development efforts, said Brig. Gen. Michael Williamson, Joint Program Executive Officer, JTRS.

"This is a near perfect example of how early engagement by the warfighter working closely with the PM and the acquisition community can deliver capability smarter and faster," said Williamson. "There was a tremendous amount of work done by the program manager, the Rangers and the acquisition leadership within the DOD and the Army to achieve this milestone."

The general said the Rangers spent a lot of time using the radios and "clearly had a significant level of confidence" in the system. Rangers liked the size, weight and power of the Rifleman Radio, which provided a battery life of up to ten hours and increased the units' ability to communicate despite obstacles such as buildings and nearby terrain.

The elite Ranger unit, which outfitted multiple platoons with the Rifleman Radio while conducting various tactical missions in Afghanistan, indicated that the systems greatly assisted their unit's ability to exchange key information such as position location information faster, further and more efficiently across the force, Zavarelli said.

"Communications were effective and reliable," Zavarelli said. "Team leaders and squad leaders benefitted from the position location information because of the information carried by the SRW waveform."

Rifleman Radio and SRW allowed the Ranger units to establish a mobile, ad-hoc network. Using that network, squad leaders, commanders and dismounted infantry shared and viewed mission essential information using small, hand-held, end-user devices with display screens. The devices displayed digital maps that allowed users to view surrounding terrain and to also locate nearby friendly forces, Zavarelli explained.

"The Rangers felt the radio was very effective for conducting infantry operations, especially at the small unit level," Zavarelli said. "Rifleman Radio allowed them to execute missions very rapidly because they had an improved awareness of where they were in relation to surrounding troops. Mission Command decisions were achieved faster."

Using the software programmable Rifleman Radio and SRW, the Rangers were able to "network " voice, data and information across deploying units in austere environments, without needing to rely upon a "fixed" infrastructure or GPS system to communicate across the unit while on the move.

"With the SRW networking waveform all you have to do is get to the next node," Zavarelli said. "The waveform that we were using is critical to bending around corners. Instead of having to push through obstacles you just have to hop to the next node. They were in a situation where the networking function worked well for them."

The success of this Rifleman Radio Operational Assessment, which included 125 radios, is expected to inform ongoing JPEO JTRS, Army and U.S. Special Operations Command considerations regarding planned future deployments of the radio. In fact, further development of the JTRS Rifleman Radio is being greatly assisted by feedback from Army Rangers who used the device in theater.

Overall, incorporating feedback from the Rangers is consistent with the aims of the Army's ongoing bi-annual Network Integration Evaluations, which are geared toward identifying, integrating and assessing capability, systems and technologies for Soldiers before they are sent to theater, Williamson explained.

Placing a premium upon Soldier feedback is a key element of the Army's "agile process" approach to acquisition, which seeks to expedite development and delivery of emerging technologies by evaluating them in tactically-relevant, combat-like scenarios such as the NIE.

Ultimately, the Army plans to broadly deploy the JTRS Rifleman Radio across the entire force.

[buglerbilly]

Debate Boils Over Whether Army's JTRS Radio Can Be Jammed

By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.

Published: February 27, 2012



The Army's attempt to reboot its troubled Ground Mobile Radio program has hit yet another snag, with accusations that the revised requirements omit a crucial capability to protect soldiers' signals from enemy jamming and accidental interference. As a result, wrote defense analyst, consultant, and AOL contributor Loren Thompson in a recent blog post, "soldiers dependent on timely, life-saving information carried on battlefield radios might lose their connection during the most dangerous moments of a fight." On background, however, Army officials insist the anti-jamming capability hasn't gone away at all. (An official explanation is expected early this week). So who's right?

Thompson says he got his information from two different companies competing for the contract, and an industry official from yet a third company confirmed it independently to AOL Defense. The Army may think it's got anti-jamming covered, Thompson told AOL Defense, "but when [some of] the main competitors think the requirement is not in the solicitation, something has been lost in the communications here."

Why does this kind of detail matter? Radios aren't exactly rocket science, but they're plenty complex. The program the Army's trying to reboot, the Ground Mobile Radio cancelled last October, is a particularly problematic part of the immensely ambitious Joint Tactical Radio System. JTRS – inauspiciously pronounced "jitters" –was launched way back in 1997 to replace the military's existing assortment of often-incompatible radios with a family of advanced digital devices that could convey not only the human voice but digital data. A JTRS device isn't just a radio; it has to provide a high-bandwidth, high-security, and entirely mobile network connection – battlefield wi-fi – for military units that have become ever more reliant on data from unmanned drones hunting the enemy, GPS locators tracking friendly units, and other intelligence sources.

The largest and smallest members of the JTRS family have actually come along fine: Lockheed Martin's unfortunately named "AMF" variant – short for "airborne, maritime, and fixed " – is being tested on the Apache helicopter, and the handheld "Rifleman Radio," built by General Dynamics, entered service in Afghanistan in January with the famed 75th Ranger Regiment. But the mid-size radio meant for Humvees, tanks, and other ground vehicles, the GMR, overloaded on high-tech ambitions that drove up power requirements, weight, and cost beyond what the Army could bear.

The Army has already selected an "interim" replacement for the cancelled GMR, the Falcon III from Harris, and is testing longer-term alternatives. But getting a new radio at a manageable cost means giving up some capabilities on the original wish-list. Thompson thinks the baby got thrown out with the bathwater. "It may have been oversight, it may have been an attempt at economy," he told AOL Defense. Either way, he said, it's a mistake.

Part of the problem is that the easiest way to overcome interference – whether deliberate jamming by an enemy or accidental interference from friendly electronics – is simply to up the power; but that requires having more power available in the first place, which ups cost and weight. One industry official suggested that some would-be competitors for the GMR replacement were trying to scale up man-portable radios which simply lacked the power to burn through interference, leading the Army to drop the anti-jamming requirement so they could compete. That gives the military more choices to get a new radio into the field faster – but a future adversary more electronically sophisticated than the Taliban might figure out how to exploit its Achilles' Heel.

[I]Carlo Munoz contributed to this story.

[buglerbilly]

Army Prepares to Field High-Tech New Comms Kit

March 02, 2012

Military.com|by Matthew Cox



Next year, the Army will begin equipping combat brigades with a new family of radios and communications gear designed to connect commanders on the move with trigger-pullers in the stack.

If all goes as planned, Capability Set 13 will give soldiers at every level of a brigade combat team the ability to access a high-speed tactical network.

Army modernization officials intend to field this new mix of hardware and software to at least three BCTs deploying to Afghanistan in 2013.

For the first time, brigade and battalion-level leaders will be able to plug into the network while on the move, modernization officials say. Set 13 will also equip soldiers at the squad level with the Rifleman Radio, a Joint Tactical Radio System capable of sending and receiving voice and data communications over the network.

Army officials have been working toward fielding this capability for more than a decade. This complete, tactical network emerged out of the Army’s failed Future Combat Systems effort and has become the service’s top modernization priority.

Commanders need the ability to “move on the battlefield and take the network with them, and you’ve got to have the individual soldier connected into it,” said Paul Mehney, a spokesman for the Army’s System of Systems Integration Directorate.

A key component of Set 13 is Increment 2 of the General Dynamics’ Warfighter Information Network Tactical, or Win-T. Increment 2 consists of a package of line-of-sight or terrestrial radios and satellite communications radios, antennas and software that provide units on the move with a “self-healing” network. The terrestrial radios form the primary connection and are backed up by satellite radios when connectivity is blocked by terrain and other battlefield challenges.

The Army has used the satellite-based WIN-T Increment 1 since 2004, but it doesn’t work on the move.

Increment 2 has far greater bandwidth capacity than the radio-based Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below. This will allow units to send and receive data much faster, Army officials maintain.

Company level units will receive AN/PRC 117G Advanced Wideband Networking Waveform radios, made by Harris Corp. These vehicle-mounted radios can send and receive voice and data simultaneously and link forward units to battalion and brigade levels of command.

Soldiers at the platoon and squad level will receive Nett Warrior equipment, which is mainly a JTRS Rifleman Radio.

“You become a node on the network if you have a Rifleman Radio on your kit,” Mehney said, describing how squad leaders can track the soldiers in their squad as Rifleman Radio icons on Nett Warrior’s tactical smartphone device. The combination performed well during a recent operational evaluation that involved units from the 75th Ranger Regiment in Afghanistan, Army officials said.

It’s still unclear whether soldiers in rifleman or squad automatic weapon roles will be equipped with smartphones. Soldier feedback from the Army’s last Network Integration Exercise raised the question -- “Do they need that capability or does that become a distraction?” Mehney asked.

It’s also unclear how much it will cost to equip an entire BCT with Set 13, Army officials said.

“Capability Set 13 will be fielded to Infantry, Stryker and Heavy Brigade Combat Teams; each will have its own network architecture so equipment sets will vary per BCT, thus a standard BCT cost estimate is not effective,” Mehney said.

Soldiers will evaluate the technology of Set 13 in the next Network Integration Exercise scheduled for May.

The first BCT scheduled to receive Capability Set 13 is scheduled to begin training with the technology in October, Army officials say. That BCT will be identified sometime this summer.

The initial plan is to equip at least three BCTs next year, said Paul Wilson, project director for Synchronized Fielding, System of Systems Integration Directorate.

“Our goal is to do more that,” he said. “End state is to do about eight per year.”

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[buglerbilly]

JTRS advances 'Cognitive Radio' concept

May 2, 2012

By Kris Osborn


Brig. Gen. Michael Williamson, joint program executive officer, JTRS, discusses radio performance with a Soldier at the Network Integration Evaluation 12.1 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.

WASHINGTON (May 2, 2012) -- The Joint Program Executive Office for Joint Tactical Radio Systems is moving closer to its vision of Cognitive Radio, a concept engineered to allow a family of software-programmable radios to better use portions of the available spectrum, service officials said.

Cognitive Radio allows Joint Tactical Radio Systems, known as JTRS, radios to more efficiently draw upon high-bandwidth waveforms, ensure maximum interoperability among deployed forces and preserve the security of combat-relevant voice, data, images and video transmitted across the force in real time.

A principle advantage of the JTRS family of radios, which have progressed substantially over more than a decade of technological development, is that they create and sustain secure, mobile, ad-hoc "terrestrial" and "aerial-tier" networks able to safely transmit vital, combat-relevant information across large distances. JTRS radios are engineered to accomplish this by being able to move information across deployed forces potentially located in austere, forward-positioned environments without needing a "fixed" infrastructure such as cell towers or satellite networks.

Each radio functions as a "node" or "router" on the network, extending its reach and mobility across a range of potentially uneven terrain and tactical, combat environments. Security methods such as anti-jam capability and encryption of IP or internet protocol packets of information sent wirelessly through high-bandwidth waveforms such as Soldier Radio Waveform, known as SRW, and Wideband Networking Waveforms, or WNW, are a fundamental element of this equation and a huge priority in the development of JTRS radios.

"With more radios vying for increasing scarce spectrum space, there's a growing need for cognitive radios that use computer intelligence to automatically and invisibly adapt themselves to user needs and band conditions. Cognitive radio is an umbrella term for an array of different technologies that allow radios to achieve various levels of self-configuration, including automatic operating mode selection, optimal power output and dynamic spectrum access for interference management," said Brig. Gen. Michael Williamson, joint program executive officer, JTRS.

Cognitive Radio helps bring this to fruition by facilitating what JTRS engineers call Dynamic Spectrum Access, or DSA, described essentially as the ability of the radio to locate and use the available spectrum by automatically changing its transmission or reception parameters, Williamson explained.

"DSA allows a JTRS device to sense the available spectrum, discover unused frequencies and adapt to the radio frequency environment, maintaining reliable communications with other DSA-enabled JTRS devices," he said.

In this respect, the concept of Cognitive Radio envisions a "self-healing," and "self-adapting" two-way radio able to more efficiently and effectively use limited spectrum while ensuring interoperability and security, he added.

"Cognitive attributes of spectrum 'sharing' and 'agility' are key to the future. Cognitive Radios are capable of dynamic spectrum utilization that takes advantage of unused channel occupancy or so-called 'White spaces.' The challenge is to be able to utilize these channels when they are not occupied and to exit the channel without harm to the channel owner when he turns on. Spectrum sensing is a critical function for future radio systems and JTRS is the platform to deliver capability to the warfighter," Williamson said.

Both SRW and WNW are high-bandwidth waveforms because they draw upon a larger portion of the available spectrum to more quickly and efficiently transmit information when compared with legacy waveforms; SRW is designed to efficiently use spectrum in 1.2-Megahertz bandwidth allotments. WNW can also support 1.2-Megahertz allotments, but it operates more efficiently and effectively at 3 or 5-Megahertz bandwidth allotments (up to 30 Megahertz when available) to deliver even higher network capacity, said U.S. Navy Capt. Jeffery Hoyle, industry engagement manager, JPEO JTRS.

A key element of the development of JTRS Cognitive Radio is a technique referred to as Spectrum Fragmentation, essentially a method wherein high bandwidth waveforms such as WNW and SRW are able to aggregate smaller chunks of available, unused spectrum into a larger allotment of bandwidth, Hoyle explained.

"Fragmentation allows us to make better use of the spectrum. It will facilitate more optimal spectrum planning and help ensure that we're getting the best possible use out of the finite spectrum resource in any given geographical area," he said.

This technique is slated to be demonstrated at one of the Army's upcoming Network Integration Evaluations at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., in October 2012. These evaluations are designed to further a more "Agile" acquisition process by placing emerging technologies in the hands of Soldiers in a combat-like environment to solicit feedback and perform needed integration, Hoyle said.

The bi-annual planned NIE's further the goals of streamlining acquisition into a more "Agile Process" in a manner wholly consistent with JPEO JTRS Enterprise Business Model, a developmental method designed, among other things, to allow commercial radio developers to build hardware solutions capable of porting the government-owned non-proprietary waveforms.

"By providing WNW, SRW and other tactical networking software products to industry partners, we enable them to integrate the same capability that we're currently fielding as part of Program of Record efforts, into their products," Hoyle added. "Our JTRS Enterprise Business Model enables us to leverage industry's talents and resources in developing and proving out Cognitive Radio technologies. The Army's Agile Acquisition process allows the Army to evaluate those industry developments and make faster, smarter decisions regarding which ones to field."

This process will also help to potentially incorporate industry-developed software enhancements in some cases, Hoyle added.

The JTRS Enterprise Business Model and Cognitive Radio concepts, complete with an emphasis upon security and spectrum "agility," are fundamental to plans for JPEO JTRS to have industry build a vehicle-mounted radio able to establish mobile, on-the-move communications and transmit information via WNW, officials said.

Through an interactive, collaborative process with its industry partners, JPEO JTRS is solidifying requirements articulated in a draft Request for Proposal for the new MNVR Non-Developmental Item, or NDI acquisition effort designed to capitalize upon the technical progress and innovation realized in the field of software programmable radio over the last decade.

The rationale for this endeavor, which emerged as a result of the termination of the JTRS Ground Mobile Radio, GMR program, is grounded in an effort to leverage the commercial market for more efficient, cost-effective hardware solutions able to utilize the JTRS waveforms,explained Williamson.

Blending commercial-off-the-shelf technologies with established programs of record in order to capitalize upon the latest in technological innovation is an essential aspect of this process, Williamson and Hoyle explained.

At the same time, the proposed MNVR solutions must be able to run the complete complement of the Wideband Networking Waveform WNW which includes both the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing and the Anti-Jam modes, JPEO JTRS officials explained.

Anti-Jam modes are specifically engineered to protect transmitting information from interference and potentially adversarial efforts to "jam" the frequency signals, and OFDM is a method of enabling multi-path signals to create a gain in signal-to-noise ratios, Hoyle said.

Overall, JTRS Cognitive Radio techniques and the emerging MNVR program are designed to best use finite spectrum resources in order to bring warfighters the substantial tactical and strategic advantage of having secure, interoperable communications and networks, officials said.