Army To Introduce It's Battlefield Network This October

Photo from KitUp/Military.com

It Only Took The Army 16 Years And 2 Wars to Deploy This Network -- Danger Room

In October, the Army will do something it’s wanted to do for more than a decade: send a pair of combat brigades to a warzone equipped with a new data network, and the hardware to operate it. It’ll let more than a thousand troops rapidly send voice, text, imagery and data across a warzone and to a soldier on patrol. It’s a milestone, following years of aspirations, setbacks and adjustments. And it arrives pretty much too late for the wars.

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Update #1: Army Strips Down Expectations -- And Battle Network -- For Faster Fielding -- Aol Defense
Update #2: Army Battlefield Network: Winners and Losers -- National Defense

My Comment: Only 16 years?

Making It Easier For Soldiers To Connect Back Home

‘Cheetahs’ Offer Swift Connection Home For Deployed Troops -- U.S. Department of Defense

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2011 – Deployed service members often count on connections home -- whether it’s e-mail, Skype, Facebook or Twitter -- for encouragement, comfort or just a welcome diversion.

But while Internet access has become a foregone conclusion on many large bases in Afghanistan, it’s a different case in the more remote forward locations. Troops there may not have Internet access for weeks or months at a time.

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My Comment: I cannot help but think that this must be a big hit with the troops in the field.

The Day That Our Communications Grid Died

Artwork showing space debris in low and geostationary Earth orbit. Space debris includes thousands of inactive satellites, fragments of broken up spacecraft and equipment lost by astronauts. This artwork is based on density data, but is not to scale Photo: European Space Agency/Science Photo Library

Space So Full Of Junk That A Satellite Collision Could Destroy Communications On Earth -- The Telegraph

Space is so littered with debris that a collision between satellites could set off an “uncontrolled chain reaction” capable of destroying the communications network on Earth, a Pentagon report warned.

The volume of abandoned rockets, shattered satellites and missile shrapnel in the Earth’s orbit is reaching a “tipping point” and is now threatening the $250 billion (£174bn) space services industry, scientists said.

A single collision between two satellites or large pieces of “space junk” could send thousands of pieces of debris spinning into orbit, each capable of destroying further satellites.

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My Comment: There is a lot of redundancy in our communications grid .... still .... a perfect storm of disruptions could result in severe disruptions that will impact everything .... including our military that is dependent on uninterrupted communication networks.

Darpa Searches For Additional Ways To Jam Enemy Communications

A U.S. Soldier in Iraq Using a Tactical Radio U.S. Army

DARPA's Smart BLADE Will Cut Enemy Communications On The Battlefield -- Popular Science

Further solidifying its reputations for cutting edge battlefield tech and badass acronyms, DARPA has awarded BAE systems $8.4 million to develop its BLADE program (for Behavioral Learning for Adaptive Electronic Warfare), a system of algorithms that can automatically identify and jam threatening wireless communications.

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New Submarine Communications Scheme Will Bring Tweeting To The Ocean Depths

Communications at Speed and Depth Lockheed Martin

From Popular Science:

We can now tweet from the International Space Station and make phone calls from the summit of Mount Everest, so why can't we get any check our email from the ocean floor? A new Lockheed Martin program, plainly named Communications at Speed and Depth, will plug deep-diving stealth submarines into the DoD's Global Information Grid, just like any other surface vessel.

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My Comment: Running silent and running deep .... but still staying in touch.

A New Way For Subs To Communicate?

An artist's conception of how the optical modem could function at a deep ocean cabled observatory. Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) collect sonar images (downward bands of light) and other data at a hydrothermal vent site and transmit the data through an optical modem to receivers stationed on moorings in the ocean. The moorings are connected to a cabled observatory, and the data are sent back to scientists on shore. Scientists, in turn, can send new instructions to the AUVs via the optical modem as well. (Credit: E. Paul Oberlander, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Optical System Promises To Revolutionize Undersea Communications -- Science Daily

Science Daily (Feb. 25, 2010) — In a technological advance that its developers are likening to the cell phone and wireless Internet access, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists and engineers have devised an undersea optical communications system that -- complemented by acoustics -- enables a virtual revolution in high-speed undersea data collection and transmission.

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My Comment: This type of tech is impressive.

Air Force Uses Airborne Lasers to Create High-Speed Data Links

Airborne Laser Link Air Force phone home Brian Rhea, Director, Corporate Communications, AOptix Technologies

From Popular Science:

Researchers have tested the laser links at distances of almost 22 miles during flight.

Manned Air Force jets and drones could soon send high quality video and audio by using ultra-high bandwidth lasers, transmitting critical battlefield data faster than ever. The Air Force Office of Scientific Research has conducted experiments that transmit data without interference across almost 22 miles, both in the air and on the ground.

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Run Silent Run Deep Submarines Of The Future Could Get A Communications Upgrade U.S. Navy

Run Silent Run Deep Submarines of the future could get a communications upgrade
U.S. Navy

From Popular Science:

A physicist claims that the "ghost particles" of our world could help communicate with underwater submariners.

Submariners should brace for some crazy science to match those Crazy Ivan maneuvers. A physicist says that ghost-like neutrinos that pass easily through just about everything could provide a future method of communication with deep sea submarines.

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My Comment: This type of tech always excites me .... but if the U.S. Navy should become serious about it .... I suspect that much of this research will become classified.

Developing System Gives Hope To Improved Battlefield Communications

From Defense Talk:

WASHINGTON: Having a conversation interrupted by a lost cell phone signal is annoying. But for those serving in a combat zone, losing connectivity can be deadly.

A Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program is well on its way toward developing a system that prevents disruptions in communication signals, and when they do occur, ensures the message doesn't disappear into never-never-land.

DARPA launched the Disruption Tolerant Networking program three years ago to eliminate dropped messages that occur due to interference in the communication path, explained Preston Marshall, the program manager.

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My Comment: I have lost count on how times I have read stories in which breakdowns in communications resulted in casualties and lost of life. If new developments in technology can change these dynamics,I am all for it.