PEO Corner an air-droppable heavy version when more bandwidth is required for follow-on company-sized units. COL Ross: Within PM TR, our radios today are more like cell phones. They are always communicating. We’re moving from the point-to-point or line-of-sight combat net radio solutions to networking radios that use secure, high-bandwidth waveforms to send voice, data, images and video – even past obstacles such as buildings and beyond-line-of-sight. This will change how the dismounted Soldier shares information. We have already fielded many Rifleman and Manpack radios and they are changing the way we operate. The Rifleman acts as its own router, allowing information to be transmitted up and down the communications chain, and into the network backbone provided by WIN-T, using the Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW). It’s lightweight, rugged, handheld and can link with the Nett Warrior to enable Soldiers to send messages and access mission-related data, while on foot. The Manpack also operates SRW and enhances current comms capabilities by connecting small units in austere environments to exchange voice and data information with higher headquarters – all while not relying on a fixed infrastructure. And the Mid-tier Networking Vehicular Radio (MNVR) will pull together many of the SRW sub-nets and utilize the highbandwidth Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW) to seamlessly tie the lower tier to the upper tier. This will connect
tacticaldefensemedia.com
Soldiers at all levels. Using these radios, Soldiers can send text messages to report enemy locations, request medical help, track unit readiness and call for fires. Mr. Tisch: Last year we began fielding the Army’s next-gen situational awareness and friendly force tracking capability, Joint Battle Command-Platform (JBC-P). Built on Soldier feedback, JBC-P offers a new level of intuitiveness, enabling Soldiers to pinpoint friendly forces, track enemy forces and identify hazards such as improvised explosive devices on a user friendly, Google Earth-like digital map that populates throughout the brigade in near real-time. Already fielded to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, JBC-P will soon field to elements of the 10th Mountain and 25th Infantry Divisions. This technology is transforming the way lower echelons communicate and navigate on the battlefield, but it is also easy to operate with capabilities such as chat rooms. JBC-P also serves as the foundation for the Mounted Computing Environment, or MCE, which will deliver Android-based warfighting apps as part of the COE. A&M: How are these technologies evolving to be more agile as well as more intuitive to operate? COL Ross: It’s all about reducing the burden on Soldiers. So we are listening to Soldier feedback and applying lessons learned. We are
Armor & Mobility March 2016 | 11