Rugged on the Move
Joint
Connectivity
in Hand
U.S. Army Program Executive Office Command Control and Communications-Tactical (PEO C3T) is working to put the Smartphone at joint commanders’ fingertips. By PEO C3T Public Affairs
Joint Battle Command-Platform (JBC-P) is the successor to the widely fielded Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below/Blue Force Tracking system, known as FBCB2/BFT. The JBC-P system is a crucial building block of the Army’s integrated network baseline and of its Capability Set 13, which will begin fielding to up to eight brigade combat teams in 2013. The official operational test for JBC-P will take place in the fall of 2012 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., in conjunction with the Network Integration Evaluation, or NIE, 13.1.
JTRS
and
SRW-Ready
The JBC-P handheld software runs on Nett Warrior hardware devices, connected to the Army’s tactical network via the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Rifleman Radio and its Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW). Delivering timely blue force tracking information down to lower-echelon Soldiers, specifically at the team leader through platoon leader level, will greatly enhance dismounted operations. “Soldiers can see the locations of other members of their platoon, U.S. forces, coalition forces -- they can track the location of anyone in their area of operations directly from the handheld,” said Maj. Anthony Douglas, Assistant Product Manager for Blue Force Tracking - Software. “Not only can they see where they are, but they can also send traffic back and forth via chat and text messages.” Prototypes of the handheld version of JBC-P have recently participated in the Network Integration MAJ Anthony Douglas BFT-Software Evaluation process, yielding valuable feedback from realistic operational scenarios. Soldier input from the NIEs and user juries is directly shaping the ongoing development of the JBC-P product developers kit, which will allow the Army and third parties to build applications to run on the JBC-P framework -- similar to the “apps” marketplace used on the Apple iPhone or Google Android operating systems. More info: www.peoc3t.army.mil
www.tacticaldefensemedia.com
A Soldier is seen using a handheld running Joint Battle CommandPlatform (JBC-P). JBC-P is the next generation of Force XXI Battle Command Brigade-and-Below/Blue Force Tracking (FBCB2/BFT). It will provide joint-centric, on-the-move, digital command and control (C2) and situational awareness (SA) to tactical combat, combat support and combat service support leaders and Warfighters. (Army photo)
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