COMMUNICATIONS READINESS: ‘CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?’


DEVELOPMENT NEVER ENDS


Spc. Joseph Callaway, left, and Sgt. Christopher Peterson, both with the 89th Sustainment Brigade, work on a VSAT during Combat Support Training Exercise 86-16-03 at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, in August 2016. The VSAT illustrates an unusual feature of SATCOM acquisition: Because satellite technology is constantly evolving and industry is continuously investigating new applications, few of the products and programs under Stein’s purview leave the developmental phase. While sustaining the current equipment, the VSAT team is already working on the requirements for the next tactical satellite terminal. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. John Russell, 86th Training Division)


the requirements for the next generation of tactical terminals for logistics and sustainment. Te Land Mobile Radio (LMR) product office has already fielded systems to Army installations worldwide, but it just launched the Army CONUS [continental United States] Enterprise contract vehicle to improve interoper- ability and survivability of the LMR networks while increasing competition in a market dominated by just two vendors.


Of all the product management offices, Wideband Enterprise Satellite Systems owns more of PM DCATS’ traditional research, development, test and evaluation programs, exploring future SATCOM technologies such as protected communications and digital intermediate frequency. Digitizing the SATCOM terminal architecture will improve the reliability of deploy- able communications and their ability to cope with extreme weather events, reducing the amount of required surge capa- bility in each theater, among other benefits. Even these efforts are expected to rely extensively on identifying the appropriate commercial off-the-shelf technology and modifying it for a mili- tary environment.


122 Army AL&T Magazine October-December 2017


INDUSTRY ADVANCES CHANGE REQUIREMENTS Ultimately, it is the end user—the Soldier—whose voice matters most in the mix of perspectives on any PEO’s programs. In this respect, PM DCATS faces an uncommon challenge. A typical PM shop has a TCM—a TRADOC (U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command) capability manager—but the diversity of the DCATS portfolio makes it difficult to have that sort of dedi- cated representation.


“If I were PM Abrams, managing the U.S. Army’s main battle tank, the requirement would be shaped to address specific threats,” Stein noted. “For SATCOM, we look to industry to shape the requirement based on the technology available today, which keeps us ahead of the emerging threats of tomorrow.”


Tis is particularly relevant to the DCATS mission, as SATCOM relies on industry advances. “Our team is constantly searching for and staying on the pulse of what new capabilities industry is developing in the area of satellite and terrestrial communica- tions so that we can provide assured communications. Tis is


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