WAVES ACROSS SPACE
To ensure commercial waveforms meet its stringent security protocols, the Army frequently partners with industry to integrate National Security Agency (NSA)-approved encryption into commer- cial waveforms and radios.
One of the Army’s current govern- ment waveforms is the legacy Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS) waveform. The SINCGARS waveform provides secure line-of-sight transmissions and runs on multiple hardware radio platforms, such as the single-channel RT-1523 VHF SINCGARs radio, which is currently undergoing a modernization effort called the Combat Net Radio. It also runs on the more modern two-channel, software- defined radio variants such as the AN/ PRC-148D and the AN/PRC 163 Leader radios and the AN/PRC-158 and AN/ PRC-162 Manpack Radios. Te benefit to two-channel, software-defined radios is twofold: Tey can run SINCGARS on one channel and a different waveform on another, depending on the mission.
To support the NSA and DOD’s cryp- tographic modernization effort, which is modernizing and transforming U.S.
“We foster open communications to provide the vendor with feedback to help them refine their capabilities and stay relevant in the Army’s push for modernization.”
38 Army AL&T Magazine Winter 2022
LEADING THE FIELD
Soldiers assigned to 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division (3/25 ID) operate two-channel leader radios at Kahuku Training Area, Hawaii, on Aug. 22. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Alan Brutus, 3/25 ID)
information assurance capabilities to prepare for mid- to long-term threats, the Army is currently looking to modernize the legacy SINCGARS waveform.
Improvements include enhancements to both electronic warfare protection and voice quality. To identify all requirements for a modernized SINCGARS waveform, Product Manager Waveforms is collabo- rating with multiple Army organizations, including the U.S. Army Combat Capa- bilities Development Command’s C5ISR Center, the Army’s Network Cross- Functional Team, and the intelligence community to solidify requirements before reaching out to industry to innovate the best solution for this mission-critical waveform.
“Modernization is the key to our mission success and our ability to defeat threats from near-peer adversaries,” said Lt. Col.
Sherida Whindleton, the Waveforms prod- uct manager for Project Manager Tactical Radios (PM TR), within the Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications – Tactical (PEO C3T).
EXPANDING WAVEFORM CAPABILITIES Commercial waveforms may not start out with obvious applications for military operations, but they provide capabilities the Army needs, and fast. As an example, when the Army was looking for scalabil- ity and range for radio communications, it identified the commercial TSM wave- form as a potential candidate instead of the government’s older, non-scalable Soldier Radio Waveform, to meet the Army’s network modernization initiative. As of this writing, the Army procures TSM (tactical scalable MANET [mobile ad hoc networking]) through radio manu- facturers. TSM is a modernized mesh
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