Military radio experts reveal emerging trends in acquisition and technology.
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U.S. Air Force combat controllers set up communications to contact the special tactics operation center while conducting a drop zone survey in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, during Operation Unified Response. Industry experts credit special operations forces for being
on the forefront of rapidly fielding cutting-edge tactical communications technology. |
The current combat communications marketplace is undergoing major transformations, including budget restrictions, greater demands for data at the tactical edge and the emergence of smartphone technologies on the battlefield. Under such dynamic conditions, military forces may need to abandon the program of record acquisition model to provide the most state-of-the-art systems to the warfighters as rapidly and inexpensively as possible, some experts say.
The tactical communications market is at an “inflection point” for several reasons, says Maj. Gen. Dennis Moran, USA (Ret.), who is vice president of government business development for the RF Communications Division at Harris Corporation, Melbourne, Florida. “Technology in the radio area, the mobile area, is changing rapidly. You have a demand for wideband services down to the tactical edge, and you have the downward pressure on the budget,” he explains. “When you put all that together, the department has to invest in a much more cost-effective way to take advantage of the technology. There’s an opportunity here for the Department of Defense to take a totally different direction.”
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