Members of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) recently spent a year in what is arguably the most dangerous place on the planet for a U.S. service member—Helmand Province, Afghanistan. During the deployment, combat communicators were tasked with the normal duties of equipment operations and data transmission security. But by the time they came home, they had celebrated other noteworthy accomplishments, employed technology new to the Corps and identified several challenges as well as ways industry could help overcome them.
A forest of antennas is making life even trickier than usual for military signalers at Regional Command–South in Afghanistan. In addition to dealing with a harsh environment, deadly enemies, battle-zone operations and the regular hiccups inherent in systems and networks, communicators in the combat area are fighting against the very tools designed to help them. Personnel in the information-sharing realm have discovered that international signal towers set up in the area are proving to be one of the most time-consuming problems of their deployment.
The road to stability in Afghanistan is being paved with telecommunications systems. Through the strategic use of technology, the country already is experiencing improvements in connectivity that will continue to progress until the governance, industrial and the socio-economic state of the country all reap the benefits. If plans, activities and cooperation continue as they have for the past few months, Afghanistan will be poised by the middle of this decade to take its place among the most economically stable and technologically savvy countries in the world.
DRS Technical Services Incorporated, Herndon, Virginia, was awarded a $12 million contract to provide 10,000 very high frequency (VHF) handheld radios, 10,000 VHF handheld radio accessories, 5,000 VHF mobile radios and 5,000 VHF mobile radio accessories. Work will be performed in Afghanistan. The Kabul Regional Contracting Center, Cole House Contracting, Kabul, Afghanistan, is the contracting activity.
Mission 1st Group Incorporated, Shrewsbury, New Jersey, was awarded a $3 million contract to provide for engineering, logistics and oversight of information technology projects in Southwest Asia and within the United States. Work will be performed in Afghanistan; Kuwait; Iraq; Fort Belvoir, Virginia; and Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. The U.S. Army Rock Island Contracting Command, Rock Island, Illinois, is the contracting activity.
From Aerostats to chat rooms, the demand for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets in Afghanistan is at an all-time high. As coordinators work to allocate and organize the largest number of capabilities ever deployed, the challenge remains to maximize the potential of what already exists.
DRS Technical Services Incorporated, Herndon, Virginia, was recently awarded a $7 million contract to provide management, supervision, manpower, equipment and supplies necessary to provide satellite-based wireless service for morale, welfare, and recreation purposes to three locations within the Helmand province of Afghanistan. The locations are Camp Leatherneck, Camp Delaram and Camp Dwyer. Leatherneck Regional Contracting Center, Helmand province, Afghanistan, is the contracting activity.
Lockheed Martin Corporation, Owego, New York, is being awarded a more than $45 million contract for two cargo unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and pre-deployment readiness activities in support of cargo UAS services in Afghanistan and required modifications to the systems. Frontier Systems Incorporated, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Boeing Company, Irvine, California, is being awarded nearly $30 million for a similar contract. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
As conflict in Afghanistan intensifies, coalition allies are employing all elements of information-gathering technology to win battles while protecting themselves and civilians. Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activity is at an all-time high as experts try to coordinate the largest armada of these capabilities ever deployed.
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