During the U.S. Army’s Project Convergence 2021 experiment scheduled for October, researchers will assess silicon anode cells for its Conformal Wearable Battery to be used with the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) and the Nett Warrior system. The batteries double the power, allowing those systems to run much longer without increasing size and weight. Ultimately, the new cells could be used in a wide range of batteries for the military and commercial sectors, including those used to power tactical radios, electric cars and cellphones.
C5ISR
Technological leaps in ground station capabilities will enable the U.S. Army to use new Internet of Things satellite constellations to boost combat communications. Innovative capabilities offer lower latency, higher throughput and greater network resilience with ease of use.
Recent Army experiments, including the Network Modernization Experiment and Project Convergence, have included a range of technologies for enhancing and protecting satellite communications (SATCOM). The capabilities will support the service’s modernization goals such a more resilient network, long-range precision fires, and air and missile defense.
Technological leaps in ground station capabilities, such as interference cancellation, band diversity and phased array antennas, will allow the U.S. Army to use new Internet of Things satellite constellations to boost combat communications. New technologies offer lower latency, higher throughput and greater network resilience while being easier for soldiers to use.
Recent Army experiments, including the Network Modernization Experiment (NetModX) and Project Convergence, have included a range of technologies for enhancing and protecting satellite communications (SATCOM). The technologies will support Army modernization goals, including a more resilient network, long-range precision fires and air and missile defense.
The U.S. military is rapidly pursuing Joint All-Domain Command and Control, known as JADC2, as a way to confront near-peer adversaries China, Russia and other nations. The effort requires innovative computing, software and advanced data processing; emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud and 5G communications; along with integration of the military’s existing legacy systems. Leaders have learned that to fully implement JADC2, they have to shed some of the military’s old practices.
The U.S. Army’s infinitely adaptable situational awareness tool created a decade ago continues to find new uses thanks to artificial intelligence, wearable computers, virtual reality, unmanned systems and other cutting-edge technologies.
The Tactical Assault Kit (TAK) is a map-based software application that enables coordination among thousands of users with features such as a position data, chat, mission planning and shared overlays. It is compatible with Android, Apple iOS and Windows. The Air Force, FBI, Secret Service, U.S. Park Police and Special Operations Forces are among the organizations that have customized it for their own purposes.
U.S. Army researchers plan to demonstrate in December and March capabilities that could lead to a secure, mobile power grid capable of automatically providing electricity from the best available source, including batteries, vehicles or diesel generators.
Compass Systems Inc.,* Lexington Park, Maryland, is awarded a $7,690,800 cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N68335-20-F-0698) against previously-issued basic ordering agreement N68335-18-G-0035. The order procures command, control, communications, computers, combat systems, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C5ISR) technology advancement to enhance communication techniques with Operational Mapping and Networked Intelligence technology (OMNI). The order provides support to the Aircraft Prototyping System division to include continued OMNI research for technology enhancement, prototype development, test, evaluation and labor for integrating these new techniques into C5ISR sensors, sensor systems and aerial platforms.
The U.S. Army wants an automated communications planning system. In the short term, researchers expect to use an “intelligent engine” but in the future, artificial intelligence will likely take over the task.
Planning communications for different conditions is commonly known as PACE planning. The acronym stands for “primary, alternate, contingency and emergency” communications. Different situations call for different communications systems, explains Michael Brownfield, chief of the Army Future Capabilities Office within the Combat Capabilities Development Command’s research organization formally named the Command and Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center.
During the Army’s Network Modernization Experiment 2020 that kicked off last week, researchers are attacking fledgling systems with electronic warfare capabilities that near-peer adversaries are not expected to possess for years to come, officials say.
With key knowledge of the Army’s necessary sensors, intelligence and electronic warfare capabilities, Brig. Gen. Robert Collins, USA, today steps into the role of Program Executive Office Command Control Communications-Tactical, or PEO C3T. Gen. Collins replaces newly promoted Lt. Gen. David Bassett, USA, who becomes the director of the Defense Contract Management Agency.
Officials at one of the U.S. Army’s premier research and development centers are exploring the possibility of adding a so-called data fabric to the service’s original tactical cloud system. The concept could improve interoperability, aid the convergence of intelligence and operations information and allow service leaders to completely rethink future Army operations.
CACI Inc. - Federal, Chantilly, Virginia, is awarded $180,336,750 for a single award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, performance based, cost-plus-fixed-fee, level-of-effort contract (N65236-20-D-8003) to provide special operations communications systems, satellite communications (SATCOM) and network support services. Work will be performed in Fayetteville, North Carolina (65%); continental U.S. (20%); outside continental U.S. (10%); and Tampa, Florida (5%).
This year the Army will take several steps in the march toward reintroducing cutting-edge electronic warfare systems capable of countering near-peer competitors.
A Marine Corps of the future with a “reinvigorated Fleet Marine Force” and a strong Marine Expeditionary Force requires robust command and control and other advanced communications technologies, says the service’s top leader. As such, the Marine Corps Systems Command’s Command Element Systems is pursuing advanced satellite communications, electronic warfare, biometrics and other solutions.
The U.S. Army envisions future robotic vehicles that are easy for soldiers to operate while proving difficult for enemy forces to detect, jam or hack. Researchers at one of the service’s premier research and development centers are racing to build the sensors, communications links and software needed to make that vision a reality.
BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services Inc., Rockville, Maryland, is awarded a $104,775,349 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract will provide engineering and technical services to support production, lifetime support engineering and in-service engineering for the radio communication system/command, control, communications, computers, combat systems, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems aboard Navy surface combatants and at associated shore sites.
The U.S. Army’s recently created Futures Command achieved full operational capability in July, but improving communications with industry and delivering technologies into the hands of soldiers may be its most buzzed about achievement.
There’s a common phrase in military circles about building the plane while flying it. That phrase could easily describe Futures Command’s efforts to carry on the mission at the same time officials were hiring staff, deciding on a headquarters location, building that headquarters, educating others on the command’s mission, and handling myriad other tasks and challenges associated with establishing a brand-new command.
Potential adversaries studied the U.S. military’s former joint warfare known as LandAirSea, and developed long-range, or standoff capabilities to counter that strategy. To counter the standoff concept, the U.S. Army has developed a multidomain operations strategy, William “Chuck” Hoppe, director, Science, Technology and Engineering, at the Army’s Command, Control, Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center, explained on the final day of the AFCEA TechNet Augusta 2019 conference.
The modernization, proliferation and commoditization of electronics make contending with peer and near-peer adversaries more difficult, according to Chuck Hoppe, director of science, technology and engineering at the U.S. Army’s Combat Capability Development Command C5ISR Center. “For every good thing we bring out of technology, someone inevitability wants to use it for nefarious purposes. That has been the biggest change in the past 20 years, and it’s what made things significantly more deadly and lethal,” he says.
The Integrated Tactical Network is the name of the Army’s envisioned future network, and integration is the name of the game for one of the service’s premier research and development centers.
The mission for the newly named Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center remains largely the same, but seamless integration of those eight closely related technology areas is now a primary focus, according to Michael Monteleone, who directs the C5ISR Center’s Space and Terrestrial Communications Directorate.
Yulista Support Services,* Huntsville, Alabama, was awarded a $226,911,155 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for maintenance and modifications of C5ISR flight activity platforms. Bids were solicited via the internet with zero received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of June 19, 2024. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W56KGU-19-D-0002). *Small Business
Atlanta-based Envistacom reported on May 9 that it will be providing Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Combat Systems, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) support to the U.S. Navy and the Marines Corps under two Department of Defense indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts: the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command's C4I Integrated International Solutions (CIIS) contract and the SeaPort-NxG IDIQ vehicle. The CIIS contract supports the acquisition and procurement of interoperable communication systems, and engineering, implementation and sustainment services by U.S.
BAE Systems, Technology Solutions and Services Inc., Rockville, Maryland, is awarded an $83,479,530 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. The company will provide up to a maximum of 1,012,800 hours of direct labor support services. Tasking includes maintenance, integrated logistic support, management, life cycle sustainment, and the upgrade of current systems; such as the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Combat Systems, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance system (C5ISR); using new and emerging technologies in support of the Special Communications Mission Solutions Division.
The U.S. military faces a critical stage in establishing an effective and commanding position in the new technologically advanced environment of regional networking. Commanders and staff always are seeking the “next best” solution to attain supremacy over adversaries in the pivotal domains of command, control, communications, computers, combat systems, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or C5ISR.
Some of that effort is shouldered by the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force (REF), which began seeking out and quickly supplying cutting-edge materiel solutions during the early days of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq about 15 years ago.
Altron Inc., Mt. Pleasant, S.C.; American Electronics Inc., California, Md.; Command Decisions Systems and Solutions, Stafford, Va.; Centuria Corp., Reston, Va.; Del Rey Systems and Technology Inc., San Diego, Calif.; ISHPI Information Technologies Inc., Mt. Pleasant, S.C.; K3 Enterprises Inc., Fayetteville, N.C.; MANDEX Inc., Fairfax, Va.; Sentek Global, San Diego, Calif.; SPARC LLC., Charleston, S.C.; The Cameron Bell Corp., doing business as Gov.
AASKI Technology Inc., Ocean, N.J.; Advanced C4 Solutions Inc., Tampa, Fla.; By Light Professional IT Services Inc., Arlington, Va.; Cybrix Group Inc., Tampa, Fla.; GStek Inc., Chesapeake, Va; Juno Technologies Inc., Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.; Mercom Inc., Pawleys Island, S.C.; Mystikal Solutions LLC, North Charleston, S.C.; STARGATES Inc., Arlington, Va.; and Syneren Technologies Corp., Lanham, Md., are each being awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee, performance-based, multiple award contracts, with provisions for fixed-price-incentive and firm-fixed-price orders, to provide command, control, communications, computers, combat systems, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance electronics and communicat
Amee Bay Limited Liability Corporation, Charleston, South Carolina; Cambridge International Systems Incorporated, Arlington, Virginia; Forward Slope Incorporated, San Diego, California; Grove Resource Solutions Incorporated, Frederick, Maryland; Prism Maritime, Chesapeake, Virginia; and Professional Software Engineering Incorporated, Virginia Beach, Virginia, are each being awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee with fixed-price-incentive (firm target) and firm-fixed-price provisions, multiple-award contract potentially valued at $249,590,000 for the procurement of Production, Installation and In-Service Support (PII) services. The services required include support of design, acquisition, production, inte
Amee Bay LLC, Anchorage, Alaska; Chugach Federal Solutions Incorporated, Anchorage, Alaska; Client Solution Architects LLC, Mechanicsburg, Pennsyvania; Imagine One StraCon Venture LLC, Fort Worth, Texas; and UEC Electronics LLC, Hanahan, South Carolina, are each being awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee, performance-based, multiple award contracts, with provisions for fixed-price-incentive and firm-fixed-price orders, to provide command, control, communications, computers, combat systems, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (C5ISR) electronics and communications services and solutions in support of mission capabilities within the production, installation and in-service support portfolio to provi
URS Federal Services Incorporated, Norfolk, Virginia, is being awarded a potential $56,300,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee with firm-fixed price provisions, performance-based contract to provide command, control, communications, collaboration, computers and intelligence (C5I) and nuclear command, control and communication (NC3) submarine support services.
NAVMAR Applied Sciences Corporation, Warminster, Pennsylvania, is being awarded a $12,436,224 cost-plus-fixed-fee order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement to continue efforts initiated under Small Business Innovation Research topic N94-178, to assess, procure, deploy, and support an advanced coalition, command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance equipment and system of architecture. Twenty percent of the work will be performed in Afghanistan.