Multiple Technologies May Be Key to Battlefield Wireless

Satellites, cell systems and airborne platforms may be teaming to provide future battlefield wireless communications. They would be complementary, but each offers both advantages and drawbacks. Dr. Ronald Jost, managing director and chief executive officer of 2M and a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for C3, Space and Spectrum, warned that the worst communications threat is denial. Part of a panel at MILCOM 2010, Jost listed several concerns arising from each technology. Cell service can be denied easily, he noted, and its communications can be spoofed. Commercial cell devices often cannot accommodate military identification and token issues. No single integrated solution exists to resolve those issues, Jost adds. Airborne communications systems raise spectrum concerns. The Defense Department has signed several international agreements governing the use of unmanned aerial vehicle communications craft, he noted. The key is to combine military and commercial systems to build a highly resilient network, he declared. "There's a war going on, and we're out to find the best solution-and the best is rapid."