Written by / Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
SOTECH 2010 Volume: 8 Issue: 6 (August)
SOF and USA Cooperation
Special Operations Command, U.S. Joint Forces Command (SOCJFCOM) is currently engaged in a number of efforts intended to improve joint interoperability between SOF and conventional U.S. forces, international mission partners, and other agencies of the U.S. government. This month, the SOC’s focus is on providing the SOF backbone of the JCS chairman’s premier joint interoperability event, the Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (CWID). The CWID enterprise consists of multiple venues hosted by the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada and NATO, and is designed to improve and enhance command, control, communications, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. CWID is intended to advance information sharing, improve situational awareness, assess communications support to joint operations, and develop collaborative tools.
One of CWID’s primary objectives this year is to improve coalition command and control for both conventional and irregular warfare operations. SOCJFCOM, USJFCOM’s functional special operations command, is sponsoring the demonstration of a collaborative information sharing application, the Coalition Warrior Information Portal (CWIP), which was specifically designed to support special operations, but has shown joint utility during operations such as Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. CWIP was designed with the needs of the bandwidth-constrained user in mind, and is intended to improve information sharing during joint operations. It was designed for simplicity in order to minimize startup time and the need for numerous administrators. It is not a complete portal capability, but does meet the needs of the forward-deployed Joint Special Operations Task Force staff with features like command journals for self-synchronization, managing requests for information, and basic file sharing and coordination capabilities.
Glock Inc. Reaches $500,000 in Donations to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation
Glock Inc. made a $100,000 donation to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation (SOWF) during the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC) on June 15. During the past five years, GLOCK has donated $500,000 to SOWF, a nonprofit organization providing college educations to the surviving children of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps special operations personnel killed in combat or training. Accepting the donation from Glock Inc. Vice President Josh Dorsey was Colonel John T. Carney Jr., the founding father of Air Force Special Tactics and current president of SOWF, and Taniya Wright. Taniya’s father, James Wright, died in a training accident in 1987 while serving as a member of the U.S. Army’s special forces. Through donations such as Glock’s, SOWF was able to cover Taniya’s expenses at the University of South Florida (USF), allowing her to concentrate on her studies. She graduated from USF in 2006 with a degree in mass communications and now works as an associate producer at the NBC affiliate in Tampa. Glock Inc. donates more than $500,000 each year to causes that benefit those who put themselves in harm’s way to defend the freedom that Americans enjoy.
Shelley Decker: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
MacroUSA is Awarded Innovation Award at M-ELROB
MacroUSA Corporation was awarded the Special Jury’s “Innovation” award at the sixth biannual Military European Land Robot Trial 2010 (M-ELROB 2010) for their Armadillo V2 micro unmanned ground vehicle (MUGV). ELROB is a trial that allows companies and universities to demonstrate and compare the capabilities of unmanned systems in realistic scenarios and terrain in trials organized and set up by military users. It is as close as possible to the typical military deployment scenario today. MacroUSA is located in McClellan, Calif., and specializes in micro and small unmanned vehicles and surveillance devices. Cino Robin Castelli, team leader for MacroUSA, commented on the ELROB trials: “It is both a pleasure and honor to participate in what is, personally, my third ELROB event. The organization was impeccable and I wish to thank the organizers and jury for a truly magnificent event bringing together the most advanced robotics technology from academia and industry.
Chris Vilter: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Correction
In last month’s issue L-3’s Hawkeye III was incorrectly represented. Here is the correct photo.
ITT Demonstrates Leading Soldier Radio Waveform Technology
ITT Corp. announced that it again successfully demonstrated advanced Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) capabilities, maturity and operational readiness during recently completed testing at the C4ISR-on-the-move exercise conducted at Fort Dix, N.J. The SRW is a Joint Tactical Radio System software defined waveform that will operate on Joint Tactical Radio sets to provide the soldier on the battlefield with networked voice, data and video communications capabilities.
The challenging tests included a 36-node flat network scenario representing one of the most demanding communications situations for dismounted soldiers.
The primary purpose of the demonstration is to assess SRW’s ability to maintain a 36-node network reliably and to pass situational awareness (SA) information and scripted push-to-talk voice traffic in a relevant operational environment. These tests were performed with ITT’s Wearable Soldier Radio Terminal equipment which has been used in SRW field and qualification tests for the past five years.
“These most recent tests at Fort Dix again showed that the Soldier Radio Waveform provides the essential mobile networked communications needed by today’s war fighter on the modern battlefield,” said Chris Bernhardt, ITT Electronic Systems president. The demonstration was instrumented and conducted by the Communications-Electronics Research Development and Engineering Center Command, Control, Communications, Computer, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance On the Move Agency. A key evaluation of the demonstration concentrated on the ability of the SRW to generate and pass SA information from squad members to their squad leaders’ laptop displays in both static and mobile environments.
“As many industry leaders fully appreciate, our SRW waveform has been developed, tested, matured and proven throughout countless tests and demonstrations beginning on the DARPA SUO/SAS [small unit operations/ situational awareness system] more than a decade ago,” said Ken Peterman, ITT Communications Systems president. “The waveform has been tested in large networks, urban environments, strenuous geographical terrain and in the presence of adversarial countermeasures. It has consistently demonstrated a high level of robustness and readiness for fielding.”
Tim White: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it