COMMUNICATIONS UPGRADE FOR B-52 STRATOFORTRESS BOMBERS

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE,
B-52s to receive communications upgrade
by Mike W. Ray
72nd Air Base Wing Public Affairs

6/28/2013 - TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. (AFNS) -- Installation of a communications system upgrade earmarked for the venerable U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber fleet is scheduled to start here in July.

The Combat Network Communications Technology system will enable aircrews to send and receive information via satellite links, allowing them to change mission plans and retarget weapons while in flight. In addition, pilots will be able to interact better with other aircraft and with ground forces. Currently, mission information must be uploaded to a B-52 before each flight.

Other improvements will include a state-of-the-art computing network with workstations at each crew position and an integrated digital interphone with increased capacity that will allow crew members to talk with each other over headsets equipped with noise-canceling technology.

The $76 million CONECT upgrade will be performed by Boeing and covers a low-rate initial production of the first CONECT kits, along with spare parts, maintenance and service at Tinker AFB here.

Low-rate initial production is the first effort in the production phase of the program. The first eight CONECT kits in lot 1 will establish an initial production base for the system and will permit an orderly increase in the production rate for the CONECT system that is sufficient to lead to full-rate production upon successful completion of operational testing.

The contract for lot 2 is projected to be awarded in May 2014, for 10 CONECT kits. Then the full-rate production contract, projected for award in January 2015, will be for 10 CONECT kits.

Ultimately, CONECT is expected to be installed on all B-52H in the fleet.

The first B-52H to receive a CONECT kit will enter programmed depot maintenance at Tinker AFB in July and is scheduled to depart PDM next April. Each upgrade will take an estimated nine months to complete.

A CONECT kit was installed in a modified B-52 at Edwards AFB, Calif., and has been field tested for several years, Boeing spokesperson Jennifer Hogan said.

The B-52H was delivered to the Air Force in 1961-62. The aircraft have been kept aloft through regular maintenance and periodic upgrades. For example, GPS capabilities were incorporated into their navigation systems in the late 1980s.

"We are bringing this amazing workhorse of a bomber into the digital age and giving our customer the infrastructure necessary for continued future improvements," said Scot Oathout, Boeing's B-52 program director.

Citing engineering studies, Air Force officials said the heavy bombers could keep flying for at least another quarter-century.

THE GOLDEN COYOTE EXERCISE



Army Capt. Frank Brown, communication officer with the Pennsylvania National Guard's Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 213th Regional Support Group, attaches the feed horn to the stabilizing arm of a portable satellite system at Forward Operating Base Custer in Custer State Park, S.D., June 6, 2013. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Coltin Heller

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMET OF DEFENSE

Face of Defense: Guard Soldier Takes On 'Golden Coyote'

By Army Sgt. Coltin Heller
109th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
CAMP RAPID, S.D., June 10, 2013 - Any training exercise presents challenges to soldiers participating in them. Among those challenges, communication is a vital requirement for all soldiers, regardless of their specialty.

Army Capt. Frank Brown, communications officer with the Pennsylvania National Guard's Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 213th Regional Support Group, faced the challenge of setting up and maintaining the various means of communication for 213th RSG soldiers during Golden Coyote, an annual training exercise held in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

The exercise provides service members from 11 states and four foreign nations with training opportunities in logistical and tactical environments, in addition to real-world missions such as bridge construction and humanitarian aid.

"We're charged with providing voice and data communication assets to the Regional Support Group," said Brown, who calls Harrisburg, Pa., home. "We're also pulling voice and data from the signal support elements from the 443rd Signal, providing [classified and unclassified] voice and data through those services."

Brown accepted the position of brigade signal officer after being approached by Army Lt. Col. Robby Robinson, the 213th RSG's executive officer.

"I've only been in the position for two to three months, so I'm still assessing my soldiers and their capabilities," Brown said, "and we're trying to find common ground -- who's good at what -- and task them accordingly and share that knowledge amongst the soldiers so that we all learn from each other."

Brown and his soldiers established a working network within their exercise headquarters building before heading out to the field, where they faced several obstacles.

"We have several [forward operating bases] displaced by hundreds of miles, so the communication challenges are going to be unique," Brown said. "The learning curve of some of the communication assets we've had to deploy, due to the displaced locations, is something that some of us haven't touched in several years."

Brown helped his soldiers set up equipment such as a radio antenna, a deployed digital training campus and a mobile satellite dish enabling Internet connectivity for units in the field.

Spending time in the field is nothing new to Brown, who enlisted in the Marine Corps after he graduated from high school in 1993.

"I joined the active duty Marine Corps as a parachute rigger, ... then I joined the Marine security force in Washington state, served out there for a couple years, and I transferred up to Maine to a cold-weather infantry unit up there," he said. During his time in Maine, he added, he went to college, majoring in criminology. After spending some years in Maine, he transferred to Pennsylvania to attend Indiana University of Pennsylvania, which he said had one of the better criminology degree programs.

Brown transferred to the Pennsylvania National Guard, and joined the officer corps with a direct commission.

Despite the challenges he and his soldiers faced, such as weather and technical issues, Brown looked forward to the training during Golden Coyote and had confidence in his soldiers.

"I'm looking forward to the challenges out here," he said. "I'm looking forward to getting to collaborate with my soldiers and build a cohesive team there so we can overcome the challenges that the signal community is going to bring us in the future."

STRATEGIC COMMAND AND WARFIGHTERS

Warfighters might not realize it, but U.S. Strategic Command provides many of the capabilities they rely on in combat operations. Here, Army 1st Lt. Michael Kim, platoon leader of 2nd Platoon, Apache Company, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, checks his location with a handheld GPS -- a capability provided through Stratcom -- while on patrol in southern Afghanistan, July 30, 2012. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Matt Young.

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Strategic Command Provides Vital Warfighter, Operational Support
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2013 - While providing the deterrence to protect the United States from a strategic attack, U.S. Strategic Command is playing a very real, yet often unrecognized, role in operations in Afghanistan and around the globe, its commander, Air Force Gen. C. Robert Kehler, reported.

"I joke to theater combatant commanders and tell them, 'There isn't anything you do that Stratcom doesn't touch,'" Kehler told American Forces Press Service during an interview here.

"At first they would push back on that," he said, not immediately recognizing Stratcom as the behind-the-scenes force that drives many of the capabilities they rely on every day.

Kehler said he reminds them that Stratcom is the driving force behind satellites that allow them to communicate, cyber defenses that protect their networks, and GPS capabilities that help them navigate and, when necessary, lock in on and engage targets. In addition, the command coordinates the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities that give U.S. and coalition forces a decisive edge on the battlefield that saves lives.

"We are in the fight everywhere U.S. military people operate, communicate, have global awareness and local awareness," Kehler said. "In all those cases, there is some piece of that that is either provided by or enabled by Strategic Command."

Despite being central to military operations, that support largely is transparent to users, he acknowledged.

"We are providing real-time, day-to-day capability for space and for cyber. We are providing the ballistic missile defense system. We are providing the synchronization for combating weapons of mass destruction," Kehler said.

"We are providing the synchronization activity for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance on a global basis," he continued. "We are providing analysis and targeting on a global basis, to include the cruise missile support activities for the Atlantic and Pacific. We are providing the long-range global fires through global strike, if those are required in the theater."

For example, Stratcom provided global-strike capability for U.S. Africa Command during the opening days of Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya, Kehler said.

In addition, Strategic Command provides the oversight and tactics, techniques and procedures to ensure military operators have uncontested access to the electromagnetic spectrum.

That access, required for almost every modern technical device, "provides us the opportunity to communicate with one another and to share data across long distances," Kehler said. "It's the glue that binds us all together."

Stratcom's challenge, he said, is to ensure all U.S. forces have access to and control of this spectrum that provides the a vital military advantage, while protecting against vulnerabilities adversaries might try to exploit through jamming or "dazzling" that makes sensors inoperable.

Kehler offered high praise for the men and women of Stratcom for their behind-the-scenes contributions to the wartime mission and to every other military operation around the world.

"We believe we are standing in the theaters, shoulder-to-shoulder, with theater combatant commanders," Kehler said. "We are essential to the function of the geographic combatant commands. And we are critical in the fight."

Meanwhile, Stratcom continues to provide what Kehler called the ultimate form of support for those charged with defending the nation: deterrence that prevents conflict from breaking out in the first place, and if it does, from escalating.

"We don't want to fight a war. We don't want to get there. We would rather be in some place where we have prevented one," Kehler said. "And we think that deterrence and assuring our allies, contribute to the prevention of conflict, which is where we would rather be."