Marines Hail New Lightweight Multi-band Satellite Terminals

SPACEWAR

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Colorado Springs - Apr 01, 2004
Highly mobile, multi-band satellite communications (SATCOM) terminals from Harris are providing U.S. Marine Corps forces deployed around the world with highly reliable satellite-based voice, video, data and Internet connectivity between headquarters operations and the battlefield. LMST and other SATCOM solutions from Harris are on display during the 20th National Space Symposium this week at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs.

In an article published in January on the Marine Corps Website, LMST operator Corporal Taylor M. Machnik, from McLean, Virginia, of Company B, 7th Communications Battalion, describes the terminal as a "communications pipeline that passes all signals from telephones, video-teleconferencing, Internet, and e-mail to wherever they need to go via satellite access. All signals pushed through the LMST are then shot back down to the gateway in Hawaii, which provides us the Internet service and connectivity with the outside world."

Company B, 7th Communications Battalion, III Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF), Headquarters Group, is just one of the units where the Marine Corps LMST Block 5 SATCOM terminals have become a proven asset.

With six LMSTs, the Marine's 7th Communications Battalion utilizes the largest number of the terminals and is the most experienced with their operation. The highly mobile terminal systems are transported using ruggedized cases that can be carried by just one or two individuals. LMST can be rapidly deployed on two HMMWVs and then quickly assembled or disassembled in 60 minutes or less using two trained operators without special test equipment or tools.

Since battlefield communications with other units and personnel is essential, the LMST operators have a special responsibility within the battalion. According to Corporal Machnik, quoted in the Marine Corps article, "Our responsibilities are to get the terminal on a transport and set it up immediately upon our arrival, keeping it up and running through an entire operation."

The highly reliable, quad-band terminal systems withstand the challenges of operating in harsh environments in order to support battlefield operations and meet the mobility needs of conventional and special forces. With shorter transmission times, a very large range of reception (nearly one-third of the Earth's surface) and rapid assembly capabilities, the LMST is expected to replace other communications terminals.

Harris has delivered 24 LMSTs to six different Marine Corps locations since May of 2003, including Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan; Fort Gordon, Georgia; Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; Camp Pendleton, California; Brooklyn Reserve Unit, New York; and Cherry Point, North Carolina.

SPACEWAR

UCSD Wins Pentagon Funding To Develop Ad-Hoc Battlefield Wireless

San Diego - Mar 23, 2004
Electrical engineers at the University of California, San Diego will lead a six-university effort to enable troops to set up mobile communications networks on the battlefield, using lightweight wireless equipment during commando raids and in other hostile and rapidly changing environments.

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