Mil-Tech

Conference Showcases Surveillance Technology

Massive helium-filled blimps known as “aerostats” have been a fixture in the skies over the Texas-Mexico border since at least the early 1990s.

Authorities use them to deliver long-term surveillance of illegal immigration and drug-trafficking.

A new company is marketing a smaller, more mobile version of the giant blimps that would mimic the surveillance capability of unmanned aerial vehicles, such as the predator drones used by the military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Overhead Communications unveiled its fleet of aerostats at the Texas Homeland Security Conference at the Convention Center in downtown San Antonio on Wednesday.

Overhead Communications was one of 5,000 representatives of law enforcement, transportation and cyber security officials that attended the conference, which concludes today.

The gathering is a chance for law enforcement agencies to share ideas about border security, terrorism and emergency management, according to officials from the Texas Division of Emergency Management.

But it also was a forum for defense contractors and inventors to showcase the latest in law enforcement gadgetry, such as license plate-recognition technology systems, pickups retrofitted with machine guns and Kevlar siding designed to better withstand the impact of an improvised explosive device.

Officials at the year-old Houston company see their blimps — which can be equipped with a communications network that includes radio, video cameras and Wi-Fi — as a cheaper alternative to satellite and unmanned aerial vehicle surveillance systems. Overhead Communications’ aerostats top off at around $3 million while predator drones have a $4.5 million price tag, according to GlobalSecurity.org, a research group in Alexandria, Va.

“The Texas border is 1,500 miles long, and 80 percent of it is without communication,” stated Rob Campbell, vice president for business development at Overhead Communications. “We can come into an area with nothing and re-establish communications and put a hi-def video camera with infrared capability 2,000 feet in the air for weeks at a time.”

Drones, on the other hand, are only able to stay in the air for around 20 hours before needing to be refueled.

The aerostats developed by Overhead Communications are the latest in a series of ideas from companies looking for new ways to alleviate communication obstacles that often compound emergency-response efforts during natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, Campbell said.

He said his company’s aerostats, which can be deployed in minutes from the back of a pickup, also would be useful for authorities needing to monitor crowded public events such as the Super Bowl from above or for firefighters who wanted to use an infrared camera to pinpoint the best place to attack a blaze.

“Say Hurricane Ike blows down your communication towers,” he informed. “Emergency responders will have to rely on mobile command systems with 40-foot towers.

“If I can take those same systems and put them 500 feet in the air, you can see for 27 miles in every direction and communicate in an area the size of San Antonio.”

Clifton-Based Defense Contractor Has Plans

Christopher C. Bernhardt, president of Clifton-based ITT Electronic Systems, makes no bones about what makes his company’s cash registers ring.

“We are a country at war,” he stated on a recent afternoon at the company’s 13-acre headquarters. “And we are a company that serves customers with products that save lives. That’s the way it’s been since Sept. 12, 2001.”

Whether business will continue at the current pace, however, is a cause for concern to ITT, which makes electromagnetic-based products, from state-of-the-art military radios to missile detection systems and aircraft precision landing equipment.

With the Iraq war slowing, the long-term future of the Afghan war uncertain and the military changing its priorities, ITT and other military contractors are increasingly looking to find new revenue streams.

Two weeks ago, ITT’s White Plains, N.Y.-based parent, ITT Corp., announced a major restructuring of its defense business, which is now under way, consolidating seven company divisions into three and boosting the prominence of the Clifton office, which now heads the largest of the three divisions.

Bernhardt said the move is designed to adapt to the new economic and military environment. Seventy-five percent of the company’s revenue — about $2.7 billion after the restructuring — comes from military contracts, he informed.

“As people think about the downturn in defense,” he stated, “the leaders of my operation get paid to look out four, five, six years and say, ‘Where are my customers going, where is our market going and how do we reposition the business?’ ”

“My goal is to further diversify the portfolio, to offset and mitigate the eventual decline of the Department of Defense,” he said. “And that’s what we are doing.”

To that end, the company is looking to foreign governments for business and trying to retool its products for civilian use, such as using surveillance equipment for anti-narcotics efforts and tiny electromagnetic wave emitters to slow the spread of brain cancer.

David Fishering, a California-based defense industry analyst, said most top defense companies are making moves similar to ITT, either through reorganizing and restructuring or cost cutting.

Yet the extent of future defense cuts and their impact on contractors is unclear, said Bernard Finel, senior fellow at the American Security Project, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

Although U.S. military expenditures in Iraq are declining, they are increasing in Afghanistan at a faster rate, so a decline in direct war spending is not imminent, Finel informed.

That’s good news for contractors who supply the kind of day-to-day equipment needed to wage war — ammunition, fuel and food, he said. But funding cuts to longer-term programs such as a recently cut search-and-rescue helicopter system would hurt suppliers to those sectors, he stated.

“These are not companies that have the ability to diversify significantly,” Finel informed. “They are trying to find out which programs are durable and which ones are not, and they are trying to consolidate where they can.”

ITT’s restructuring came after eight years of steady growth, organically and through an acquisition, said Bernhardt, who joined the company as president in June 2001.

Company revenue, about $100 million at the time, has grown by double digits annually ever since, company officials said. That’s boosted the company’s Clifton workforce from 300 to 1,350. The company, which was known as ITT Avionics until 2005, expects to hire at least 100 engineers this year.

A key part of the company’s revenue in that period came from an electronic system designed to intercept and confuse radio-guided missiles heading toward military aircraft, said spokesman John C. Dench.

Yet until 2006, the company got no part of the federal funds used to wage the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, Bernhardt said. That changed, he said, after he visited wounded soldiers, many with limbs blown off and severe disfigurement, at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., in 2006.

“What took my breath away was that, to the man and woman, I said, Would you do this again?’ and to a man they said, ‘yes,’ ” Bernhardt said. “I said to myself, there has got to be something ITT can do with our technology.”

He formed a team to study how ITT’s technology could be used to stop improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, one of the biggest threats to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bombs, which are often left in the path of passing troops, are detonated by a radio-based device such as a cellphone or an electronic garage opener.

ITT developed a device to “jam” the signal before detonation, and acquired New York-based EDO Corp., which made similar technology, in 2007 for $1.7 billion. ITT has now shipped 21,000 anti-IED units, generating revenue of $1.6 billion, Dench informed.

The company’s new strategy is designed to broaden the market for such military products by expanding relationships with existing customers like the governments of Oman, Brazil and Chile and find new ones.

Some company products designed for military use are already employed in the private sector. ITT satellites used in Global Positioning Systems, which were developed to help military units keep their bearings, are also used to guide citizens armed with consumer GPS units, company officials say.

And ITT is working with New York-based NovoCure, which has a plan before the Food and Drug Administration to use tiny sensors to generate electromagnetic waves that would stop cancer cells splitting and slow the spread of cancer in the brain and other organs, Dench said.

The sensors, originally developed to detect threats to military ships and submarines, would be made by ITT if the FDA approves the plan, he said.

Bernhardt says the company is harnessing the same instincts and skills that fueled its growth.
“Part of the success of any company is about what inspires employees to do great things,” he said. “This company is all about innovation. Innovation is all about ideas, and people who generate ideas are people who are inspired.”

That’s the main reason the company does not expect to move, especially to a cheaper out-of-state location, even though the Clifton campus is reaching maximum capacity.

Instead, the company opened a Bloomfield facility at the end of last year to allow the expansion of the GPS business, he said.

“When you have built a business that is as deep technically as this, from people who are from the area, it’s very hard to replicate that in another area without taking a phenomenal risk,” Bernhardt said, adding that New Jersey residents don’t like to leave the state.

“You are just not going to take talent like this and resurrect it in New Mexico,” he said. “It’s not going to happen.”

"Energy campus" planned at old Philly Navy yard

In part of a former Navy yard in South Philadelphia, economic development officials hope to foster an “energy campus” in which businesses, academics and military engineers can pool their efforts to come up with commercial ventures such as alternative energy sources or smart-grid technology.
The yard still hosts the Naval Ship Systems Engineering Station, where military personnel are working on ways to produce more power with less fuel and testing power systems for a planned fleet of all-electric destroyers.

But the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., which is converting the former military base to private use, sees the Navy station and its electrical infrastructure as a magnet for energy-related business that could one day transform Philadelphia as computers did Silicon Valley.

“We think we’re involved with something here that could affect the overall economy in a big, big way in the long term,” said Joseph J. Houldin, chief executive of the nonprofit Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center. “The Navy Yard has the potential to do for the energy sector what University City does for the life sciences.”

The energy campus idea has been on the drawing board for several years following studies suggesting that Philadelphia develop new areas to compete with “knowledge centers” such as Boston, San Francisco and North Carolina’s Research Triangle.

“We began to look at the Navy seriously as our national lab,” said RoseAnn B.

 
Rosenthal, chief executive of Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Some long-term Navy vendors and suppliers have opened offices in the yard and a few startup energy ventures have come. But the campus idea has gained steam with the Obama administration’s emphasis on alternative energy programs.

“We’re in a position to take advantage of several billion dollars in federal funding, including new money for smart-grid development,” said John Grady, a senior vice president for the city development agency, which is seeking a $15 million federal grant to build a 100,000 square-foot collaborative research lab at the Navy station.

Contractors working on ways to help power systems recover from an attack are also thinking about ways to use the techniques to protect cities from terrorists, said Charles H. Zimmerman, manager of the Navy station’s machinery research and development programs.

“Most of our vendors also have their eye on the commercial power market,” he said.

Roshan

The word “Roshan” means “light” in both of the national Afghan languages, Dari and Pashto. The name Roshan was given by the people of Afghanistan as Roshan brings a promise of hope, development, and a brighter future for Afghanistan.

Roshan is one of the largest private businesses in Afghanistan, directly employing over 1,114 people, 20% of whom are women. What is more, Roshan delivers indirect employment to more than 25,000 people, who work as dealers, distributors, contractors and suppliers. Roshan also works with 9 nationwide scratch card distributors to bring Roshan and its solutions closer to the Afghan people.

Roshan also contributes to the economic growth of Afghanistan as one of the largest advertisers, spurring the development of new markets of printing, billboards and advertising.

Owned by an international consortium of investors led by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), Monaco Telecom International (MTI) and Swedish-Finnish TeliaSonera, Roshan brings international telecommunications expertise to Afghanistan and its commitment to the highest standards of network quality and coverage.

Awards and Accolades

Best Marketing Campaign, GSM Association Awards, February 2005

Roshan was awarded the Best Marketing Campaign at the 10th Annual GSM Association Awards held in Cannes, France in Feb 2005. Roshan was one of 450 entries, 60 nominations, and one of only 13 winners. Roshan was awarded the title over companies, including Motorola, Vodafone UK, Safaricom and Airtel.

Best Telecom Brand of the Year, CommsMEA Awards, September 2006

Roshan was awarded Best Telecoms Brand of the Year Award at the inaugural CommsMEA Awards, open to all industry professionals and operators in the Middle East and Africa region. Roshan competed against other well-established and much larger regional operators from the entire region.

WCA 2006 Winner

Best Operator in Developing Market, World Communication Awards, November 2006

At the 8th annual World Communications Award, Roshan won “Best Operator in a Developing Market”, over major international operators such as Mobilink (Pakistan), Afsat (Kenya), Mobilnil (Egypt) and Nuevatel (Bolivia).

Special Recognition for Excellence in Corporate Philanthropy, Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, February 2007

Roshan and the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) received special recognition for Excellence in Corporate Philanthropy from the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP). The prize acknowledges Roshan’s unprecedented investments in socio-economic development in Afghanistan. This honour, specifically created in recognition of the innovative reinvestment model implemented jointly by AKDN and Roshan, was made public at the 7th annual award ceremony held in New York. Previous winners of the Excellence in Corporate Philanthropy Award include Cisco Systems, GE, Novartis, Pfizer, Target, IBM, Merck, Grand Circle Corporate, Arch Chemical, Hasbro, Whole Foods Market and Timberland.

Customer Service Provider of the Year, CommsMEA Awards, September 2007

Roshan was awarded Best Service Provider of the Year at the 2nd annual CommsMEA Awards in Dubai. The awards recognize and rewards telecommunications industry professionals and operators that have shown outstanding performance and results in key market segments. The awards recognized outstanding performance in 13 key areas of the telecommunications industry in the Middle East and Africa, and they were judged by a high profile panel of telecommunication experts.

Excellence in Leadership Award, Frost & Sullivan, October 2008

Roshan received the Excellence in Leadership Award from Frost and Sullivan in Kuala Lumpur at their 4th annual Growth, Innovation and Leadership Congress. This renowned award is a testament to the hard work, teamwork and sheer grit and determination from all the staff at Roshan. As Roshan has grown, the company has only intensified the focus on building the skills of employees, empowering them to reach their potential and cultivating leadership within the company.

Best Corporate Social Responsibility Contribution, Telecom World Awards Middle East Awards, November 2008
At the Telecom World Awards Middle East, Roshan was honoured with a prestigious award for Best Corporate Social Responsibility Contribution. Roshan was awarded the title for its commitment to the ongoing reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. Roshan’s contribution in the country have ranged from basic philanthropic and grass-roots programs to advanced programs leveraging and building on our technology and innovative position in the country. Roshan competed against other leading operators in the region, including Mobinil, du, Paltel and Mobilink.

Most Innovative Non-Voice Service, CommsMEA Awards, December 2008

Roshan received a CommsMEA Award for Most Innovative Non-Voice Service for M-Paisa at the CommsMEA Awards for M-Paisa, Afghanistan’s first and only mobile money transfer product. M-Paisa enables the transfer of funds through a mobile phone in a quick, easy, safe and cost-effective manner, for peer-to-peer transfer, repayment of microfinance loans, purchase of airtime and salary disbursement. Judges were particularly impressed with Roshan’s dedication to provide vital mobile service in a market more challenging than most.

Best Educational Project in the Gulf, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Cisco, March 2009

Roshan received an award from Cisco, the leading supplier of network equipment and network management for the Internet for Best Educational Project in the Gulf, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Cisco Networking Academies aim to bridge the digital divide in Afghanistan, by providing hands-on learning and skill development in information technology. Roshan is committed to providing access to world-class training in the field of information technology. Training will help support growth in ICT and telecommunications sector in Afghanistan.

These awards acknowledge Roshan’s unprecedented investments in socio-economic development in Afghanistan. Roshan’s future prosperity will clearly be based on its dedication to the reconstruction, improvement and progress of Afghanistan, introducing innovative telecommunications and data products, and providing the highest standards of service. Roshan will continue to serve as a major catalyst for positive change and economic growth, first and foremost by improving the lives, and providing a telecommunications network for the people of Afghanistan.

Changing the Commercial Battlefield with Future Technology

Covering the air, land, homeland defence and security sectors, Eurosatory is a highly specialised professional exhibition that is the meeting point for decision makers and experts from around the world, including politicians and the media.

This year 114 official delegations and 50,000 visitors will browse 1,209 exhibition stands. Here, Eurosatory general manager General (ret) Patrick Colas des Francs tells Elizabeth Clifford-Marsh what visitors can expect and what new technologies are on display.

ECM: How many countries will be represented, and how many exhibitors have never shown at Eurosatory before?

PCdF: This year, seven new countries are joining our community of exhibitors – Brunei, Columbia, Iceland, Lithuania, Mexico and Qatar, bringing the total number of represented countries to 53.

“The professional soldier represents a major investment in the defence sector.”Around 30% to 35% of our exhibitors are first timers this year, including CSI Camp Supply International, Bohemia Interactive, Force Protection, Laser Devices, Scania, Kylmar, General Dynamics Europe Land Systems and Aucar Trailers. Most of the exhibitors in the training and simulation section of the exhibition are new as well.

ECM: What types of technology will be on display?

PCdF: An analysis of the types of exhibitors, compared with 2006, shows an increase in the number of systems integrators (up from 35.8% to 46.2%) and a decrease in the number of equipment manufacturers (down to 20.3%) and suppliers / contractors down to 12.7%.

The vehicles, aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles segment is growing strongly from 14.8% of exhibitors in 2006 to 17.4% this year.

Two popular sectors stand out; battlefield management, including everything related to positioning, observation aids, firing aids, liaison systems, methods of detection, intelligence gathering and identification; and everything related to the warfighter including training methods, warfighter-related support and logistics, and troop protection.

ECM: Are there any new specialist areas at Eurosatory this year, and what technological innovation can visitors expect to encounter?

The professional soldier represents a major investment in the defence sector. Military headquarters tend to reserve their use for operations and to outsource training of the forces. In recognition of this trend, Eurosatory has created a new training and simulation area.

In the 1,600m² area, 29 companies will display their systems, in many cases based on cutting-edge technologies using virtual worlds, 3D images and realistic video games. In a related conference area, five theme-oriented afternoon sessions have been organised with expert speakers in the field as well as an ‘innovation showcase’ presenting the most innovative products in the sector.

Eurosatory has also introduced technology clusters for the first time, bringing together companies from the same sector to increase their visibility. The UAV / UGV cluster is of particular interest. It will have its own arena which will be used for daily demonstrations of land robots in 50-minute slots. The night vision cluster has been organised around a purpose built tunnel to test the different systems on display.

An area has also been set aside to display technology innovations of the French armaments industry, either privately financed or funded by the defence ministry’s research and redevelopment budget. The DGA procurement branch of French MoD and GICAT are presenting 16 companies selected for outstanding performance.

ECM: In addition to the new show areas, will there be innovations on display that visitors haven’t seen before?

In 2008 for the first time, Eurosatory is offering exhibitors the opportunity to seek advice from experts specialising in marketing strategy or in a given geographical region. Six international consultancies will be present at the show to offer this service to exhibitors.

Eurosatory also wanted to add an extra strategic dimension and a forward-thinking contribution from the defence and security institutes, which has resulted in the creation of ‘Think Tank Village’. Located at the main show entrance, it will bring experts from the armaments industry, the military, administrations and economic decision makers, scientists and politicians. They are sure to give the show a new dimension of geopolitical analysis and conceptual thinking in defence.

ECM: What exposure can companies expect to gain from exhibiting?

PCdF: Eurosatory is the best opportunity for exhibitors to enhance their presence in the world market and position their company among the key actors in land and air defence and security.

“This year,
114 official delegations and 50,000 visitors will browse 1,209 exhibition stands.”They have the opportunity to meet the leaders and professionals in defence and security, including 110 official delegations from 71 countries, 447 politico-military leaders and senior political authorities, chiefs of staff and national armament directors, as well as commercial delegations in charge of equipping forces.

Exhibitors also gain exposure to representatives of international organisations such as EU military staff, the European Defence Agency and NATO.

ECM: There is a conference running alongside the exhibition – what can delegates expect to hear and who is presenting?

PCdF: The aim of the conference is to debate with industrialists and elaborate solutions with them. Some of the topics covered are homeland security in urban area, presented by the Secretary General of National Defence Ministry Francis Delon, and a panel discussion looking at future weapons systems and the constraints and opportunities between defence and security, chaired by the European Defence Agency deputy chief executive for strategy, Carlo Magrassi.

There is also a symposium organised in conjunction with GICAT, DGA and the French Army on Tuesday, looking at land forces and future coalitions.

Eurosatory – Where Technology is on Display

Covering the air, land, homeland defence and security sectors, Eurosatory is a highly specialised professional exhibition that is the meeting point for decision makers and experts from around the world, including politicians and the media.

This year 114 official delegations and 50,000 visitors will browse 1,209 exhibition stands. Here, Eurosatory general manager General (ret) Patrick Colas des Francs tells Elizabeth Clifford-Marsh what visitors can expect and what new technologies are on display.

ECM: How many countries will be represented, and how many exhibitors have never shown at Eurosatory before?

PCdF: This year, seven new countries are joining our community of exhibitors – Brunei, Columbia, Iceland, Lithuania, Mexico and Qatar, bringing the total number of represented countries to 53.

“The professional soldier represents a major investment in the defence sector.”Around 30% to 35% of our exhibitors are first timers this year, including CSI Camp Supply International, Bohemia Interactive, Force Protection, Laser Devices, Scania, Kylmar, General Dynamics Europe Land Systems and Aucar Trailers. Most of the exhibitors in the training and simulation section of the exhibition are new as well.

ECM: What types of technology will be on display?

PCdF: An analysis of the types of exhibitors, compared with 2006, shows an increase in the number of systems integrators (up from 35.8% to 46.2%) and a decrease in the number of equipment manufacturers (down to 20.3%) and suppliers / contractors down to 12.7%.

The vehicles, aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles segment is growing strongly from 14.8% of exhibitors in 2006 to 17.4% this year.

Two popular sectors stand out; battlefield management, including everything related to positioning, observation aids, firing aids, liaison systems, methods of detection, intelligence gathering and identification; and everything related to the warfighter including training methods, warfighter-related support and logistics, and troop protection.

ECM: Are there any new specialist areas at Eurosatory this year, and what technological innovation can visitors expect to encounter?

The professional soldier represents a major investment in the defence sector. Military headquarters tend to reserve their use for operations and to outsource training of the forces. In recognition of this trend, Eurosatory has created a new training and simulation area.

In the 1,600m² area, 29 companies will display their systems, in many cases based on cutting-edge technologies using virtual worlds, 3D images and realistic video games. In a related conference area, five theme-oriented afternoon sessions have been organised with expert speakers in the field as well as an ‘innovation showcase’ presenting the most innovative products in the sector.

Eurosatory has also introduced technology clusters for the first time, bringing together companies from the same sector to increase their visibility. The UAV / UGV cluster is of particular interest. It will have its own arena which will be used for daily demonstrations of land robots in 50-minute slots. The night vision cluster has been organised around a purpose built tunnel to test the different systems on display.

An area has also been set aside to display technology innovations of the French armaments industry, either privately financed or funded by the defence ministry’s research and redevelopment budget. The DGA procurement branch of French MoD and GICAT are presenting 16 companies selected for outstanding performance.

ECM: In addition to the new show areas, will there be innovations on display that visitors haven’t seen before?

In 2008 for the first time, Eurosatory is offering exhibitors the opportunity to seek advice from experts specialising in marketing strategy or in a given geographical region. Six international consultancies will be present at the show to offer this service to exhibitors.

Eurosatory also wanted to add an extra strategic dimension and a forward-thinking contribution from the defence and security institutes, which has resulted in the creation of ‘Think Tank Village’. Located at the main show entrance, it will bring experts from the armaments industry, the military, administrations and economic decision makers, scientists and politicians. They are sure to give the show a new dimension of geopolitical analysis and conceptual thinking in defence.

ECM: What exposure can companies expect to gain from exhibiting?

PCdF: Eurosatory is the best opportunity for exhibitors to enhance their presence in the world market and position their company among the key actors in land and air defence and security.

“This year,
114 official delegations and 50,000 visitors will browse 1,209 exhibition stands.”They have the opportunity to meet the leaders and professionals in defence and security, including 110 official delegations from 71 countries, 447 politico-military leaders and senior political authorities, chiefs of staff and national armament directors, as well as commercial delegations in charge of equipping forces.

Exhibitors also gain exposure to representatives of international organisations such as EU military staff, the European Defence Agency and NATO.

ECM: There is a conference running alongside the exhibition – what can delegates expect to hear and who is presenting?

PCdF: The aim of the conference is to debate with industrialists and elaborate solutions with them. Some of the topics covered are homeland security in urban area, presented by the Secretary General of National Defence Ministry Francis Delon, and a panel discussion looking at future weapons systems and the constraints and opportunities between defence and security, chaired by the European Defence Agency deputy chief executive for strategy, Carlo Magrassi.

There is also a symposium organised in conjunction with GICAT, DGA and the French Army on Tuesday, looking at land forces and future coalitions.

Satellite Broadband Internet in Iraq and Afghanistan for U.S. Troops

WARSAW, Poland, Jan. 22 /Reuters/ — TS2 Satellite Technologies‘ network in Iraq and Afghanistan has over 15,000 military users of local broadband satellite connections.

“We were among the first telecommunications operators in the satellite technology in the territory of Iraq and Afghanistan, and as such we have enjoyed a successful cooperation with the U.S. Army for several years now,” says Marcin Frackiewicz, CEO of the TS2 Satellite Technologies.

TS2 Satellite Technologies offers two-way high-speed Internet access with no phone lines, no cable and no dial-up modem. It’s always on, available virtually anywhere, and affordable. The laptop or Wi-Fi network can receive Internet signal through a special satellite VSAT modem, which was usually set up in a building or tent when deployed.

The one VSAT access point provides the following services for soldiers:

– Broadband access to the Internet (WWW, E-mail, FTP etc.)
– Data transfer to many other users simultaneously
– Telephone connections including VoIP, IP phone
– Video-conference connections

Advantages of the system:

– Short set-up time
– Fast and easy upgrades
– Possibility of guaranteed CIR
– Transmission in almost all weather conditions

The communication among the bases is possible thanks to the simultaneous lease of bands on the Intelsat 10-02, Intelsat 901 and Eutelsat W6 satellites whose coverage enables configuration of connections between any place in Europe, Middle East and Southwest Asia.

TS2′s satellite military networks are located in Al Taqaddum Air Base, Bahgram AF, Balad Base, Baquba Airfield, Brassfield-Mora, Cob Adder, Cob Speicher, Camp Al Asad Airbase, Camp Bucca Basra City, Camp Buehring, Camp Charlie Basra, Camp Eggers, Camp Fallujah, Camp Grizzly, Camp Korean Village, Camp Liberty, Camp Mejid, Camp Ramadi, Camp Slayer, Camp Stryker, Camp Taji, Camp Victory, Fob Bagram, Fob Brassfield Mora, Fob Delta Al Kut, Fob Diamondback, Fob Falcon, Fob Garryowen, Fob Gardez, Fob Ghazni, Fob Kalagush, Fob Kandahar, Fob Lagman, Fob Mchenry, Fob Marez, Fob Normandy, Fob Rustamiyah, Fob Summerall, Fob Sykes, Fob Salerno, Fob Torkham, Fob Warhorse, Fob Warrior, Herat RTC, Jallahabad Air Base, Kabul Airport, Kabul Camp Eggers, Kandahar Air Base, Lsa Anaconda Balad, Q-West Base Complex and Tallil Ab Lsa Adder.

Especially for U.S. Military Personnel, Contracting Officers and DoD Contractors, TS2 delivers satellite equipment to most of all military addresses in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East, within maximum of 7 days.

Supported military locations in Iraq -
http://www.ts2.pl/en/Internet-in-Iraq-for-US-Army-Soldiers

Supported military locations in Afghanistan -
http://www.ts2.pl/en/Internet-in-Afghanistan-for-US-Army-Soldiers

Contact:

Piotr Kubiak and Michal Skrok
TS2 Satellite Technologies
phone +48 22 630 70 70
fax +48 22 630 70 71
http://www.ts2.pl

US probe warns of waste in Iraq, Afghanistan war deals

A bipartisan commission on wartime contracting warned Wednesday that the sheer scale of US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan “create plentiful opportunities for waste, fraud and abuse.”
In an interim report titled “At What Cost?”, the commission said more than 240,000 contract employees — about 80 percent of them foreign nationals — now work in support of the US Defense Department in Iraq and Afghanistan.

They manage dining facilities, wash uniforms, guard bases, protect diplomats, transport supplies and build projects that range from water treatment plants to hospitals, the report said.

“Contractors are doing vital work, generally to good effect, but the sheer scale of their operations and weaknesses in the federal contract-management and oversight systems create plentiful opportunities for waste, fraud, and abuse,” it said.

Among the waste highlighted by the commission was the construction of a 30-million-dollar dining hall at Camp Delta, a US military base southeast of Baghdad.

The base already has a dining hall and the new one will not be completed before December 2009, at a time when US forces are being withdrawn from the country.

The report also underscored the less well known human cost: 1,360 employees of subcontractors have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since the start of the US interventions in the region, compared to nearly 5,000 US troops.

 
Foreign gov’ts, firms paid for trips by Pentagon staff: report
Pentagon staff for a decade took trips worth millions of dollars which had been paid for by foreign governments and overseas companies doing business with the US Defense Department, according to a study released Wednesday.

From 1998-2007, sources outside the US government picked up the tab for more than 22,000 trips worth at least 26 million dollars, according to the study by the Center for Public Integrity.

During the 10-year time period, foreign governments spent more than 2.6 million dollars on about 1,500 trips.

US allies in the Asia-Pacific were among the top sponsors of the “freebies” including Australia, Singapore and Japan. But the list also includes China and Russia, the study found.

Among private sponsors, the medical industry was particularly generous, paying for more than 10 million dollars for military pharmacists, Pentagon doctors and others who play a role in the six billion dollars the Pentagon spends annually on prescription drugs.

Other private companies made the list such as Nike, Mattel and Sony.

“This is the kind of behavior that should be barred without a loop hole.” said Winslow Wheeler of the nonprofit Center for Defense Information.

A Pentagon spokesman on Wednesday defended the practice, saying it was authorized and carried out under a set of rules.

“These were events that these individuals vetted with their legal counsels to make sure that they were appropriate,” said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

“Travel regulations are designed, written to avoid a conflict of interest,” Whitman said.

“In all the cases that I’m aware of (the travel was) properly reviewed and approved,” he said.

The Marines Show The Army

For five years, the U.S. Marine Corps has been using its own battlefield Internet, based on off-the-shelf equipment. Late last year, the U.S. Army tried out the marine approach, and found that it worked.

This all began when the marines went to war in Iraq  in 2003. There they quickly discovered that their radio equipment was not up to the needs of fast moving mechanized warfare. That’s understandable, as Iraq  was the first time the marines ever had to advance so quickly, and so far inland, during combat. Taking this as the wave of the future, and lacking the money for a lot of expensive new communications gear, the marines came up with CONDOR (Command and Control on the Move Network, Digital Over the Horizon Relay). Basically, CONDOR equips each marine battalion with satellite telephone and encrypted wi-fi gear, as well as networking hardware for all sorts of marine radios. The satellite link means that no battalion is ever out of range of radio or Internet communication. Most marine radios are “line of sight” (FM) and are of limited range. When units spread out too far, they lose radio contact unless they have satellite phones. The marines got satellite phones and satellite based

communications gear from the army during the Iraq campaign. This proved a lifesaver.

But CONDOR went one step further by establishing wi-fi nodes throughout the battalion area, and also collects and transmits data from the EPLRS (locator transmitters) that every vehicle carries. The problem with EPLRS was that it used a line of sight signal (unlike the army Blue Force Tracker, which used satellite communications). CONDOR transmits EPLRS data to all marine units in the area, thus allowing a division commander to see where all his vehicles and troops are, even if they are hundreds of kilometers apart. CONDOR also allows any radio in the battalion to use the satellite link to call anywhere in the worldwide marine communications network.

But what really got the army’s attention was how CONDOR provided Internet connections for everyone in the battalion. EPLRS has Internet capability built into it, but troops don’t always turn it on. During last years army test, the EPLRS Internet feature was heavily used, along with troposcatter radio (signals are sent straight up, and they bounce off the troposphere back to other radios) to connect EPLRS units that are not within line-of-sight of each other. As the marines discovered, this works quite well.

Everyone was happy, except the contractors and bureaucrats trying to get the JTRS radio system to work. Since the 1990s, this distance and communications problem, as well as the need for battlefield Internet, had been foreseen. A new family of radios (JTRS) were developed to deal with it. But JTRS underwent one delay after another, and won’t be available for another year or two (a phrase that has been overused with regard to JTRS). So EPLRA can fill in until JTRS arrives. CONDOR and EPLRS are more examples of how new technology is being developed so quickly that the usual Department of Defense way of developing new gear is often overtaken by faster evolving civilian equipment. No one expected satellite phones and wi-fi to come to market as quickly as they did. But here they are, and they will fill in until the official solution, JTRS, catches up.

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Military locations in Afghanistan supported by TS2 Satellite Provider

TS2 was among the first telecommunications operators in the satellite technology in the territory of Iraq and Afghanistan and as such we have enjoyed a successful cooperation with the US Department of Defense, DoD contractors, Contracting Officers and U.S. Military Personnel from Afghanistan.

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