PLGR & DAGR
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Out in the field, one of the most important questions is also one of the simplest: where am I?

Map-reading and orienteering remain critical soldiering skills, but the explosive growth of the GPS receiver market offers modern-day soldiers – and their opponents – new options. GPS has a military channel as well, of course, offering greater precision. These military-grade GPS receivers are becoming common among American units and their allies, often operating alongside civilian units from firms like Garmin that can include in-country roadmaps for front-line zones. Then again, you probably wouldn’t want to offer nearby airstrike coordinates based on a civilian unit if there was any choice in the matter.

Defense Advanced GPS Receivers (DAGRs) will serve as a smaller, lighter, replacement for the Precision Lightweight GPS Receiver (PLGR). Their electronics can be integrated into tanks, UAV drones, et. al., or serve as standalone handheld systems for both advanced and basic military GPS users. Authorized Department of Defense (DoD) and foreign military sales (FMS) customers receive a hand-held Precise Positioning System (PPS) with a dual-frequency (L1/L2) receiver that weighs less than a pound, and incorporates the nest generation, tamper-resistant GPS “SAASM” (Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module) anti-jamming and security module.

This will be DID’s FOCUS Article for DAGR procurement, which is international in scope…

• The Defense Advanced GPS Receiver
• DAGR: Contracts & Key Events [updates]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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Northrop Grumman’s E-2C Hawkeye began replacing previous Hawkeye versions in 1973, and serves as the US Navy and French Navy’s carrier-capable “mini-AWACS” aircraft. Its primary role is advance warning of incoming aerial threats; ship-based radars are far larger and more powerful, but cannot scan below the angle of the horizon. Secondary roles include strike command and control, land and maritime surveillance, search and rescue, communications relay, and even civil air traffic control during emergencies. E-2C Hawkeyes also fly from land bases in the militaries of Egypt, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, and Taiwan; and in the US Naval Reserve in a drug interdiction role. Over 200 Hawkeyes have been produced.

The $17.5 billion E-2D Advanced Hawkeye program aims to build 75 new aircraft with significant radar, engine, and electronics upgrades in order to deal with a world of stealthier cruise missiles, saturation attacks, and a growing need for ground surveillance as well as aerial scans. It looks a lot like the last generation E-2C Hawkeye 2000 upgrade on the outside – but inside, and even outside to some extent, it’s a whole new aircraft. This DID FOCUS Article covers the E-2D program, from the new platform and its capabilities to the budgets, contracts, and companies making it all fly. The latest news includes a minor contract for engineering changes…

• From E-2A Hawkeye to the E-2D
• E-2D Advanced Hawkeye: Program
• E-2D Advanced Hawkeye: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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ERJ-145 ACS: no
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In January 2006, “$8B ACS Spy Plane Program Shot Down By Pentagon” described the demise of the joint Army/Navy Aerial Common Sensor program. ACS intended to replace the King Air derived RC-12N Guardrail, Dash-7 derived RC-7B “Crazy Hawk”/ARL, and P-3 Orion derived EP-3E Aries aircraft, with a new multi-role reconnaissance platform based on a small regional jet airframe. The original Embraer ERJ-145 platform proposed by Lockheed Martin proved too small, and even an attempted move to the same Bombardier Global Express jet used in the UK’s new ASTOR Sentinel R1 reconnaissance platform did not avail them. The US Army expressed no confidence, and put the project back to square one as it revised both its specs and its approach.

The Navy, meanwhile, split from ACS and went its own way, initiating the EPX program to replace its EP-3s. Boeing has proposed a reconnaissance and electronic intelligence version of the same 737 aircraft that the Navy plans to use for its P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, and other entrants to the proposed manned aircraft program are likely.

Now the Army has also rethought its approach, and begun the process of revisiting the ACS project. A $460+ million program will refurbish and upgrade the RC-12N Guardrail fleet to extend their service life, UAVs have emerged to fill some of the short-range reconnaissance gap, and SIGINT capabilities are being added to the USAF’s RQ-4 Global Hawk UAVs reconnaissance sensors from Block 20 onward. The Guardrails will still have a limited lifespan, however, and this coverage set still leaves holes. Hence the new approach to ACS…

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Raytheon: C4ISR Future?
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As video communications is integrated into robots, soldiers, and UAVs, and network-centric warfare becomes the organizing principle of American warfighting, front-line demands for bandwidth are rising sharply. The Transformation Communications Satellite (TSAT) System is part of a larger effort by the US military to address this need.

The final price tag on the entire TSAT program has been quoted at anywhere from $14-25 billion through 2016, which includes the satellites, the ground operations system, the satellite operations center and the cost of operations and maintenance. By mid-2007, the U.S. Air Force was scheduled to make a key decision: build the TSAT system on its current schedule and launch in 2013-2016, or postpone TSAT, take stopgap measures and add Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellites 4 & 5 to the three slated for launch from 2009-2012.

Lockheed Martin and Boeing have won a total of $514 million each in risk reduction contracts for the TSAT SS satellite system, in hopes of making that Plan B unnecessary. The bids are in, and both teams await a decision. TSAT’s $2 billion TMOS ground-based network operations contract is already underway.

The TSAT constellation of satellites, receivers, and infrastructure has seen a recent resurgence of news coverage, and its central role in next-generation US military infrastructure makes it worthy of in-depth treatment. Yet its survival is not assured by any means. Outside events and incremental competitors could spell its end just as they spelled the end of Motorola’s infamous Iridium service. This updated DID Special Report looks at the TSAT program, its challenges, and the potential future(s) of U.S. military communications – with new additions highlighted in green for your convenience. The latest item is a $336 million TMOS contract….

• Key Background – Why TSAT Is Thought to be Necessary (i.e. continue reading…)
• Key Background – The Big Picture: TSAT and the Transformational Communications Architecture
• Briefing – What Is TSAT?
• Briefing – TMOS: TSAT’s Ground Component
• Briefing – The AEHF Alternative, and Lessons Learned for TSAT
• Analysis – TSAT Program: Issues & Decisions
• Analysis – TSAT’s Competitors – and Its Fate
• News – TSAT: Timeline and Ongoing Developments [updated]
• Appendix A – Additional Readings & Sources
  
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RC-12N Guardrail
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It’s derived from Hawker-Beechcraft’s popular King Air B200, and looks like a dog that just finished chasing a family of porcupines. It’s also one of the 3 electronic eavesdropping and surveillance planes slated for replacement by the joint Army-Navy Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) jet, after serving for over 3 decades in remote trouble spots and large-scale wars around the globe. The $8 billion ACS program’s suspension, “back to square one” delay, and joint status uncertainties, however, have turned the RC-12 Guardrail a critical asset that needs to serve longer. To do that, it will need to improve its ability to perform in current and future environments.

To that end, long-standing Guardrail fleet prime contractor Northrop Grumman Corporation has received a Guardrail Modernization system integration contract to continue upgrading and enhancing the system, extending its operational life beyond 2020. The Army Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors issued the 5 year indefinite delivery/ indefinite quantity contract, which has a 5-year option and a total potential value of $462 million. The PEO also awarded Northrop Grumman $25 million for the first 2 task orders, to cover signals intelligence sensor upgrades.

Over the life of the program, the idea is to improve the Guardrail’s ability to process and exploit intercepted signals, while adding precision geo-location, upgraded situational awareness, and improved overall systems performance. It happens to your computers; it happens to theirs, too. Northrop Grumman also hopes to reduce the plane’s payload weight as it swaps in smaller, more powerful electronics. This extra space, and the ability of more advanced components to do “double duty” in some cases, will allow the program to address new threats and situations as they evolve. The upgrades will be implemented in an incremental, evolutionary approach rather than a “big bang to standard configuration”; despite this incremental approach, Northrop Grumman ultimately intends to provide a single standard RC-12 configuration for the entire fleet. NGC release.

F-22 Cutaway
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Back in October 2005, DID’s Supersonic SIGINT: Will F-35, F-22 Also Play EW Role? offered in-depth coverage of the F/A-22 and F-35’s advanced radars and electronics, and the potential to leverage that built-in hardware by turning these planes into electronic warfare aircraft. A September 2005 DID article, meanwhile, noted some of the key trends in military I/O, as the increasing need for high-bandwidth links made itself felt. That need is biting with equal or greater force between aircraft, and between aircraft and other platforms, as the increasingly rich array of combat data available finds itself constricted by older protocols and low-bandwidth linkages.

As it turns out, the solution may have been sitting right under their noses.

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Euro Hawk UAV
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In the course of DID’s RQ-4 Global Hawk coverage, we’ve mentioned the Euro Hawk project, which aims to produce an RQ-4 with additional capabilities in signals intelligence collection (SIGINT) as well as some ground surveillance capabilities. An MoU was signed in May 2006. Now the German Ministry of Defence (MoD) has awarded a EUR 430 million (currently about $560 million) contract to EADS and Northrop Grumman joint venture Eurohawk GmbH for the development, test and support of the Euro Hawk unmanned SIGINT, surveillance, and reconnaissance system. Other Global Hawks will be available to Europe via the combined NATO AGS system.

The Euro Hawk UAV will use the RQ-4 Block 20 Global Hawk as its base, and add a new SIGINT mission system developed by EADS. The SIGINT system will provide the apability to detect and collect information from electronic intelligence (ELINT) radar emitters and communications emitters; EADS will also provide the ground stations that will receive and analyze the data. Delivery of the first demonstrator is scheduled for 2010, with delivery of the 4 production UAVs planned between 2011-2014. These Euro Hawk systems will replace Germany’s aging fleet of 2 Breguet Atlantic SIGINT aircraft, which have been in service since 1972. For more, see See EADS release | Bundeswehr page [in Deutsch].

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MBITR: Calling in…
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The AN/PRC-148 MBITR is the hand-held radio for USSOCOM, the most widely fielded multi-band portable radio in the US armed services, and is also in use by many NATO Special Forces. Special Operations Technology has described the 31-ounce PRC-148 multiband inter/intra team radio (MBITR) as “one of the many communications marvels that made the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq possible” thanks to its small size, software-based structure, and virtually complete interoperability with other military radios and commercial systems. With lithium ion batteries, the user can reportedly expect about 8-10 hours of life. In addition, they note, “More than one Pentagon official has singled out the MBITR for praise during recent operations in Afghanistan.”

Now Thales Communications has received a $43 million order for AN/PRC-148 JTRS Enhanced MBITR, or JEM radios. They may represent the first radios to be fielded for tactical use under the US military’s transformational JTRS program; it’s a close and sometimes confusing race with Harris’ AN/PRC-152©. DID explains how the PRC-148 became so popular, and offers a glimpse into the development model that made them first out of the gate with a tactically-deployed, (partly) JTRS-compliant product…

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Hawker 800

On Sept 6, 2006, the US DSCA announced South Korea’s request for continuing support of their RC-800 Tactical Reconnaissance Aircraft, as well as the accompanying Reconnaissance Ground Stations that process and analyze the data gathered. Work will include contractor services, maintenance, spare and repair parts, support and test equipment, communication support, prime mission equipment (PME), technical support, contractor engineering, and other related elements of program support. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $200 million.

RC-800?!?

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The US military’s Headquarters Cryptologic Systems Group, San Antonio, TX has issued a pair of cost-plus-fixed fee contracts. They’re buying next generation crypto-modernization compliant encryptor/ decryptors for satellite telemetry, tracking and control in 2 configurations: an embeddable solution and an end cryptographic unit. This is logical, as you want one on the satellites and one on the ground. Solicitations began in March 2006, and work will be complete April 2008.

• L-3 Communications Telemetry-West in San Diego, CA received a $9.9 million contract (FA8307-06-C-0009). Note L-3’s recent purchase of TDL, which it may be able to leverage in contracts of this sort.

• General Dynamics C4 Systems Inc. received a $9.7 million contract (F8307-06-C-0010).
  
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