Secure wireless communication capabilities coming to U.S. Army troops starting end of 2019
NewsMay 01, 2019
DULLES, Va. U.S. Army officials tasked Raytheon to deliver its new troposcatter communication systems as part of a 10-year, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract worth up to $663 million to ensure troops have access to secure voice and data communications in contested environments.
Troposcatter – short for tropospheric scatter – technology uses particles that make up the Earth's atmosphere as a reflector for radio signals. Those signals are aimed just above the horizon in the direction of a receiver station. As they pass through the troposphere, some of the energy is scattered back toward the Earth, allowing the receiver station to pick up the signal. Essentially, it creates a secure communications network without the need for cellular towers or satellites.
"Soldiers on the front lines can't afford dropped calls," says Dave Wajsgras, president of Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services. "Our solution, a secure, reliable and wireless troposcatter system, allows troops to communicate in areas that would otherwise be dead zones. Importantly, it also gives the military a way to communicate in satellite-denied environments."
Raytheon will begin delivering the first units by the end of 2019.
