ARLA/CLUSTER: Novo satélite militar pode revolucionar as comunicações no campo de batalha

[João Gonçalves Costa]

New satellite could revolutionize battlefield communications

The National Journal reports that the Naval Research Laboratory plans to launch an experimental $75 million satellite this week that U.S. ground forces can use for on-the-move communications with standard military handheld or backpack radios.

The Tactical Satellite-4 (or TacSat-4) will zoom around Earth in an elliptical orbit at altitudes ranging from 435 miles to 7,470 miles, keeping the spacecraft far closer to the ground than the 22,000-mile orbit of geostationary communications satellites, according to the Operationally Responsive Space Office at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., which funded the launch and first six months of use.

Michael Hurley, head of spacecraft development for the Naval Research Lab, said in an e-mail from the TacSat-4 launch site in Kodiak, Alaska, that the low orbits will allow ground forces for the first time to communicate with a military satellite using omnidirectional antennas on their radios while on the move, rather than stopping to set up a satellite antenna.

TacSat-4, Hurley said, will support troops in Afghanistan equipped with An/PRC-148 and AN-PRC-152 handheld radios, manufactured by Thales and Harris respectively, and the Harris AN/PRC-117 backpack radio, as well as the AN/PSC-5 portable satellite terminal from Raytheon used by special-forces units.

Hurley said that all these radios communicate with TacSat-4 in one of 10 channels in the 240-318 MHz band, which is also used by the Defense Department's geostationary ultra-high frequency satellite constellation.

Read the full National Journal article New Satellite Could Revolutionize Battlefield Communications
http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/new-satellite-could-revolutionize-battlefield-communications-20110927

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