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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=PT link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>New satellite could revolutionize battlefield communications<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>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. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>Read the full National Journal article New Satellite Could Revolutionize Battlefield Communications <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/new-satellite-could-revolutionize-battlefield-communications-20110927 <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>