[MilCom] HF-GCS
Oceana Radio
[email protected]
Tue Apr 1 14:45:02 2003
http://www.af.mil/news/Jan2001/n20010118_0069.shtml
Tinker home to high frequency global
communications
by Ami Bui
Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center Public Affairs
01/18/01 - TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. (AFPN) --
Tinker Air Force Base's High Frequency Global Communications
System Program Office is making it easier for aircraft equipped
with
high frequency communications equipment to communicate from
anywhere around the globe.
The SPO is installing new systems to create a state-of-the-art
automated high frequency network to communicate by voice and
data
with any HF-equipped aircraft. Fourteen stations worldwide will
support the effort.
Responsible for worldwide high-power HF communications, the SPO
makes sure ground-based high frequency radio stations have the
most
efficient connectivity to communicate with Department of Defense
aircraft anywhere in the world. Recently the office officially
recently
stood up as a new division under the airborne accessories
directorate
here.
"Despite the fact many consider HF radio to be 'old hat,' HF and
satellites are the only long-haul communications modes
available," said
Col. Ceasar Sharper, SPO director. "Satellite communications are
very expensive and become congested during global crises.
"Today, HF competes favorably with satellites for many kinds of
communications due to its very low operating cost and technology
improvements during the past several years that make HF nearly
as
easy to use as a telephone," he said.
The HFGC system is used primarily to support four different
missions,
Sharper said.
"The primary mission, or global mission, is command and control
for
mobility air forces such as Air Mobility Command's C-17
(Globemaster IIIs) and (KC-135 Stratotankers)," Sharper said.
The system also supports the presidential special airlift fleet,
the chief
of staff and other special airlift missions known as Mystic Star
missions.
"As they are out flying to other countries, operators make sure
they
have an open line of communication established on our HF
network,"
Sharper said.
A third mission is System of Telecom Information for American
Air
Forces. This is a Spanish-speaking communication network among
all
North, South and Central American air forces that provides
administrative and logistics support for the system of
cooperation
among the American air forces.
The fourth mission the division is managing is the Defense
Communications System High Frequency entry, which provides HF
entry port for global communications by regional commanders.
The office is a communication system acquisition program office,
according to Phil Woodring, deputy director.
"This is not something traditionally found at an air logistics
center such
as Tinker," he said. "The preponderance of our activity is
acquiring a
new system for the Air Force, not just the modification and
sustainment business."
The system program director and system sustainment functions
were
previously located at McClellan AFB, Calif., while the
acquisition
segment of the SPO was located at Tinker.
"Because of the Base Realignment and Closure the two functions
merged, and the McClellan faction joined the 25 Tinker people,"
Woodring said. "Effective this past June, we formally became
part of
the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center."
Some of the equipment the division sustains dates back to the
1950s,
"but much of that older equipment has already been retired and
we're
down to very few of our stations still operating with it,"
Woodring
said.
All of the old equipment will be out of business by the end of
fiscal
2002, Woodring said.
"The new string of equipment allows the continuation of the same
missions the (old ones) had, which provided the communications
infrastructure so aircraft can talk to the ground and vice
versa,"
Sharper said.
"Our equipment also provides significant manpower savings," he
said.
"This efficiency and effectiveness of the new system means the
Air
Force can save more than 255 manpower billets and use those
billets
for other purposes. This equipment has a higher availability
rate, which
means it rarely breaks."
To further enhance HF Global Communications, the division
developed an airborne e-mail capability that allows messages,
maps
and other communications to be sent to or from aircraft via HF
and
the worldwide network. Today, communication between ground and
aircraft must occur by voice over the radio, which often ties up
critical
command and control communication circuits.
This new technology insertion will be operationally introduced
first in
the E-3 Sentry (airborne warning and control system) fleet.
The new system will be produced and installed by December 2001,
Woodring said.
"HF e-mail is a mission enabler to allow the warfighter to be
able to
communicate air tasking orders, a quick response capability that
is not
easy for them to do today," Sharper said. "The information
pathway
will be encrypted for classified material.
"Bottom line is that our system can support voice conversations
and
HF e-mail capabilities at the same time," Sharper said. "Because
of the
technology, the e-mail has a much longer transition range. In
the future,
our customers will be able to send or receive e-mail with the
attachments to or from any equipped aircraft in the world."
(Courtesy
of Air Force Materiel Command News Service)
--
Jack Painter mailto:[email protected]
Virginia Beach, Va 36.55N 076.07W
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