By Matthew Cox
QUANTICO, Va.–General Dynamics [GD] C4 Systems is showing off its new line of small, Joint Tactical Radio Systems designed to make sure Marines fighting on foot are always connected.
As part of its Marine Air Ground Task Force Command and Control demonstration, GD officials displayed the new Handheld, Manpack, Small Form Fit (HMS) radios here at this year’s Modern Day Marine Exposition.
Using a new, HMS AN/PRC-154 Rifleman Radio connected to the new GD300 battlefield smartphone, GD officials showed how a Marine can view his GPS position and the positions of his fellow Marines, send text messages, reports and talk on the radio to higher command levels.
The GD300 is a wearable, Android-style device with a 3.5-inch touch screen and a 600MHz processor. The Rifleman Radio is one of an assortment of radios in the HMS line that weighs just over two pounds.
“The Rifleman Radios have GPS in them; now the squad leader wearing this [GD300] will be able to see exactly where the Marines and soldiers assigned to him are located on a grid map,” Mike Amster, business development manager for GD C4 Systems at Modern Day Marine.
HMS radios are designed around the Army’s future tactical network strategy such as the Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) in this case, to create secure tactical networks without the logistical nightmare of tower-based antenna infrastructure.
“The significance of SRW to the dismounted squad is that today if they have communications at all, its line-of-sigh, push-to-talk–that is of some use but in some cases limited use because of terrain obstacles,” Amster said.
The HMS line features a variety of tiny radios designed to fit inside unmanned ground sensors, unmanned aerial vehicles, robots and ground vehicles that will create a self- forming, self-healing network, GD officials maintain.
The idea is that a UAV flying overhead or a ground sensor nearby with embedded HMS can detect a Marine’s HMS radio signal and automatically re-transmit it to where it needs to go.
“We have dramatically enhanced the capacity to communicate amongst the squad members,” Amster said.
The Rifleman Radio and GD300 demonstration showed how showed HMS can connect small units of Marines to GD’s Combat Operation Center (COC), a Marine program of record since April 2002.
The COCs are modular nerve centers designed into capability sets for units from company to division level. The Marines have fielded 362 regimental command COCs, 45 of which are in Afghanistan, said Mike Fallon, director of Marine Corps Programs for GD C4 Systems.
For now its still uncertain whether Marines will go into battle with wearing the GD300 and Rifleman Radios.
“The word I hear from Marines is once the Army starts to fund it, they will start looking at it very seriously,” Amster said.