BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. – U.S. Air Force nuclear weapons authorities are taking the next step in perimeter security with a new initiative to implement wide-area networked intrusion detection at three intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) bases scattered over three U.S. states.
Officials of the Air Force Global Strike Command at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., announced a $75.5 million contract last week to Persistent Systems LLC in New York for the Air Force Regional Operating Picture (ROP) program.
Air Force experts will deploy the Persistent Systems Infrastructure-based Regional Operation Network (IRON) around remotely located ICBM fields at Minot Air Force Base, N.D.; Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.; and F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., for enhanced situational awareness over a 25,000-square-mile area -- the largest mobile ad hoc networking (MANET) network in the world.
ICBM launch facilities typically are located in large sparsely populated areas in the Great Plains region of the central U.S. The sheer size of these areas makes it difficult to track Air Force security teams investigating reports of unauthorized intrusions.
The Persistent Systems IRON is an easy-to-deploy integrated MANET antenna system on fixed towers and poles to create a permanent Wave Relay MANET coverage area. With ROP in place, security personnel on a missile field now can maintain constant communications through the towers to an operations center.
Likewise, security personnel at the operations center can follow the locations and movements of security forces on a digital map. Both parties can share critical tactical mission data seamlessly.
The Persistent systems Wave Relay network enables airmen equipped with MANET devices to share voice, video, chat, sensor, and GPS data. IRON will extend this network over a 25,000-square-mile geographic area, connecting MANET edge networks into one unified battlespace awareness network for increased situational awareness.
"U.S. military bases can sprawl tens of thousands of square miles, and as it stands now, there's no dynamic, high-bandwidth way for headquarters staff to track, and reliably remain in contact with, the security personnel patrolling this vast area," explains Adrien Robenhymer, vice president of business development at Persistent Systems.
The Persistent Systems IRON also has other applications, Robenhymer points out. "It facilitates a fully digital battlespace that links multiple weapon systems and programs in a unified network. It provides the foundation on which a true joint all domain command and control (JADC2) system could be built."
IRON also is suitable for networked weapons, base defense, distribution of over-the-horizon communications for airborne counter insurgency, and the Air Force's Agile Combat Employment (ACE) concept for dealing with near-peer powers targeting large air bases.
For more information contact Persistent Systems online at www.persistentsystems.com, or Air Force Global Strike Command at www.afgsc.af.mil.
