Joint STARS goes beyond line of sight

  • Published
  • By Chuck Paone
  • Electronic Systems Center Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. (AFPN) --  A straight line is the shortest distance between two points and the best way for communication to pass from one to the other, unless the earth's curvature prevents it.
 
Then, what is known as beyond-line-of-sight, or BLOS, communication capability becomes necessary. BLOS uses two straight lines, one going from an origination point to an orbiting satellite and another coming from the satellite to the second point. 

Warfighters operating in the Central Command area of responsibility last year asked to have this feature added to the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, or Joint STARS, fleet. Operating under an Urgent Operational Need request, members of the 751st Electronic Systems Group here, along with operational users at the 116th Air Control Wing at Robins Air Force Base, Ga., and prime contractor Northrop Grumman Corp., have now begun making it happen. 

Using Internet technology, the upgrades provide operators at each workstation on board Joint STARS the ability to chat, e-mail and browse the Defense Department's secure Secret Internet Protocol Router Network from any location. In fact, two dedicated SIPRNET sites have been made available exclusively for Joint STARS' use. The globally available data and voice communications are enabled via connection to an existing commercial satellite. 

"This lets operators stand off further from fixed or mobile ground stations, increasing range and coverage capabilities," said Capt. Kate Stowe, the Air Force program manager. 

BLOS also provides more throughput than was previously available to Joint STARS, meaning more information can be passed to and from on-board operators, said Paul Scoville, a program management support contractor with the group. 

"This allows for more efficient operations because operators have greater access to external intelligence data and more up-to-date information," he said. 

They also can transfer bigger files off the aircraft, including large synthetic aperture radar imagery, faster and more efficiently. 

The entire process, if conducted under routine acquisition procedures, might have taken a few years, according to Lt. Col. Tyron Fisher, commander of the 632nd Electronic Systems Squadron, which operates within the 751st ELSG. Racing to meet the urgent need, however, the team has begun retrofitting aircraft less than a year after the initial request was made and just about four months from the time a contract was awarded in late September. 

The team, he said, did everything possible to compress the schedule. For instance, system design and development, flight testing and actual retrofitting are all being done in one concurrent phase, rather than as separate linear steps. 

"That's the thing that is really making this work," Colonel Fisher said. "It's taken an incredible effort to pull this all together in such a short amount of time." 

The entire fleet, which consists of 17 operational aircraft and a test bed, is set to receive the upgrade, a process expected to be completed by year's end. The first aircraft is being retrofitted now, right on the ramp at Robins. 

The process takes about six days and is similar in some ways to upgrading from dial up to broadband, Captain Stowe said. New boxes, an antenna and some user-interface equipment are the primary components added to the planes. 

While the program is clearly intended to meet urgent operational needs, its value transcends those immediate needs and includes global operations and global training. 

"This effort is all about delivering critical capability to the warfighter and doing it as rapidly and as intelligently as possible," said Col. Michael Graham, commander of the 751st ELSG.  "This is a great example of teamwork and agility paying off for the users who need the technology to get their jobs done now." 

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