PR NEWS

Satellite HUB at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar

Sgt. Jeffrey Yauch, from Plover, Wis., adheres to the old Army conviction: leave it better than you found it. During a one-year deployment, the 1st Cavalry Division soldier wrote detailed technical standard operation procedures for tactical satellite hubs employing the military’s latest communications technology.

Yauch’s painstaking labors led to an unprecedented 99-percent satellite reliability rate, according to signal reports at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar. Tactical environment uptimes typically range between 90 and 95 percent, according to Chief Warrant Officer Scott Gray, 1st Cavalry Division Special Troops Battalion network technician chief.

“Our team set a new standard for maintaining a tactical satellite hub,” said Gray, who then commended the entire unit for supporting communication requirements for over 230,000 combat patrols in Iraq this year.

The 1st Cavalry Division, a rapidly deployable armored division based at Fort Hood, Texas, assumed duties as the Multi-National Division – Baghdad headquarters in January. While the main body moved into Iraq, Yauch and 18 other Soldiers formed a tactical satellite hub at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar, located on the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula.

The team of Soldiers inherited a critical mission: set up and maintain a robust satellite hub at the Qatar base. Warfighters throughout Iraq would depend on their signal integrity for a variety of audiovisual services, such as telecommunications, video teleconferences and network access. Unfortunately, specific instructions about fielding the Army’s most recent equipment didn’t exist. Yauch resolved to fix that discrepancy, as the Soldiers went to work.

The tactical satellite document has been disseminated throughout Iraq and Afghanistan.

ORS-1 satellite for military leaders overseeing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

Goodrich and ATK are beginning to manufacture a one-of-a-kind reconnaissance satellite that will be launched by the end of next year to support urgent needs from military leaders overseeing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Called Operationally Responsive Space-1 (ORS-1), the spacecraft is needed to provide a new layer of electro-optical and infrared reconnaissance to airborne collectors, such as unmanned aerial systems and high-altitude aircraft, as well as to the sophisticated national intelligence satellites overhead.

The key advantages of ORS-1 will be its quick launch—the goal is to loft it within 24 months of authorization to build (which came late last year)—and its ability to peer into places such as Iran, where allied aircraft cannot spy. ORS-1 also will be positioned to support operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and it may be able to observe Pakistan to support anti-terrorist activities there.

Additionally, unlike national systems, ORS-1’s EO/IR sensor will be tasked directly by military leaders in U.S. Central Command (Centcom). Satellites operated by the National Reconnaissance Office are managed through a centralized system that commanders often complain is not responsive to their tactical needs.

Satellite Soldiers Keep Red Bulls Connected in COB Basra

The Soldiers of the Network Support Co. know. It’s their job to provide secured and unsecured Internet as well as phone service for the 34th “Red Bull” Inf. Div. deployed at COB Basra.

Equal parts mechanics, network operators, and carpenters, these Soldiers work around the clock to ensure that Soldiers and their commanders can communicate effectively on today’s battlefield.

The Soldiers of the NSC spend their days near a farm of satellites and humvees. Solar netting is everywhere. The low and constant gurgle of diesel generators is punctuated by the occasional whine of a power drill. Soldiers check routers and switches and make sure that the machinery is running at optimal temperature. It’s a life of constant vigilance and maintenance.

Winter operates and maintains the Joint Node Network System, one of the NSC’s most important communication tools. Installed in the rear of a humvee, the JNN, like a 21st century switchboard, directs all Internet and phone communication for the Red Bulls.

Following the wires connected to the JNN, one is lead to the satellite dish, or STT, where information is bounced up to a geosynchronous satellite over 22,000 miles above the Earth.