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Soldier's Network Update: General Dynamics Simultaneously Connects Personnel at Three U.S. Army Installations Using MUOS-Manpack PRC-155 Radio and MUOS Satellite Communications System

Oct. 15, 2014

General Dynamics C4 Systems successfully completed a series of radio-call tests using the AN/PRC-155 two-channel Manpack radios and the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite communications (SATCOM) system to connect General Dynamics' personnel located at Fort Bliss, Texas, Fort Benning, Ga., and Fort Bragg, N.C., with the company's facility in Scottsdale, Ariz. The radio tests validated that personnel using AN/PRC-154A Rifleman and legacy SINCGARS radios could connect with the PRC-155 MUOS-Manpack radio to access the MUOS SATCOM system. Test participants could talk to one another while hearing their voices with cellphone-like clarity. The test also included making conference calls connecting multiple participants at different locations, a thousand miles apart.

Chris Marzilli, president of General Dynamics C4 Systems, said, "The PRC-155 MUOS-Manpack radio is the only tactical radio to successfully connect and sustain voice and data communications using the MUOS satellite communications system. With the success of this test, the PRC-155 continues to deliver on the promise of the Army's tactical network- keeping soldiers informed and aware, from the most isolated foxhole to the Pentagon and back."

Funded by General Dynamics, the multi-site MUOS radio test included a number of realistic Army operations where a dismounted soldier, or group of soldiers, would need to contact commanders and other personnel located hundreds or thousands of miles away.

Each test began with a radio call from a PRC-154A Rifleman or legacy SINCGARS radio using Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) of legacy waveform. The outgoing call was received on one of two MUOS Manpack radio channels.  In a fraction of a second, the MUOS-Manpack radio bridged the outgoing call to the second Manpack radio channel, converted the call into the MUOS waveform transmitting it directly to the MUOS satellite, down to the MUOS ground station, up to the second MUOS satellite and down to the Manpack radio receiving the incoming call on one channel and switching it back into the legacy or SRW waveform, routing the call to the intended recipient using the second channel in the MUOS-Manpack radio. 

"With the PRC-155 radio, soldiers and special operators can stay in touch with headquarters, from anywhere on Earth, anytime," said retired U.S. Army General Scott Wallace, former commander of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command and a consultant for General Dynamics.  "The cellphone-like clarity demonstrated during each call, the communications consistency and ability to use different radios, with the PRC-155 MUOS Manpack radio acting as the communications bridge to the MUOS satellite communications system, is a significant step forward in placing the full power of the Army's tactical network in the hands of soldiers." 

The MUOS satellite communications system offers smartphone-quality voice communications and more than 10-times the data capacity of the legacy UHF satellite communications system. To connect to the MUOS satellite system, radios, like the PRC-155, must have the MUOS communications waveform that is based on commercial cellular networks technologies.

A part of General Dynamics' Soldier's Network, WIN-T Increment 2, the AN/PRC-155 Manpack and AN/PRC-154A Rifleman tactical networking radios work together with the company's cyber-defense devices including the TACLANE® family of in-line encryption devices and TACLANE MultiBook secure laptop computer.