ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. — Thanks to a key software upgrade, dismounted Soldiers are receiving the most up-to-date common operational picture of fires assets across the battlefield as they submit calls for fires to artillery battalions.

Earlier this month, personnel from Product Manager Fire Support Command and Control conducted new equipment training and new equipment fielding to the 2nd Battalion, 319th Field Artillery Regiment, assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, rolling out an upgraded version of Precision Fires-Dismounted software known as PF-D Block 2.

PF-D is a software program residing on Nett Warrior End User Devices used by forward observers and fire support teams to transmit and receive fire support messages over standard military line-of-sight, high-frequency and satellite communications radios.

“Since transitioning to a software only program, PF-D has modernized mission command for Field Artillery forward observers,” said Lt. Col. Jason Carney, Product Manager for FSC2. “The Block 2 upgrade is ensuring those warfighters have the right information at the point of need to enable mission success for fire support teams.”

This fielding upgrades the legacy PF-D Block 1 software with a newer version that aligns with the Mobile Handheld Computing Environment and incorporates updates directly based on input from Soldiers.

“The PF-D Block 2 software was developed with Soldier-centered design in mind, which is why their feedback and input is so critical to the design of a well-accepted user interface that caters to the next generation of Soldiers that grew up on smart devices,” said Maj. Jonathan Hardin, assistant product manager for PF-D.

Additional improvements over PF-D Block 1 include adopting the Android Tactical Assault Kit infrastructure to run PF-D as an ATAK plugin, enabling maneuver and fires data on a single map. Resource utilization has been reduced since NW and PF-D are operating in one application rather than separate instances, resulting in a reduced memory footprint, reduced application overhead, and faster response times to user interaction. The PF-D Block 2 system also runs on the most current NW Samsung Galaxy S20 EUD hardware, so interaction with the unit is faster and more efficient than the previous generation of hardware.

Product Manager Handheld, Manpack and Small Form Fit, assigned to Project Manager Tactical Radios, participated in a follow-on practical exercise to test capability and interoperability with newly fielded tactical radios — Two-Channel Leader Radios — and waveforms — Mobile User Objective System and TrellisWare Scalable Mobile. PdM FSC2 also collected usability and training feedback from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, which will deploy to the Joint Readiness Training Center later this month and exercise PF-D Block 2 in a near-combat environment.

As part of Block 2 development, PdM FSC2 conducted developmental operations with the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii last year, inviting representatives from the Army Capability Manager Fires Cell-Targeting and the Fires community at-large. DevOps and a focus on user-centered design have led to key improvements to the PF-D user interface and workflow optimization for sending free text messages between echelons.

“To meet Soldiers’ evolving battlefield needs, we include them in our development efforts early, often and throughout the entire life cycle process,” said Dr. Pam Savage-Knepshield, Human Systems Integration research psychologist for PdM FSC2, adding that the HSI team will continue to gather feedback post-fielding to incorporate lessons learned from real-world system use in operational environments.

The initial PF-D Block 2 baseline is fielding as part of Capability Set 21 and is being coordinated across various network stakeholders.

“We are working closely with PEO Soldier to identify where we can align with the Nett Warrior fielding schedule,” said Hardin. “As a software-only Program of Record, PF-D is dependent on the hardware and coordination is important to align fielding priorities.” Subsequent fielding in FY22 and FY23 are aligned to the Army’s Integrated Tactical Network fielding schedule.

Follow-on enhancements to PF-D are aligned to Capability Set 23 and will offer additional capabilities such as sharing position location information/situational awareness data with maneuver units over the new Secret-and-below TSM radio network.

PdM FSC2 also plans to retouch units previously fielded with PF-D Block 1 who do not appear on the ITN fielding schedule, including field artillery battalions of the 10th Mountain Division.

By Justin Eimers

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Soldiers assigned to the 50th Expeditionary Signal Battalion-Enhanced, 35th Corps Signal Brigade are in the early stages of using the Starlink commercial satellite system globally — improving transport diversity options for commanders and pushing data across the Army network at a faster rate.

The Starlink system, operated by SpaceX, consists of low earth orbiting satellites which provide high-speed, low-latency broadband internet across the globe. The terminal is small and lightweight, featuring a .6-meter phased array antenna and weighing only 15 pounds.

“The benefit of this system is the amount of time it takes for the signal to go up into space and come back down; it saves us a lot of time on latency,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Kyle Neese, the senior battalion network technician for the 50th ESB-E. “The old military satellite communication system uses what’s called geosynchronous [satellites], which orbit around the equator at a steady pace, but it takes a little over half a second for the signal to travel up and back down. With Starlink, it comes back at more than twice the speed.”

The 35th CSB aims to use the Starlink system to achieve faster broadband and increase internet speed capabilities in order to support XVIII Airborne Corps’ warfighters and their mission command systems.

“The Starlink terminal is being used to provide tactical network speeds of up to 70 megabits per second with approximately a third of the normal latency over military SATCOM” said Neese. “Testing is still being conducted to increase these speeds further in support of troops on ground.”

SpaceX is also piloting the creation of a miniature mobile satellite antenna to make the Starlink system more portable.

“So far, we’ve tested version one which comes with a dish, a power injector, and a router. The simplest way to hook the Starlink up to our kit is to take an ethernet cable and plug it into our router, which connects to our cradle point router and the cradle point router connects to our other systems as normal,” said Warrant Officer Corey McClure, a network technician for the 50th ESB-E. “This is the first of its kind to come on the market, and so far, it’s been great. It’s going to allow us to be a lot more flexible in terms of where we can set up and what we can do.”

Work is ongoing to assist with compatibility of the Starlink system with some of the current SATCOM equipment that the Army has in use.

“Starlink data rates exceed some of our current capabilities,” said Lt. Col. Mallory Wampler, the commander of the 50th ESB-E. “I know they’re still doing some engineering and design modifications to make the equipment more ruggedized like our 1.2 meter Hawkeye terminal, T2C2 and our Phoenix E systems.”

Wampler said she hopes to continue leveraging commercial off-the-shelf equipment to keep pace with technology improvements. “We are always looking to provide the most redundant Primary, Alternate, Contingency and Emergency plan or PACE plan as possible to support the warfighter and all mission command systems.”

From the initial implementation of this new equipment, the 50th ESB-E, 35th CSB has been at the spearhead of testing the Starlink system to meet the modern-day demand of signal equipment.

“We had the opportunity to work with the joint staff during the Bold Quest exercise last summer,” Wampler said. “We learned it brings a significant capability to the formation, which is good to align with our scalability. The bandwidth throughput is the most crucial factor with this new equipment, and I think it directly aligns with the 18th Airborne Corps’ line of effort when it comes to innovation and modernization. This is the future, and I’m excited to see where this equipment can take us.”

As part of XIII Airborne Corps’ Dragon Innovation Program, the 35th CSB is informing senior leaders on innovative ways to increase mission readiness in Corps Signal Brigades as part of the Army’s modernization efforts.

By SPC Maxine Baen