 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Northrop Grumman Brings BACN to California Disaster-Recovery Exercise
Los Alamitos, CA (SPX) Jul 21, 2006 A system developed by Northrop Grumman Corporation is providing critical voice communications and real-time video surveillance and imagery to the U.S. Marine Corps and Los Angeles public safety agencies participating in a disaster-response exercise underway at Los Alamitos. The Battlefield Airborne Communications Node system (BACN, pronounced "bacon") is a forward-deployed airborne communications relay and network-centric enterprise information server that allows real-time information exchanges among many different, distant military and commercial communications systems. The Marine Aircraft Group 46 from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, San Diego, and the Los Angeles city and county police, sheriff and fire departments have joined forces to simulate and test how they would jointly respond to an 8.0 magnitude earthquake in San Diego. "The ability of disparate military, federal and local civic agencies to communicate has often been the weakest link in disaster response," said Mike Twyman, vice president of Northrop Grumman Mission Systems' communication and information systems business unit. "BACN has demonstrated the capability to provide, in operational conditions, fully secured critical imagery and information directly to personnel in airborne and ground units and command centers when and where they need it." During the Joint Operations Field Training Exercise, the BACN payload is carried on NASA's WB-57 high-altitude aircraft, providing a high-speed, Internet protocol (IP)-based airborne network infrastructure for seamless movement of imagery, video, voice and digital messages between disparate tactical data and IP networks. BACN also provided voice relay and bridging among different tactical and cellular voice systems. This cell phone-to-radio bridging allows, for example, police and fire units using cell phones to talk with Marine Corps personnel in aircraft and helicopters and ground units using military radios. BACN is being developed by Northrop Grumman for the Air Force Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass.; the Air Force Aerospace Command and Control, and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center at Langley Air Force Base, Va.; and the Joint Forces Command, headquartered in Norfolk, Va. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base at Global Security Read the latest in Military Space Communications Technology at SpaceWar.com
Russia Launches Kosmos Military Satellite
Moscow, Russia (AFP) Jul 24, 2006Russia launched a military satellite Friday from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the northwestern region of Arkhangelsk, the Interfax and ITAR-TASS news agencies reported. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
