Enabling En Route Communications Aboard Large Transport Aircraft

摘要

The ability to communicate en route directly with ground elements during an airborne theater insertion has taken a giant leap forward with a communications system boarding a C-17 Globe-master Ⅲ. A long-distance deployment across the vast Asia-Pacific region has opened the door to en route command and control over secure or unsecure links. Last year, as part of the U.S. Pacific Command's Talisman Saber 2013 (TS-13) exercise, four members of the Joint Communications Support Element's (JCSE) 4th Joint Communications Squadron (4JCS) boarded a C-17 for a non-stop, 14-hour flight from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, to the Royal Australian Air Force Base Amberley. The aircraft was filled with paratroopers from the U.S. Army's 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division (4-25), which was en route to a forcible entry assault mission supporting a fictional scenario designed for TS-13.