Fighting natural and man-made disasters is one of the biggest challenges faced by the U.S. Army. One reason for this is that disaster by their very nature tend to make basic communications, like phone service, a challenge to keep in operation.

 

Shutdown of technology that enables communication with areas outside the disaster site, of course, tends to exacerbate the challenge of getting a situation under control—especially in remote areas that are difficult to reach with equipment needed to reinstate basic services and save lives.

 

The U.S. Army National Guard has been working hard to design a communications system that will let it establish full command at disaster sites. Now it apparently has found what it needs in technology offered by DataPath, which just won a $16.7 million contract with Communications-Electric Command in Fort Monmouth, N.J.

 

DataPath designs satellite-based and other wireless communications systems. It offers a complete communications suite that’s transportable by military C-130 aircraft and other means of rapid deployment. This means the Army can get support systems to emergency sites quickly.

 

Thirty-two of these systems from DataPath will be delivered for deployment across the U.S. The systems are based on DataPath’s SATCOM terminal, which the company customized (by adding a 1.2-meter fly-away antenna) to meet the needs of the National Guard.

 

The systems are being deployed in partnership with Applied Global Technologies, which provides integrated mobile radio functionality and video teleconferencing tools.

 

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