GPS-loaded radio coming to the infantry

SAN DIEGO -- While the Army operates a global network that can connect commanders in the field in Afghanistan and Iraq, infantry squads and platoons on the front lines have had to rely on traditional arm and hand signals to communicate -- until now.

Comment on this article in The Forum.The Army plans to issue to front-line infantry units a so-called Rifleman Radio, which it is testing at Fort Bliss, Texas, said Allan Resnick, director of capabilities, development and assessments at the Army Capabilities Integration Center, which is based at the Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Va.

Resnick, speaking here on Tuesday at the annual Armed Forces Electronics and Communications Association MILCOM conference, said the new radio, a 7.5 pound unit that fits in the pocket of a field uniform, does more than provide voice communications for the Army's smallest maneuver units. He said the radio also uses the Global Positioning System to transmit the position of each soldier in a squad or platoon to a display attached to a team leader's radio.

To cut the cost of the Rifleman Radio, the Army used a commercial GPS receiver rather than amore expensive, and more precise, military GPS system, Resnick said. But the commercial GPS receiver provides enough accuracy for an infantry platoon or squad leader to pinpoint soldiers on the battlefield on a wrist-mounted display connected to the radio, according to Bobby Boyle, sales manager for General Dynamics C4 Systems, which developed the Rifleman Radio. He declined to provide the cost of the radio.

The Rifleman Radio uses software that relies on a waveform or algorithm developed by Joint Tactical Radio System Program Executive Office at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, which is headquartered here, to communicate in the UHF and L-band frequencies. The radio uses Voice over IP for voice communications.

The radio uses the same lightweight module, which is about the shape of a hockey puck, that the General Dynamics uses in its JTRS Handheld Manpack radios, which it is developing for the Army.