The U.S. Army will move forward with full-rate production on communication modules from PacStar and antennas from Cubic for its $700 million Transportable Tactical Command Communications (T2C2) program.
The new equipment, coupled with T2C2 satellite terminals, helps troops on the battlefield to access the Army’s tactical communications network.
The Army is set to spend more than $100 million on the T2C2 program each year through 2025 and plans to field 15 of the systems this year.
Army leaders have said the system provides soldiers an expeditionary, small, portable system that they can bring on with them on a military aircraft or a commercial aircraft. It also allows for command post operations for early-entry operations. Today, comparable systems are often too large to airlift.
The PacStar modules include two variants: a soldier-portable T2C2 Lite for early entry forces, essentially first responders, and a T2C2 Heavy for company-level command post/forward operating base communications. The GATR antennas from Cubic allow for a larger dish size with transit volume and weight compared dishes. They also provide increased capability and bandwidth efficiency, the company said in a release
The systems recently completed operational testing with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska.
“PacStar has a long and successful track record of delivering innovative, state-of-the-art tactical networking gear to military and civilian organizations,” Peggy Miller, the company’s chief executive, said in a Jan. 17 statement.
Mike Twyman, president of Cubic Mission Solutions, said “Our team has worked very hard to ensure that our GATR satellite systems offer transportability, high-bandwidth capabilities and ease of set up for Army units as they go into battle.”
