Joint Tactical Radio expected to meet special-warfare needs.

• Author: Colucci, Frank
• Position: Unconventional Warriors

The next-generation tactical-communications technology--the Joint Tactical Radio System--will provide conventional military units with capabilities that typically are associated with special warfare.

Currently in the early states of development, JTRS also is expected to give U.S. special operations forces improved software-defined radios, readily tailored to their mission requirements.

In their secret missions, special operations forces (SOF) rely on secure, reliable communications to interact with their own joint-service units, conventional U.S. forces and international allies.

Today, discrete radios carry voice, digital data and video at high, very high and ultra-high frequencies (HF, VHF, and UHF)--using encrypted and jam-resistant waveforms. They enable Army Rangers to talk to Air Force gunship teams and Navy SEALs to "burst" data to distant joint-service commanders, with or without satellite relays.

Special operations forces participated in setting the requirements for the development of the JTRS operational requirements document, released in 1998. SOF requirements also will be incorporated in each new "cluster" of JTRS radios.

The software-defined JTRS was designed to replace single-function legacy radios and "stovepipe" communications with multimode (simultaneous data, voice, and video) sets that network air, ground and maritime users. The initial versions of the new common radios are to span the entire frequency spectrum from 2 MHz to 2 GHz and effectively put several radios in a single box.

The special operations community, meanwhile, already operates software-defined radios. In recent years, the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has purchased the AN/PSC-5 UHF/VHF Multi-Band Multi-Mission Radio (MMBMR). The manufacturer, the Raytheon Co., has delivered both manpack and vehicular versions. It replaces several-single band radios, sending voice, data and imagery over line-of-sight or SATCOM/DAMA (Satellite/Demand Assigned Multiple Access) networks at frequencies from 30 to 512 MHz. The PSC-5 can use SINCGARS (Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System) and Have Quick I and II waveforms to defeat enemy jamming. An enhanced encryption key management system provides COMSEC (Communications Security) with up to 250 keys. Plug-in modules expand the capabilities of the radio as needed.

SOF units also have acquired the software-based AN/PRC- 117F(C) and AN/PRC-150(C) radios from Hatris RF Communications, to provide short-range and...