Posted on 03/15/2009 9:07:09 PM PDT by llevrok
You’ve obviously never read Brute Krulak’s “First to Fight”.
“Improvise, adapt, overcome.” Anyway, the alternative would have been to do without FR... ;-)
Fight Smarter not Harder.
Very cool! It sounds like using modified/hardened off-the-shelf technology saved years of time, million of dollars, and probably lives.
>You’ve obviously never read Brute Krulak’s “First to Fight”.
Isn’t that an Army [unit’s] slogan? I seem to remember reading about an infantry unit...
“...along with troposcatter radio (signals are sent straight up, and they bounce off the troposphere back to other radios) to connect EPLRS units that are not within line-of-sight of each other. As the marines discovered, this works quite well.”
Sounds like NVIS transmissions on the 40 meter band (Near Vertical Incidence Skywave). It works quite well over 500 or so mile range with no coverage holes.
Thought you might want to pass this to Groom.
www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2207342/posts?page=1
Good to know that they’re resourceful and that it worked well. The question is, could consumer equipment be used to attack their communications, and is the encryption they use strong enough?
(( ping ))
I have always admired the Marines for their innovation and ingenuity (besides the obvious honor, commitment, and courage). Improvisation is a way of life for them.
The Army, Navy, and Air Force make elaborate budgets and grand multi-billion, multi-year acquisitions.
The Marines say “We need some new X, we will take whatever money you want to give us and we’ll make do.” And in doing so, they come up with some of the simplest, cheapest, and effective systems that do exactly what they need.
Using the roads and airstrips Army engineers built for them.
Marines are also a tenth of the Army’s size.
Easier to improvise on a small scall...
all we need is a Radio Shack nearby and some chicken wire........
But does the equipment meet MIL-SPEC 610A, 586B, etc, etc, etc?
I used to tote a AN/PRC-104 HF rig. $5 grand a copy, 20 watts.
Folks used to ask if it was over priced and so on.
I could sit the rig in the snow, let it cold soak at -50 (and in a couple of cases minus 80) for 12 hours. I knew I could light it up, tune to a contact frequency and be on frequency and with full power.
So, ya, it was worth the bucks.
Cheap COTS is OK. The real question is - are you willing to bet YOUR life on it?
Unless, the Tropo systems the marines use are very different than the ones the army use, they do not point them straight up, it woul defeat the purpose. You have to angle bounce the signal off of the troposphere, and it a rather narrow angle, using hyperbolic antennas.
Scrap JRTS, adopt the Marine’s system, standardize on it.
The Marines got short shrifted on attack choppers years back as well so they made their own...same for tanks for awhile.
Quality over quantity comes to mind?
The Few, The Proud!
Thanks for the ping, Lancey
“Cheap, working, and available now though with some imperfections” beats “expensive, perfect, but not available for the next few years” every single time. If it prevents even one friendly fire incident while waiting for the “new radios” it’s worth it.
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