Founded in 1907, the United States Air Force (USAF) is the largest and most technologically advance military arm in the world.
The 31st Rescue Squadron is part of the USAF Pacific Air forces, 18th Wing, at Kadena Air Base, Japan. This squadron trains, equips and employs combat- ready pararescue specialists with a sole focus of ‘search and rescue.’
The 31st Rescue Squadron selected Norsat’s CFK-100E compact SATCOM fly-away kit for secure communications during rescue missions.
Norsat’s CFK-100E SATCOM fly-away kit.
Background
The 31st Rescue Squadron is responsible for disaster relief missions, rescue missions and emergency response, especially the organization and management of resources for dealing with all humanitarian aspects of emergencies (preparedness and recovery).
Whether an emergency at sea or an ambush on the ground at a deployed location calls for the retrieval of military members from a deadly situation, members of the 31st Rescue Squadron must be ready to complete a mission within a specific time frame.
There is a need for seamless communication between personnel for rescues in diverse environments, whether it be from a helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft, on the ground, in a crowded city or remote mountainous terrain.
There are instances where Airmen may even be deployed for sensitive equipment recovery, hostage rescue missions and classified jobs.
Challenges
The environment that this Squadron may need to operate in, is arbitrary, volatile and unpredictable.
To effectively achieve their objectives, the communication between Squadron Commander and combat rescue officers, pararescue (PJ) specialists and survival, evasion, resistance and escape (SERE) specialists needs to be robust and secure with durable equipment.
The team must remain in constant contact to work together and facilitate the return of isolated personnel or materials, with support sections like Aircrew flight equipment, Armory, Admin Airmen and more.
In addition to the harsh surroundings, they have stringent response deadlines, which is often not more than half an hour. This means the team needs to set up integrated fly-away communications centers supporting simultaneous voice, video and data communications over classified (red) and unclassified (black) networks within a short span of time.
Understanding the needs of the U.S. Air Force (USAF), Norsat manufactured and supplied CFK- 100E compact fly-away kits in record time to the organization.
Each high performance integrated kit is packaged in two airline easy carry-on cases that provide secure and non-secure communications via a Type 1 NSA Certified Inline Network Encryption Device and an Explorer 710 Inmarsat BGAN satellite terminal.
Even without the presence of an external plug-in power source, the kit functions smoothly due to SMART UPS battery backup using two UBI-2590 batteries.
Custom OEM rigid backpacks with nylon covered foam insets ensure the kits are light weight and easily deployable within a matter of minutes.
The hard, rugged cases with handles and wheels ensure easy storage and transport to remote locations.
In addition to ample storage and integrated power for two Cisco ASA-5505, KG250/ KG175D/STE systems, two Panasonic CF-19 rugged laptops and an E710 BGAN terminal, the kit provides Power-Over-Ethernet.
Defense organizations are faced with increasing demands to provide real time data to and from the field. The reason being — information saves lives.
Norsat values its customers, such as the USAF, and is committed to providing them with the best products, service,
and support.
For more than 40 years, Norsat has worked closely with its customers to provide standard or customized solutions to meet the exact requirements of the customer’s application.
Norsat supports the 31st Squadron motto “These things we do that others may live,” and continuously strives to develop sophisticated communications tools for rapid deployment into the harshest of environments.
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