Marine Corps News Release Release #:
Division of Public Affairs, Headquarters, United States Marine Corps, Washington, DC 20380-1775 Commercial: (703) 614-7678/9 DSN: 224-7678/9 FAX: (703)697-5362
Date: 12/09/96 Story by Sgt. Rhys A. Evans, MCB Camp Pendleton
COMPUTER, SATELLITE TECHNOLOGIES GIVE NEW TOOLS TO MARINES ON THE FRONT LINES
1ST MARINE DIVISION, Camp Pendleton, Calif. -- The Marine Corps is experimenting with putting worldwide information at the finger tips of Marines on the front line.
Camp Pendleton recently hosted the Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration at Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity. The concept puts a global computer network in the hands of forward-deployed Marines and will improve their ability to synchronize fire, provide faster and more comprehensive access to intelligence data, and enhance battlefield awareness and data dissemination.
"Think about a Marine Expeditionary Unit floating somewhere around the world and, all of a sudden, they are tasked with going into a country like Liberia to provide humanitarian relief," said Maj. Vince R. Stewart with Special Marine Air-Ground Task Force (Experimental). "With this system, they will be able to request and receive the latest information about that country, the composition of its army, maps of the operational area, and weather data -- all much faster than in the past."
Marines will have the technology to receive large volumes of information via satellite, according to Stewart. The information will be requested through a "Warfighter's Associate," a personal computer in the operational area, that communicates with a Navy P-3C Orion. The request is relayed to an information dissemination server, which accesses various databases and sends the data to the WFA via satellite on the global broadcast system.
This new technology will be able to assemble a consistent battlefield picture for tactical land, sea, and air forces, according to Maj. Pat. L. Beekman, head of the Planning and Shaping Section. "It gives a front-line Marine the capability to tap into worldwide data with minimal delay," he said. (Sgt. Rhys A. Evans, MCB Camp Pendleton)
