A story I published this week at Jane’s Defense Weekly is about Israel ordering advanced satellite communication links, for installation on board a range of army vehicles. These systems are produced by Elbit.
Army land platforms are often on the move, driving through difficult terrain. Their ability to maintain satellite links means that the army can beam its command and control networks up to a satellite and back down to an IDF unit, irrespective of where it is in the world.
The Elbit-made satellite links enhance such abilities, and they will be built into some of the army’s vehicles.
The IDF’s Amirim Battalion – part of the C4i Corps – is responsible for maintaining satellite links with units.
As the Amirim Battalion commander once told me, using satellite communications for military networking “is tactical tool which we can set up at any point on the globe. As soon as the skies are accessible, we can send transmissions that carry operational systems, anywhere and anytime.”
The IDF continues to build up network-centered combat capabilities, both near and far.
Military planners see network-centered combat as the future, and this technology could give the IDF an edge over hybrid guerilla-terrorist forces. Knowing and sharing the location of quickly appearing and disappearing enemies, and sharing that data over the IDF’s network, is key.
Being able to do these kinds of things over satellite links means there is no technical geographic limit to communicating with units.