News United States Air Force
 Hill AFB’s 388th OSS exploring agile communications options for F-35APublished March 31, 2022
                        
                        By  Micah Garbarino
                        
                        
                        388th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
                **HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah (AFNS)  --**
                The **388th Fighter Wing**’s Operations Support Squadron cyber Airmen are currently exploring high-speed communications options to support **F-35A Lightning II** Agile Combat Employment – operating from remote or austere locations.

The flow of information is critical in any war-time environment, and space and cyber capabilities almost completely dominate that arena for modern militaries. Speed and reliability in communications are demanding to support the cyber needs of the F-35's associated systems.

“We’re trying to get after what is **Secretary [Frank] Kendall**’s fifth **operational imperative**; ‘Defining optimized resilient basing, sustainment, and communications in a contested environment,’” said Lt. Col. Maxwell Cover, 388th OSS commander. “With the F-35, we are likely going to be using the **ACE** construct on any deployment, and we need resilient, redundant communications.”

For the first time, cyber Airmen used satellite and cellular internet capabilities to connect an F-35 deployed debrief facility (housing an Autonomic Logistics Information System server stack) and looped back into the Air Force network’s “central point of entry” for F-35 supply chain and logistics.

They did this with the help of cyber teams from **Air Combat Command**, ACC’s Agile Battle Labs **initiative** and Combat Communications, who analyze units’ operational needs and help them become more agile in the cyber realm.

“A huge piece of agile combat operations is hardening communications,” Cover said. “These teams are helping us develop better connectivity for the massive amounts of data that we need to push through ALIS.”

Current military satellite internet capability requires a longer lead time, and its fastest speeds are not sufficient for the amount of data required for remote F-35 operations, Cover said.

“If we have to get out the door quickly, that doesn’t work. When you look at operating out of a remote location for days, weeks, maybe longer, where we need ALIS, NIPR, and SIPR, it’s critical to have more agile communications,” Cover said.

Using a Flyaway Communications Terminal developed by the ABL team, the group harnessed speeds up to 30 times faster during the week-long test. It was more than enough to support ALIS as well as individual NIPR and SIPR connections.A photo of Airmen setting up communications gearFirst Lt. Corbin Meredith, 388th Operations Support Squadron, and Master Sgt. Caleb Frisbie, 242nd Combat Communications Squadron, set up and test communication equipment for the Agile Battle Labs Communications Demonstration Unit, March 24, 2022, Hill Air Force Base, Utah. (U.S. Air Force photo by Todd Cromar)
            
            
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    An F-35A Lightning II soars over Hill Air Force Base during a demonstration practice Jan. 10, 2020, at Hill AFB, Utah. The 388th Fighter Wing’s Operations Support Squadron cyber Airmen are currently exploring high-speed communications options to support F-35 Agile Combat Employment – operating from remote or austere locations. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Alexander Cook)An F-35A Lightning II soars over Hill Air Force Base during a demonstration practice Jan. 10, 2020, at Hill AFB, Utah. The 388th Fighter Wing’s Operations Support Squadron cyber Airmen are currently exploring high-speed communications options to support F-35 Agile Combat Employment – operating from remote or austere locations. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Alexander Cook)
            
            
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    A photo of Airmen setting up communications gearMaster Sgt. Caleb Frisbie, 242nd Combat Communications Squadron, sets up and tests communication equipment for the Agile Battle Labs Communications Demonstration Unit, March 24, 2022, Hill Air Force Base, Utah. For the first time, cyber Airmen used satellite and cellular internet capabilities to connect an F-35 Lightning II deployed debrief facility and looped back into the Air Force network’s “central point of entry” for F-35 supply chain and logistics. (U.S. Air Force photo by Todd Cromar)
            
            
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The setup requires linking a small satellite-internet dish with a gateway router in a hard-sided case, then to a terminal that splits classified and unclassified data.

The gateway router has the capability to connect to a hardline network, satellite internet, or it also has several slots for cellular sim cards which can transmit data from many bands and regions. The router automatically selects which signal and network is fastest and transmit data simultaneously.

All of this is small enough to fit inside of an F-35’s travel pod, and virtually any Airman can be trained to set it up in less than 10 minutes, said Senior Master Sgt. Reid Beveridge, Agile Battle Labs senior enlisted advisor.

“Really, what we want to have is options for communications,” said 1st Lt. Corbin Meredith, 388th OSS, “We don’t have the infrastructure in every possible location, but with this we could go to SATCOM or cellular LTE and then go to offline capabilities as a last resort. The fact that anyone can be trained to set it up gives us more manpower options and brings another element to creating Multi-Capable Airman.”LR 



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