First and foremost is satellite communications, especially with the large investments being made by the commercial marketplace for an infrastructure slated to be operational in only a few years. Another area is large bandwidth on demand. Video, data and real-time situational awareness all mandate large bandwidth. A mundane yet vital area is battery technology. The Army must have more power-efficient equipment and have batteries that are rechargeable in a simple manner.
Current batteries are expensive and dangerous in disposal.
One essential aspect is to avoid a forest of whip antennas sprouting all over the landscape. Conformal antennas are a must for operations security, especially against enemy observers looking for important targets such as command and control centers. The fifth area encompasses friendly information systems. While computers have become more user-friendly, they have a long way to go in tactical operations. Information access, retrieval and transfer must be accomplished almost on demand without a thousand keystrokes, the general states.