Approximately 102 Department of Defense satellite sites comprise the DSCS network. On Jan. 15, Lt. Col. Valerie Rasmussen, product manager, Defense Satellite Communications System Installations, U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command Systems Management center and Tobyhanna forged a new partnership by signing a Memorandum of Agreement for DSCS Installations. We will also provide production services for the fabrication, assembly, wiring and integration of equipment to meet individual installation site requirements. Work performed on-site will include cable fabrication and fiber optics as well as component and system installation. Tobyhanna will also provide emergency on-site technical assistance for each site after the installation is completed.
Installation is completed in three phases.
The first phase is a site survey conducted by the U.S. Army Information Systems Engineering Command at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., with Tobyhanna's participation. The problem was that each radome had to be manually dismantled in the past. This is a very labor-intensive and costly task. We thought there must be a better way. Mechanical engineer Gene Curran and electronics integrated systems mechanic Bill Stevens Jr. theorized that instead of taking the entire radome apart, only the top portion, which is fiberglass supported by aluminum struts, needed to be removed.