MANILA, Philippines - Military representatives from 21 different pacific nations are taking part in SatCom Endeavor, a smaller part of Exercise Pacific Endeavor 2015, a Philippine hosted and U.S. Pacific Command sponsored communications integration platform on Sept. 10, 2015.
These pacific partners are learning about the latest trends in satellite technology, broadband global access networks (BGAN) and mobile internet capabilities.
“Communications people are generally some of the first people on the ground,” said Corporal Rochelle Rowe, a Royal New Zealand Air Force communications specialist, and a SatCom Endeavor participant. “If you can get communications up, even with a small 300k link, that’s still something, and getting internet access is really important to access the rest of the world, to call for help.”
When a disaster strikes, many times the location’s basic infrastructure is destroyed. The cell towers, the internet providers and the backbone of communication infrastructure are gone. Setting up communication quickly after a disaster is vital to saving lives. Hands on training with mobile broadband equipment give these partners a chance to practice and work out any issues.
“Having a system such as the BGAN is important because you can set it up in five minutes,” said Cpl. Rowe.“Even though it’s a simple piece of equipment, it’s quite good to get hands on so when you are in a HA/DR situation, and someone hands you a BGAN, you’re not like, how do I use this thing.”
The BGAN, a lightweight mobile internet device, is designed for fast and easy setup of a secure global internet network, and can be used in the field.
“The BGAN gives five or six people that first-in capability to tell their higher headquarters what the ground truth is, so that that higher headquarters can plan and ensure that the right help is going to the right people, at the right time, and the right place,” said Major Erika Teichert, a Marine Corps officer from the Naval Post Graduate School.
Strengthening relationships and interoperability is the main focus of exercise Pacific Endeavor 2015. SatCom Endeavor in particular, provided the partner nations the ability to build strong relationships in addition to strong networks. These relationships will be vital when the next HADR crisis comes.
“It was good, just interacting with different people from the Asia Pacific Region, and who knows, I might come across someone again,” said Cpl. Rowe.
Exercise Pacific Endeavor 2015 , after its official start on 31 Aug, is made up of multiple training modules aimed to keep participants ahead of cyber, satellite, and radio technological advances, in case of a disaster. Representatives from the Multinational Communications Interoperability Program (MCIP) are co-hosting the exercise with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to help improve interoperability of communications technologies between partner-nations in the pacific region. The exercise ends on 11 Sep.