USAISEC teams up with Tobyhanna to accomplish missions

By Todd Pruden, USAISEC CorrespondentSeptember 28, 2010

USAISEC teams with Tobyhanna to accomplish missions
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. - For years, two major subordinate commands of the Communications-Electronics Command have retained a close working relationship in order to complete missions impacting the Warfighter. The Transmission Systems Directorate, or TSD, a Directorate of the U.S. Army Information Systems Engineering Command, has worked together with Tobyhanna Army Depot in order to engineer and install various communication systems in support of peacetime, contingency and wartime operations.

"I'm very excited about this relationship. It has the potential to give, us together, a capability that's greater than some of our individual parts," said Robert Lorentsen, director, TSD. "It's a great teaming arrangement. We provide highly technical engineering support. They provide the capability for quality installation on a site."

USAISEC's mission is to design, engineer, install and test satellite earth terminals, microwave systems and the associated signal processing equipment which impacts everyday communications for Army and Department of Defense elements worldwide. Tobyhanna works closely with USAISEC to actually build the components for these communication systems.

"From a depot point of view, they actually build a lot of the equipment cabinets and cabling that the Defense Satellite Communications System Group installs," said Brian P. Caldwell, senior systems engineer, TSD. "They help engineer, design, and test it at the depot and then ship the products out and then we install, test, and bring them on line."

The defense satellite communications systems are the main focus of the alliance between USAISEC and Tobyhanna Army Depot. These systems provide various communications to military members around the globe. However, a new project has recently brought the two entities together for another mission. The fiber cable installation supporting the interconnection of the Fort Bragg, N.C., Regional Hub Node, or RHN, with the installation's networks was completed because of this alliance.

This marks the first time USAISEC used Tobyhanna Army Depot as the primary installation team for a project manager supported effort.

"ISEC was tasked to do a full turn-key mission in terms of installing this equipment," said Lorentsen. "But we also wanted to establish a meaningful working relationship with our partners under CECOM. When I realized that Tobyhanna has this capability, I thought they would be a perfect element to provide this support and partner with us in the execution of this task."

The RHN is one of the Army's four types of Warfighter Information Network - Tactical. The RHN is capable of transporting numerous commercial satellite links in support of expeditionary operations. The RHN moves critical battle command information (data, voice, and video) from major headquarters across the joint battle space and down to the maneuver battalions. This provides critical battle command information to commanders, allowing them situational awareness, information dominance, and common operational picture for decisive engagement and defeat of the enemy.

Lorentsen said that quick turn-around was essential in completing the RHN installation at Fort Bragg. He said the partnership between USAISEC and Tobyhanna was the reason for this.

"This provides us with a capability to provide installation type support to quick react customers, especially at the Warfighting edge," said Lorentsen. "And then together, we can do turn-key rapid reaction type support to the Warfighter."

According to Lorentsen, the alliance among USAISEC and Tobyhanna Army Depot is critical to the mission success of the Warfighters around the globe. He also said the partnership will help the nation and the Department of Defense as a whole.

"Simply put, I'm just very excited about this relationship and I think it will go a great distance," said Lorentsen. "It helps us to help the Warfighter, get boots on the ground quickly, expeditiously, and of course, Tobyhanna is a very professional and talented organization that does great work, this partnership ensures our mission success."