Army orders electronic warfare (EW), SIGINT, and cyber warfare capability in infantry backpack system
ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. – U.S. Army electronic warfare (EW) experts needed a backpack system able to combine EW, signals intelligence (SIGINT), and cyber attack capability. They found their solution from Mastodon Design LLC in Rochester, N.Y.
Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., awarded a $100 million five-year contract to Mastodon Design late last month for the Terrestrial Layer System Brigade Combat Team (TLS-BCT) Manpack.
The TLS BCT Manpack is a tailorable, modular, land-based system that integrates SIGINT and EW signals collection, on-board signal processing, and electronic jammers.
It provides the brigade combat team (BCT) commander with state-of-the-art mobile EW capability, and can conduct radio frequency (RF) surveying, signals collection, direction-finding, and electronic attack, and will improve intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting, Army officials say.
The TLS BCT Manpack complements the TLS BCT and TLS Echelons Above Brigade (TLS EAB) family of systems with a shared and open-systems approach against an adaptive threat.
The TLS BCT is housed on the Army Striker armored combat vehicle, and has similar EW, SIGINT, and cyber capabilities as the infantry TLS BCT Manpack. The vehicle-based TLS BCT delivers mobile integrated suite of SIGINT, EW, and cyber capabilities for command situational awareness.
The TLS BCT uses the open-architecture C5ISR/EW Modular Open Suite of Standards (CMOSS) standards. The vehicle can operate on the move or at the halt, providing real time data and situation updates while staying with army battlefield formations. The TLS-EAB provides extended-range SIGINT, EW, and cyber warfare.
On this contract Mastodon Design will do the work at locations to be determined with each order, and should be finished by June 2029. For more information contact Mastodon Design online at www.mastodondesign.com, or the Army Contracting Command-Aberdeen Proving Ground at https://acc.army.mil/contractingcenters/acc-apg/.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
