US Air Force Awards $75.5 Million Contract For World's Largest Wireless Ad-Hoc Network

An anonymous reader quotes a report from InterestingEngineering: The U.S. Air Force's Global Strike Command awarded a new $75.5 million contract to New York-based firm Persistent Systems. The aim is to build a unified security system for 400 operational Minuteman III intercontinental-range nuclear missile silos secured in remote areas throughout the U.S. It will be the world's largest wireless ad-hoc network, helping secure the U.S.'s nuclear arsenal amid growing concerns over global nuclear security.

Persistent Systems will roll out its Infrastructure-based Regional Operation Network (IRON) offering across three Air Force bases as part of the Regional Operating Picture (ROP) program. According to the company, the new security network will cover an area of 25,000 square miles (64,750 sq km), making it the world's largest wireless ad-hoc network. The IRON offering is an easy-to-deploy Integrated MANET Antenna System on fixed towers and poles. It will allow the U.S. Air Force to connect 75 operation centers and more than 1,000 Security Force vehicles. The ROP program will allow constant communication to an Operations Center via the towers. Meanwhile, the personnel at that Operations Center will know the exact location of any Security Forces on a digital map. Both will be able to share critical data seamlessly.

Rolling out soonâ¦

[LeonPierre]

The worlds largest listening and jamming ad-hoc network.

login name joshua no password

[Joe_Dragon]

login name joshua no password

Say whaaat?

[Tablizer]

Using "Ad-hoc" and "nukes" together somehow makes me quite nervous.

Next you know they'll be guided by the ChatGPS, which is controlled using ChatGPT.

Codename: Skynet

[illogicalpremise]

> The aim is to build a unified security system for 400 operational Minuteman III intercontinental-range nuclear missile silos

Says the people who never watched Terminator or War Games.

But yeah,

1.) Wireless network
2.) Connected to nukes
3.) Profit ???

Re:Codename: Skynet

[JeffOwl]

This is for the security system monitoring and the support functions. This is not the system that will relay launch commands. But even if it were, they do not rely only on the security of the communication channel. They have other mechanisms in place to prevent misleading or contradictory orders related to critical functions of the nuclear arsenal.

Re:

[Joe_Dragon]

is at the mercy of those men with the brass keys. But will they be able to trun them if need comes up we may need to an fast strike to win

You sound knowledgable...

[OneOfMany07]

How does this differ from "adding wifi to 'older than dirt' military sites"?

I'm baffled what this ad-hoc -ness is. Are they using wireless for site to site backhaul?

Can anyone clarify what this is?

I'd gotten all excited by the title and hoped they were going to spend government money on creating a peer to peer ad-hoc network. I'd seen a project a while ago where you'd setup mesh networks and they'd have special firmware to route across untrusted other routers. But they were SUPER limited in which hardwar

Re:

[BranMan]

Does not really spell it out, but what I gather from TFS is that the "adhoc-ness" is due to this being used mostly by the maintenance and security forces which ensure the security of all the sites - with tie-ins to the sites themselves of course. But mostly it's a fleet of vehicles moving around, coming onto and off the net as needed, meshing peer-to-peer. Maybe even forming sub-nets as needed for closer communication within a group of vehicles, or vehicles and buildings.

Does that help? And anyone who k

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

The US certainly appears to take nuclear weapon security very seriously. I wonder if it's true or if they are really more like other countries. I seem to recall some of the launch codes were 1111 or similar.

In the UK our air dropped nuclear bombs were protected by basic padlocks. Our nuclear subs have no real protection at all, beyond officers refusing to follow orders if they think the captain is trying to launch without justification. The idea of having some kind of authorization code was floated (excuse

Seems pretty cheap

[bobm]

75.5M to hookup 400+ sites that are really spread out? That's only 188k per site and I'm thinking there is no way they'll be able to do that for that price.

Re:

[sinkskinkshrieks]

There are multiple silos for a given area, so it's around 75, not 400 (silos), or a megabuck per.

Don't give them any idea like $3k toilet seats or $1k coffee mugs.

It's the network for physical base security. They're generally in the middle of nowhere on flat prairie land, so LoS mesh networks with repeaters mounted ~100 m / 300' high can cover a large area.

Re:

[CaptQuark]

They're generally in the middle of nowhere on flat prairie land, so LoS mesh networks with repeaters mounted ~100 m / 300' high can cover a large area.

Agreed. Think broadbeam microwave-link mesh repeaters spread out to cover many square miles of open flat land. https://www.persistentsystems.... [persistentsystems.com]

Keep it Secret!

[Shugart]

Seems like they shouldn't disclose who won the contract. They'll just be a great big target.

Augment with Signal app over Starlink

[schwit1]

Ukraine is probably a good testing ground

No more speeding

[dhartshorn]

"Meanwhile, the personnel at that Operations Center will know the exact location of any Security Forces on a digital map."

It's a long way back to base.

Used to be you could just fake your times.

Buried optic Fibre

[Canberra1]

From Iraq/Iran and others, buried (redundant) fibre optic is the way to go. I can see that microwave LNB being fried by some EMP device. I think they balked at using mobile phones and walkie talkies made in China. Personally an old valve radio on ULF would do the job, whilst being EMP resistant and good for the next 50 years at least. There is a reason why Collins valve sets used in Vietnam days still command a premium price. You do not need a good connection faster than morse code. In the end it is three traffic lights, green, amber and red. Ooops someone may press the button if green.

Encrypted?

[Toad-san]

I sure hope the hell so! But given how easily encryption seems to be broken these days, I donno if it'll help much. I'm not so much worried about launches (different network), but I wouldn't want all those security locations to be compromised.

Great!

[FlyingGuy]

What could possibly go wrong!