Global Broadcast Service (GBS) system usage in the US Army´s 4th Infantry Division (4ID)

The Global Broadcast Service (GBS) program has been successfully employed for numerous technology demonstrations and exercises during the past few years. As the program progresses into its second phase (an acquisition phase) with the system´s prime contractor Raytheon Systems Company, several user deployments are being planned. The US Navy, as part of its information technology IT-21 effort, has currently outfitting an enhanced version of the first increment of GBS receive suites on several ships. Similarly, the US Army is making plans to deploy GBS capability to its 4th Infantry Division (410) as the 4ID progresses towards becoming the first digitized division (FDD) as directed by senior leadership in the Department of the Army. Previously, the 4ID has experimented with numerous command, control, communications and intelligence (C4I) systems during the execution of advanced warfighting experiments (AWEs) conducted during 1997. The GBS is among the C4I systems that will be used by the 4ID and its purpose is to disseminate large volumes of information directly to warfighters in the field via a simplex satellite communication system