Military use of global mobile personal communications systems

Military forces throughout the world have used both personal communications systems (GSM, AMPS etc.) and Inmarsat portable satellite communications for a number of years. The ease of adapting these systems for government use is exemplified by the use of security products (e.g. STUIIB/III and now BRENT) over Inmarsat in many land and maritime operations. The arrival of Iridium and Globalstar and the potential of the planned ICO, ELLIPSO and ECCO systems have introduced smaller handheld global communications means which are of a distinct advantage to the military user. This paper identifies how military users can exploit these systems for improved command and control, reporting and situation awareness roles. It covers an independent assessment of their capabilities, show how these systems can be used tactically and on mobile land, airborne and maritime platforms and how these systems can be improved to meet military requirements. An analysis of the lessons learnt with Iridium is also included. The potential use of these systems for interoperability between different users, nations and emergency aid organisations is described