The Detrick Earth Station (DES) at Fort Detrick, MD, which provides satellite communications capabilities including the Direct Communications Link (DCL) between the presidents of the United States and Russia (commonly known as the Washington-Moscow hotline), now has significantly enhanced capabilities that should extend its life for another 10 years. This is thanks to a modernization and upgrade project completed in December 2007 by a multiagency team led by the Product Director Satellite Communications Systems (PD SCS), part of the Army’s Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems’ (PEO EIS’) Project Manager Defense Communications and Army Transmission Systems (PM DCATS).

In addition to the DCL, the DES provides numerous other dedicated, secure, and reliable satellite communications links between the U.S. and Russia, including a link for the U.S. State Department’s Nuclear Risk Reduction Center (NRRC), which is used to exchange information in support of arms control treaties and security-building agreements; a link supporting the U.S. Strategic Command’s Joint Data Exchange Center initiative to share early warning information on missile and space launches to reduce the risk that a test, experiment, or space launch could be misread as a ballistic missile attack; and links for the White House Communications Agency and the Secretary of Defense.

Dan Singleton, PD SCS Project Leader, said the project included replacing the DES’ outmoded and logistically unsupportable modems and electronics equipment with state-of-the-art equipment and overhauling the DES’ two 15-meter dishes, including replacing the antennas, reflectors, and de-icers. “Thanks to the modernization and upgrade, the DES has a multicarrier, multisatellite capability, while before they had a point-to-point, single-satellite, single-carrier system,” said Singleton.

Cathy Young, PM DCATS’ PD SCS, said that her organization also provided new equipment training, spares, and a telephone support line for DES operators to call to help resolve technical issues.

Upgrade Doubles DES’ Communications Capacity
According to Vern Combs, the project’s contracting officer representative for the U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM)/9th Army Signal Command’s 302nd Signal Battalion (Bn.), the upgrade has more than doubled the station’s communications capacity. Before the upgrade, the DES was only capable of transmitting and receiving one carrier on one polarization, either left-hand circular polarization (LHCP), or right-hand circular polarization (RHCP). Now, both terminals can transmit or receive multiple carriers using both LHCP and RHCP at the same time. Translated, this means that the two terminals can both transmit or receive at the same frequency at the same time without interfering with each other, which means more than double the throughput or the amount of digital data the two terminals can transmit or receive per time unit.

Chris Potter of NETCOM’s 21st Signal Brigade (Bde.) said because the upgrade employed state-of-the-art, supportable equipment, it will help to ensure the system’s availability. “The DCL is not a normal, run-of-the-mill system,” he said. “The purpose of this system is to prevent the outbreak of nuclear war. The customer is the President of the United States. The availability must be 99.99 percent.”

The 302nd Signal Bn. hosted a DES ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 26, 2008. The ribbon was cut by COL Theresa Coles, 21st Signal Bde. Commander; COL Steve Bristow, Deputy PEO EIS; John Bronson, Space and Airborne Branch Chief, LandWarNet Integration Division, Army Chief Information Office (CIO/G-6); and Wayne Friedman, Vice President of Space, Networks, and Communications, Honeywell Technical Solutions.

During her remarks at the ceremony, LTC Marie Grimmer, 302nd Signal Bn. Commander, noted that an extensive team contributed to the project’s success, including personnel from the 302nd Signal Bn., 21st Signal Bde., PM DCATS, Information Systems Engineering Command (ISEC), Honeywell Technology Solutions, Army CIO/G-6, Defense Information Systems Agency, and the U.S. State Department. “Just bringing all of those organizations together is complex enough, and seeing them all pulling together to work such a monumental task is truly a sight to behold,” said Grimmer.

To underscore how successfully the team pulled together, Grimmer noted that the project was originally scheduled to take 2 years and that the team completed it in 1 year, replacing unsupportable equipment with state-of-the-art, depot-supported electronics of the same type employed at one of the DOD teleport sites or a commercial facility, and increasing capacity. She added that now one of the two DES terminals can perform the current DCL mission, freeing up the second terminal for other missions as needed.

“PM DCATS spearheaded theses upgrades and, in their usual fashion, did so in an outstanding manner,” said Grimmer. Noting that her experience with PM DCATS covered most of her active duty career, she added, “They [PM DCATS] were a good organization when I worked with them as a young captain, and they are a great organization today, delivering cutting-edge technology solutions to our Army and our Nation.”

Grimmer also thanked Honeywell Technology Solutions, which has operated the DCL for 28 out of the last 30 years. “The DCL has been operating with an unprecedented reliability rate for more than 30 years,” said Grimmer. “There has not been an outage of the DCL attributed to the DES since 1991, the last upgrade. That didn’t just happen; it took the commitment, the dedication, the professionalism, of a team of experts.”

Art Reiff, Deputy PM DCATS, echoed Grimmer’s remarks about the team. “You don’t achieve a success such as this without a great team,” said Reiff, who presented commander’s coins to Potter; Combs; Steve McClintock, Singleton, and Michael Bryant of PM DCATS; Todd Miller, John Bennett, George Sevich, and Gina Gigeous of Honeywell Technology Solutions; and Dave Dressler and Mark McFadden (who were unable to attend) of ISEC. Bronson also presented 2-star notes to the same individuals from MG Randolph Strong, Architecture, Operations, Networks, and Space Director for the Army CIO/G-6.

Grimmer noted that when the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001, commercial overseas communications lines via undersea cables were severed, but the DCL remained in operation. “For those of you who were unaware, after Sept. 11, the first phone call from a foreign leader to President Bush was processed through the DCL from President Putin,” said Grimmer. “This is truly an example of the DCL’s motto in action: ‘peace through communications.’”