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Radio Equipment in M925

ryanaubra

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I recently bought this truck and it had this mounted to the dash. It powers on when. Anyone have any idea what it is and is it useful/valuable? Thanks for the input
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Gunzy

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It is a power supply for a satalite transceiver system. I googled Comtech to find that out. Probably not a lot of value unless all the other components are there.
 

juanprado

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That is for the BFT blue force tracker. A fancy gps and texting system from what I can gather. The box is for the power supply. The ball is the dash mount that has a screen mount and arm that snaps into it.

If you remove it, I would be interested in the dash ball and mount.
 

dilligaf13

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Blue Force tracker was used to monitor the real time location of friendly forces overseas. Kind of like a video game of chess, only involving real soldiers. It helped cut back on "friendly fire" scenarios and allowed HQ to move the pawns where they thought they needed to be...
 

Wile E. Coyote

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I think that variation is actually for MTS, which is sort of...Blue Force Tracker lite...as far as I can tell. MTS = Movement Tracking System. The antenna/transceivers (mount on the roof) look almost identical to the ones for BFT (sort of a tan box with one or two Cannon/ Bendix type connectors), and I think there was an upgrade that could be done to give MTS the capabilities of BFT, but there's very little information on MTS out there on the web. Both MTS and BFT-1 transceiver/antennas were built by Comtech. (One of the FMTVs at work had one left in as well.)

I *think* MTS uses a laptop-type interface vs. the full-blown AN/UYK-128 of Blue Force Tracker, which mounts on the RAMball there. Somewhere out there has to be a manual for MTS...or maybe LOGSA has the install manual at least.

(Edit: *apparently*, the Comtech rooftop transceiver for the MTS system has two Cannon connectors, where the unit for BFT seems to only have the one. So it seems. Mileage may vary. Going by a bunch of real-world pics and some Ebay listings over the years.)
 
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NDT

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Agreed, that interface is for MTS. If you think Blue Force Tracking is "a gps and texting system", go see "Terminator", the BFT is the beginnings of the fictional "skynet".
 

Wile E. Coyote

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One thing I found cool about the whole Tactical Internet (TI) angle is that in FBCB2-EPLRS (uses a spread-spectrum terrestrial UHF transceiver for data relay vs. the Comtech SATCOM transceiver of BFT) - the network is 'self-healing'; that is, each EPLRS equipped station is also a network node, relaying information from other nodes as well as it's own data. When one network node in use goes down due to equipment failure or enemy action, the network will just attempt to 'go around' the non-functional node by finding another path via the surviving nodes, and keep the network operating. I suppose in that one sense at least, the network is self-aware. Enter SkyNet.

Tactical Internet uses IP addressing and everything. It's pretty **** cool. They went through various versions of the INC (Internet Network Controllers) in the VAA vehicle kits to keep up with data advances, and apparently the FBCB2 system with the latest SINCGARS transceivers, computer devices and VAAs has something like triple the throughput and refresh rate of their immediate predecessors. That's not bad at all. There was some move on to make every soldier a network node as well to up accuracy of SA information flow (though to what degree I don't know), but not sure where that wound up. I think they're waiting on mass deployment of the AN/PRC-154 Rifleman radios before going too far down that road...though you find references to experiments/ limited deployments with MBITR and AN/PRC-152s in the soldier-worn data arena too. Also very...SkyNet-ish.

Unfortunately for the evil machinations of SkyNet, battery technology appears to be the only thing keeping Moore's Law in check, as it has not kept up with the pace of electronic advancements at all, and you do *not* want to know what Uncle spends on batteries every year. Size/ weight/ capacity issues have all improved since the 30s...but you still have essentially the same lead-acid battery in your car that Herbert Hoover did - and all of us have a kitchen drawer full of AA batteries that never seem to last any longer than they did in 1963.
 

sigo

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Calm down folks. There is nothing Skynet-ish about EPLRS/FBCB2, BFT/FBCB2, MTS, Tacticomp, Landwarrior, or any of the MBITR, PRC-152, PRC-154, etc based mission command systems. All of these systems only provide transport and/or software interface for situational awareness which ultimately aids commanders in their ability to conduct mission command (command and control). Really the only automated function is position reporting. Movement, call for fire, targeting, weapons release, resupply, medevac, situation reporting, etc ALL rely on human input. The software streamlines the input on some cases, but I assure you, these systems all rely on people not only for information input, but people are also required to keep the networks up and running. These systems are only as good as the Soldier, Sailor, Marine, or Airman inputting the information and maintaining the network.

:tin hat:
 

NDT

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Seems like we are not far off from being able to program a MQ-9 Reaper to fly a grid pattern over say ISIS held territory, and if the "computers" don't see a "blue indication" from a heat signature moving on the ground, well it's poof.
 

sigo

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I'd wager we already have the technology, however it is not based on any of the aforementioned systems, nor should it be. I have used and managed most of the systems we mentioned above and my opinion is they are not reliable enough to use as a sole source for targeting. Perhaps if we could convince the enemy to use a position reporting system so we know where they're at we could automate the process. But just because a blue platform is not reporting their position, is NOT reason to target as a suspected enemy. Our mission command systems are nowhere near reliable enough for that, they're just another tool to use for decision making. They are not our only tool for decision making and they do not replace humans. There is far too much room for error, for example; coalition partners do not have our capabilities, our systems break, our troops deploy out without functional systems, reporting is delayed based on network incompatibility or network latency, etc, etc, etc. I shudder at the thought of targeting based upon lack of a position report. Blue on blue casualties would be tremendous.

UAVs and aerial weapons system are not my area of expertise, but I understand for now we have strict protocols that only a person can make the decision to fire. A computer does cannot pull the trigger.
 
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