November 1, 2001 – Drawsko Pomorskie, Poland – Digital communications systems from ASTi recently played a key role in the US Army Europe (USAREUR) Victory Strike II field exercise, held in Drawsko Pomorskie and Wedrzyn, Poland.

More than 4,000 US Army V Corps along with US Air Force airmen and Polish troops participated in Victory Strike II during September and October, 2001. The live-fire exercise provided an opportunity for attack aviation units to gain realistic deep-strike training, against an opposing force comprised of US and Polish troops.

ASTi Synapse systems provided an end-to-end communications solution for the Army, extending live, secure radio traffic between the Exercise Control facility at the Drawsko Pomorskie Training Area and the Target Area at the Wedryzn Training Area, 110 km away. Synapse nodes served as network repeaters by digitizing, compressing and packetizing live radio traffic at each site, and transporting the digital voice streams over the Army's simulation network to other Synapse sites.

The Synapse systems extended exercise observer-controller and AH-64 Apache attack helicopter tactical command nets, providing communications capability between soldiers at physically remote sites using their Army SINCGARS radios as if they were located within radio range. This allowed the Exercise Control facility to communicate with Apache units from the 11th Attack Helicopter Regiment, during deep-strike attacks and after-action review sessions.

The US Army also found great value in ASTi's Telestra Remote Management System (RMS) during the exercise. Exercise controllers in Drawsko Pomorskie used RMS to remotely configure and monitor the ASTi systems in Wedryzn, greatly simplifying exercise logistical requirements. Controllers used a PC, running a standard web browser, to access RMS functions over the network. RMS capabilities include:

• Load, restart and reboot communications models
• Check the health, performance and status of all DACS hardware and software
• Backup and restore system files
• Manage remote DACS network configuration

Tom Lasch, US Army Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM) Project Director stated that the ASTi system successfully realized all key network communications and management functions with the result that "... all training and technical objectives of the exercise were achieved."

For more information about ASTi's current Synapse Network-RT Bridge, see:
http://www.asti-usa.com/telestra4/synapse4.

For more information about ASTi's Telestra Remote Management System, see:
http://www.asti-usa.com/rms.