Blue Force Tracking 2
By upgrading the US Army and Marine Corps Blue Force Tracking network, Viasat brings real-time situational awareness and better networking capabilities to the warfighter with BFT2. The next-generation Blue Force Tracking 2 network and transceivers provide dramatic improvements in situational awareness through faster Position Location Information (PLI) refresh rates and timely Command & Control (C2) communications across the battlefield compared to the legacy system. This BFT2 system delivers improved network efficiency and reduces the Department of Defense total operational expenditure for the specified capability. The US Army began fielding of BFT2 in April 2012.
The next-generation BFT2 system offers more accuracy and capacity than the original system, providing real-time location updates, instant messaging, and IP-capable networking to mobile air and ground platforms. We supply the BFT2 network with air and ground transceivers, satellite ground stations, and network control centers, as well as satellite and terrestrial communications services. With BFT2, network users around the world can achieve real-time position accuracy by operating through a Ground Vehicular Transceiver or Aviation Transceiver globally. The average round-trip message latency through the network has been demonstrated and proven to be less than two seconds.
Viasat provides the following equipment and services in the new BFT2:
- Small BFT2 satellite terminals for a variety of ground vehicles and rotor/fixed wing aircraft
- Hub equipment for high-speed two-way access to ground and airborne terminals
- FIPS 140-2 Level 2 data link security to protect from adversarial traffic analysis and data probing
- Network Operations Center (NOC) equipment for overall network monitoring and control
- Backbone network to connect all FBCB2 NOCs into a single network for worldwide interoperability
- Integration with fielded and future FBCB2 software versions
- Engineering services in support of the BFT2 network
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Support Notes
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Videos
Faster, More Effective Situational Awareness from the New U.S. Army FBCB2 BFT-2 (Source: US Army PEO C3T FBCB2)
BFT-1 vs BFT-2 Tracking Accuracy Comparison (Source: US Army PEO C3T FBCB2)