The US Air Force has contracted Persistent Systems to establish seamless networking at the country’s three strategic-missile bases.

The company has already begun installing the world’s largest mobile ad hoc networking (MANET) across an area of 25,000 square miles (64,750 square kilometers) at the Malmstrom, Minot, and Francis E. Warren bases, home to 400 Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles.

The $75.5 million installation will take 36 months to complete.

Mobile Ad Hoc Networking

The company will install around 700 Infrastructure-based Regional Operation Network antenna systems on towers and poles to create the MANET coverage area, connecting 75 operation centers, and over 1,000 military vehicles.

The network will connect “MANET edge networks into one unified battlespace awareness network for increased situational awareness,” enabling seamless sharing of voice, video, chat, sensor, and GPS data. 

Security Networking Upgrade

The network allows security personnel guarding sensitive installations such as missile fields to remain in constant touch with the operation center and share data. 

It also allows the staff to follow personnel movement and determine their precise location on a digital map called the common operational picture. 

“US military bases can sprawl tens of thousands of square miles, and as it stands now, there’s no dynamic, high-bandwidth way for headquarters staff to track, and reliably remain in contact with, the security personnel patrolling this vast area,” Persistent VP of Business Development Adrien Robenhymer said.

“Should personnel run into problems in the field, they wouldn’t have effective support from an operations center.”