U.S. ARMY GARRISON BAUMHOLDER, Germany (AFNS) —
Military items from world wide just lately participated in Noble Skywave, a global cyber contest, at U.S. Army Garrison Baumholder.
Noble Skywave is a multi-national high-frequency radio contest hosted by the Canadian Armed Forces.
This 12 months’s competitors introduced collectively 429 navy items from throughout 13 nations competing to find out who can most effectively make the most of high-frequency radio expertise.
Each staff was positioned into one in all three classes primarily based on the quantity of transmitting energy their radio station has.
During the contest, groups arrange a totally functioning radio station and utilized their expertise to attach with different radio stations, some being hundreds of miles away.
“There is a set number of stations playing in this contest, and our objective is to contact as many of them as possible,” mentioned Airman 1st Class Matthew Recchia, 1st Combat Communication Squadron cyber infrastructure technician. “Whoever contacts the most stations, wins.”
High-frequency radio expertise and its operators are essential to the U.S. navy, allies and companions as it isn’t reliant on typical methods of communications expertise, akin to satellites or cellular phone towers that are weak to climate circumstances or an assault from an adversary.
If typical methods of communication have been to ever go down or change into inoperable, that’s the place high-frequency radio comes in. The expertise works by bouncing radio waves off the ionosphere, a layer in the ambiance that’s electrically charged by the solar, permitting communication between individuals which can be an unlimited distance aside.
“Last year, our farthest link was 11,700 kilometers away,” mentioned Senior Airman Kelley Jay, 1st CBCS radio frequency transmission methods technician. “We communicated with a radio station in Peru from Germany by using this radio technology.”
In this 12 months’s competitors, the longest connection the first CBCS made was with New Zealand, at roughly 18,000 kilometers away.
Most importantly, through the use of high-frequency expertise, one can ship paperwork, emails, orders or the rest wanted to make sure mission success.
Though it’s a contest, Noble Skywave offers the chance for navy companions to come back collectively to boost their expertise for a standard purpose of defending the NATO alliance.
“The purpose of the contest is to keep our high-frequency radio skills sharp,” Jay mentioned. “But it also ensures the international communications community is interoperable and ready to respond effectively if the need arises.”
U.S. forces in Europe stay, prepare and function with allies and companions from strategic areas throughout the continent to make sure a well timed and coordinated response throughout peacetime and disaster.
Within their class, 1st CBCS got here in third place with a complete of 200 connections made with different radio stations world wide utilizing high-frequency radio.
