Rapidly Deployable, Attritable Wireless Nodes for AFSOC Decentralized Wireless Network

Beginning in 2018, as national security threats shifted to near-peer conflict, the Air Force identified a need to become more agile in the face of a technologically similar adversary. The Agile Combat Employment (ACE) concept was born, recognizing that rapid dismounted movement would be key to avoiding advanced weapons systems. Specifically in the Pacific, it was understood ACE shifts operations from centralized physical infrastructures to a network of smaller, dispersed locations or cluster bases. Currently under the ACE concept, Air Force Special Warfare (AFSPECWAR) operators are disadvantaged in command, control, and communication (C3) abilities between independent combat elements due to geography and distance. Current SATCOM and High Frequency (HF) communications platforms have proven effective in uncontested environments; however, near-peer competitors such as China and Russia have proven capable of degrading and jamming these systems, threatening theater C2. The conflict in Ukraine has shown Russiaĺs ability to degrade both legacy milspec communications equipment and commercial solutions such as SpaceXĺs Starlink, relied upon to provide in-theater comms. Beyond that, the Chinese continue to develop additional capabilities that could prove devastating for C2 in the INDOPAC theater.á Because of this situation with current equipment and developments by near-peer competitors, the Air Force has recognized the critical need for rapidly deployable, attritable, private wireless networks to allow airmen to operate in austere environments with denied / degraded communications. In a 2022 presentation on the Joint All-domain Command and Control (JADC2) program, The Congressional Research Service cited ôThe future operating environment articulated by the National Defense Strategy (NDS), the NDS Commission, and other sources describes how potential adversaries have developed sophisticated anti access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities [to counter] traditional U.S. defenses, including electronic warfare.ö These electronic countermeasures in particular severely hinder Dept of the Air Force (DAF) C2 capabilities.á Pollen is the first privacy focused, encrypted, decentralized, 4G / 5G, open source mobile network that is owned and operated by its end users. The core elements of Pollen include utilization of the CBRS spectrum (in the U.S.), rapidly deployable wireless network antennas, and utilization of LEO satellite and terrestrial-based backhauls to enable private wireless networks in denied / degraded communications environments. Pollenĺs mobile network infrastructure consists of three high level elements: User Equipment, the Radio Access Network, and a Mobile Core Network. á