An airman riding as part of a convoy escort team in Iraq keys his radio microphone to check in with his base, and hears nothing but dead air. The U.S. Air Force is leading a joint implementation of a Radio over Internet Protocol Routed Network (RIPRnet) communication system that prevents such a scenario. RIPRnet ties convoy radios in with Internet-based technology to extend their range, providing robust, clear, reliable, and secure communications for soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who are out on the roads of Iraq.

Last September, the Air Force’s Combined Air and Space Operations Center (CAOC) in Southwest Asia completed the initial phase of an extended network of towers and ground stations to cover the ground convoy communications network. RIPRnet is a key communications network for both ground convoys and air operations throughout Iraq, consisting of 15 core sites and 37 ground station consoles.

RIPRnet is being used to ensure that convoys like these traveling through Iraq have reliable communication. (U.S. Air Force/Master Sgt. Lance Cheung)

In December 2005, Iraq was on the eve of democratic elections, and the possibility of civilian airliners being used as weapons was a very real fear. The operational decision-makers at the CAOC needed the ability to directly communicate with air defense aircraft and hear an intercepting pilot’s first-hand observations. They needed to shorten the decision cycle from minutes to seconds to enable them to make an accurate “shoot or no-shoot” decision from the center, more than 700 miles away.

The communication capability and proven efficiency was quickly adapted for close-air support coordination and command and control. Real-time communications between the Air Support Operations Center (ASOC) in Baghdad, coalition aircraft conducting armed overwatch missions, and joint terminal attack controllers on the ground became the next application. With traditional, line-of-sight radio networks, overwatch aircraft had to remain in the vicinity of ASOC communications to receive mission tasks before they could move forward to execute operations requested by air and ground commanders. Once the aircraft completed the tasking, they had to return to their orbit near Baghdad.