The US Air Force (USAF) civilian auxiliary Civil Air Patrol. Credit: 1st Lt Christian Venhuizen, Wyoming Army National Guard.

Persistent Systems has won a $2.1m contract to supply Airborne Extensible Relay Over-Horizon Network (AERONet) to the US Air Force (USAF) civilian auxiliary Civil Air Patrol.

The contract will see Persistent provide nine aircraft, 21 dismounted ground units, six vehicles and three tactical operations centres with AERONet.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Data Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

Related Company Profiles

View all

AERONet is an IP-based mobile ad hoc networking (MANET) capability. It is used to provide disaster relief and emergency aid, drug interdiction and other law enforcement missions, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), personnel recovery operations, close air support (CAS) and joint force and joint nation operations.

Persistent Systems said that the latest contract follows multiple earlier ones that included AERONet equipment for five aircraft, three dismounted units, one vehicle as well as one tactical operations centre.

Air Force and Intelligence Community Programs Business Development vice-president Adrien Robenhymer said: “With AERONet, Civil Air Patrol will be able to conduct disaster relief and emergency aid missions far more effectively.

“Teams that otherwise would have had to operate in isolation can now connect back to a tactical operations centre and be guided by medical professionals.”

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

Robenhymer added that separate ‘AERONet enclaves can also be federated at a regional hub’. With the help of this hub, different organisations can coordinate their activities in a better way and avoid working at cross-purposes as well.

The AERONet kit provided for a Civil Air Patrol aircraft comprises two MPU5 tactical networking devices.

Each of these devices operate on separate radio frequency (RF) bands and using a different set of ‘multiple-input and multiple-output antennas’.

Persistent Systems project engineer Gabe Pagliere said: “When the tactical operations centre and deployed ground teams are not in range of each other, they can relay their communication through the AERONet equipment on the airplane.

“This enables their communication to extend across long distances, over terrain and around obstructions.”