‘Strike Warning System’ for Protection Against Rocket and Mortar Attacks

Airborne Combat Engineer (ACE) just published a blurb on a potential future force protection technology in the form a a pager/beeper that, if fielded, would reportedly provide infantry personnel with early warning system (a.k.a. advanced warning system) against inbound/incoming rocket and mortar rounds headed their way. It’s called the "Strike Warning System" (SWS), and it’s a very interesting technology. The ACE blurb provides a link to a Times Herald-Record article on the SWS tech by Greg Bruno, as well as a reprinted version of that article.

Here’s the skinny on the "Strike Warning System" (SWS) tech:…

The following is how the rocket and mortar pager/beeper Strike Warning System works (according to the Times Herald-Record piece):… "On-the-ground radar systems scan the sky for enemy fire. When a shell is launched, software estimates where it’s going to land. Radio signals then relay the information to pagers carried by individual soldiers. Because the system knows where each pager is – a global positioning chip is implanted in each one – only soldiers within the blast zone are alerted." Up to the present, enemy rocket and mortar attacks have traditionally been countered by neutralizing the source rather than protecting the target. That system has had its shortcomings: It’s being reported that since October 2001, mortars and rockets have killed 160 and wounded 2,000+ U.S. military personnel.

Let’s hope the Strike Warning System can get the job done, and therefore mitigate our infantry warfighters’ risk of injury or death by mortar and rocket attack. If it lives up to the hype, DefenseReview is behind it. We’ll just have to see.

In the meantime, if you’d like to get more info on the SWS tech, here’s a list of contacts:

More info on MadahCom, Inc. (from the company website):

"MadahCom, Inc. is a privately owned company established in 1994 and incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware. Our corporate campus in Sarasota, Florida is home to operations, sales & marketing, manufacturing and shipping. In 1994, MadahCom began development of wireless broadband communications systems using Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) technology for applications where security and high fidelity operation were key requirements. This type of system would be employed as a Personnel Alerting Systems (PAS). For these applications MadahCom specifically developed WAVES (Wireless Audio Visual Emergency System) as an information distribution, command, control and monitoring network.

As a recognized leader in wireless Personnel Alerting Systems we believe in proactively serving and satisfying our customers by improving the cost effectiveness and quality of our products and services. We do this through assembling teams of people dedicated to providing a service oriented attitude that continually leads our industry."

Click here to read the Airborne Combat Engineer (ACE) blurb on SWS.

Click here to read the original Times Herald-Record article on SWS.

Click here to read a paper on a non-line-of-sight launch system (NLOS-LS) for Future Combat Systems (FCS) titled A Framework for Comparing Command and Control Architectures for Autonomous Tactical Missile Swarms, written by Fernando Maymi, Paul Manz, John Hill, and John James. (Sounds a little like SkyNet.)