U.S. Navy Wants a Floating Fiber Optic Network
TUNA buoys would provide secure communications for up to 30 days during wartime.
By Kyle Mizokami
Jan 6, 2017
182
The U.S. Navy relies upon satellite and other communications systems to make sure ships, planes, and sailors can share information across the Seven Seas. In peacetime, those systems are a given. But what happens in wartime, when satellites are shot down and other forms of comms are jammed or otherwise disrupted?
That's a very good question. The United States, NATO, and other key allies rely to a tremendous extent on satellite communications—which makes those satellites target No. 1 in a future war.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing a solution: TUNA. TUNA stands for Tactical Underwater Network Architecture, a portable, temporary communications network made up of floating communications buoys linked by fiber optic cable.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a24644/us-navy-fiber-optic/
