L-3 Communications has been awarded a contract to provide 19 MC2 Sport Utility Vehicle-based mobile command centres and two large Sentinel custom body-on-chassis mobile communication centres to support a wide range of homeland security requirements for the Department of Defense.

The mobile command vehicles are designed for use in all types of emergencies where communications restoration and coordinated inter-agency resource deployment are vital. Work on the vehicles is expected to be completed by November, 2006.

Being self-contained mobile communications centres with onboard power generation capabilities, the L-3 Wolf Coach MC2 and Sentinel vehicles are rapidly deployed to mission locations to restore communications to disaster areas where the conventional and/or cellular communications infrastructure is inoperative. The systems establish data connectivity via satellite access and provide telephony through Voice over Internet Protocol. For incident commanders coordinating emergencies, the vehicles establish a base of operation to coordinate the flow of information and personnel deployment, providing connectivity to fixed sites in the chain of command. In addition, the command centres facilitate interoperable communications between various governmental, law enforcement, rescue/recovery, and disaster relief agencies.

Sergyi Way
17.07.2006

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Department of Defense should take care of external security, not internal one.