A brigade combat team under the U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division will be the last unit to use the Enhanced Position Location Reporting System as the service branch moves to update its communications network, the Army reported Tuesday.
EPLRS is a data networking platform designed to distribute information and report position location through the use of tactical radios.
The 1st Brigade Combat Team is scheduled to complete EPLRS divestment in February 2017 as it transitions to the Blue Force Tracker 2, Joint Battle Command-Platform and Joint Capabilities Release software platforms that work to provide soldiers with a satellite communications link characterized as beyond-line-of-sight.
“There is a huge logistical and sustainment trail that goes along with legacy systems the longer they stay out in the field,” said Lt. Col. Michael Olmstead, product manager of JBC-P under the Project Manager Mission Command.
“The more baselines – the more it costs to sustain the entire family of systems,†Olmstead added.
The service branch’s move to divest legacy systems is part of its effort to facilitate the deployment of new systems to uniformed personnel, according to the report.
