The U.S. Army is equipping all U.S. States and territories with a National Guard presence with a new tool suite known as the Disaster Incident Response Emergency Communications Terminal (DIRECT). This system enables National Guard signal units to provide commercial phone, Internet access, and commercial Wi-Fi and 4G LTE to first responders during domestic natural disasters, emergencies and civil support operations. The entities all use different radios on different frequencies or cell phones. DIRECT allows them to be tied together to have one voice and one central hub. To date, 17 states have the DIRECT system. The Army anticipates completing the DIRECT equipping effort in fiscal year 2021.
Army Equipping States for Disaster Incident Response
