October 5, 2005: During the hurricane Katrina relief effort, the U.S. Army took care of the damaged communications in the area by bringing in one of their new communications systems; WIN-T (Warfighter Information Network-Tactical). This system is still in development, but parts of it were available for use in Louisiana. The troops set up four portable communications towers, each with a range of 12-14 kilometers, and able to handle about a hundred simultaneous cellular users. The army expects to get this stuff to the troops by 2008, where it will have anti-jamming and encryption added to the cell phone systems for battlefield use. This will give the troops Internet, as well as radio service.
