The Incredible Growth of Armed Forces Communication Industry

Military communications or military signals encompasses all aspects of communication or information transfer by armed forces. Military communications range from prehistory to the present day. The earliest military communications were transmitted by runners. Communication later evolved into visual and audible signals and then advanced into the electronic age. Examples from Jane's Military Communications include text, audio, facsimile, tactical ground-based communications, maritime signaling, terrestrial microwaves, tropospheric dispersion, satellite communications systems and equipment, surveillance and signals analysis, security, direction finding and jamming.

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Some of the key players of Armed Forces Communication Industry:

Thales Group, Aselsan A.?., BAE Systems, Cobham Plc., HARRIS Corporation, Inmarsat Plc., Iridium Communications Inc., L3 technologies, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation and Saab AB

In centuries past, delivering a message usually required someone to go to the destination and deliver the message. Therefore, the term communication often implied the ability to transport people and supplies. A place under siege was a place where communication was lost in both directions. The link between transportation and messaging has declined in recent centuries.

The first military communications involved the use of runners, or the sending and receiving of simple signals (sometimes encrypted to be undetectable). The first special uses of military communications were called semaphores. Modern units specializing in these tactics are usually referred to as signals corps. The Roman system of military communications (cursus publicus or cursus vehicularis) is an early example of this.