The Government of Canada has requested a possible sale of 94 Link 16 Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS)/Low Volume Terminals (LVT), 1,000 MIDS batteries, plus testing, integration and other related elements of program and logistics support. The estimated cost is $34 million. The prime contractor will be the BAE/Rockwell Collins joint venture Data Link Solutions of Wayne, NJ.
Jam-resistant Link 16 radios automatically exchange battlefield information – particularly locations of friendly and enemy aircraft, ships and ground forces – among themselves in a long-range, line-of-sight network The operational advantages provided by at-a-glance portrayal of targets, threats and friendly forces, on an easy-to-understand, relative position display, are obvious. The MIDS LVT 1 was developed by a multinational consortium to provide Link 16 capability at a lower weight, volume and cost than the Joint Tactical Information Data System (JTIDS).
The MIDS program is managed by the U.S. Navy MIDS International Program Office, located in San Diego, CA. Its responsibilities include management of several versions of MIDS terminals for Navy, Air Force, Army and international military use. A variant for use by the US Army, the LVT2 is optimized for the ground tactical environment.
Canada’s submission notes that they will use these MIDS to greatly increase interoperability with the U.S. This proposed system will increase Canadian CF-18 combat effectiveness while reducing the threat of friendly fire when Canadian aircraft operate in bilateral or multilateral coalition networks.
The current CF18 radio’s lack of compatibility was an issue that plagued the CF during operations in both the 1991 Gulf War and in Kosovo. The Installation of Rockwell Collins’ AN/ARC-210 RT-1556/ARC radios as part of Canada’s ongoing CF-18 incremental modernization program addresses some of those issues, but adding MIDS-LTV creates a much more complete solution as the Canadian Armed Forces transition their CF-18 fleet up toward a uniform F/A-18 C/D standard.
Canadian CF-18s have not been deployed in combat, alone or with coalition forces, since the Kosovo conflict.
* Other Source: Defense-Aerospace.com via Defense Cooperation Agency (May 27, 2005) – Canada – Multifunctional Information Distribution System/Low Volume Terminals
