In a December 2005 “Elec Tricks” article, DID discussed some promising research around using AESA radars as secure high-bandwidth communications links. As you might imagine in the world of electronics, for every IEEE 1394 Firewire type breakthrough out there, there’s an incremental USB 2.0 approach, too. DID’s coverage of HyPer 1553’s boost to the MIL-STD-1553 electronics/ interface architecture is an excellent example in the military sphere. Is there an incremental option out there that offers hope for non-AESA radar fighters? There may be, thanks to a Link 16 upgrade.
DID has covered Link 16 before; 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. For example, air surveillance tracking data from an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft can be instantly shared with fighter aircraft in the air and air defense units on the ground. 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 thing is, Link 16 was developed in the 1990s, back when we all thought 9600 bps modems were fast. Unsurprisingly, its communications aren’t designed to use or carry much bandwidth. Could it be modified to do more?
(click to see situation)
Flexible Access Secure Transfer, or FAST, is a technology concept managed by the Global Information Grid Systems Group at Hanscom Air Force Base’s Electronic Systems Center (ESC). In a recent test by the 46th Test Squadron at Eglin AFB, FAST allowed a King Air twin propeller plane acting in a surveillance role to send streaming video to ground stations, through to a modified F-15 fighter, and also from one aircraft to another.
The upgrade requires only minor hardware and software adjustments, with minimal integration impact on existing platforms. FAST re-uses much of the Link 16 infrastructure inherent, but removes limiting restrictions. It reorganizes the way distributed radios transmit and access information on the network, retaining compatibility with legacy radios while simultaneously using FAST messages to pass imagery or TCP/IP transactions.
The Hanscom AFB ESC developed Link 16 in the 1980s, and it has since been implemented in a very wide array of aircraft and other military vehicles. More than a dozen countries have installed Link 16 terminals of various types on 19 platforms, making it an interoperability success story. Indeed, the Swiss decided that what they really needed was a country-wide Link-16 network.
The potential reportedly exists to upgrade more than 2,000 platforms in the USA alone, and analysis regarding a FAST fielding decision is underway. See USAF article.