Waveform translation simplifies special forces communications

3rd April 2020 - 16:00 GMT | by Thomas Withington in Toulouse

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Joint terminal attack controllers (JTACs) have numerous tools at their disposal to communicate with aircraft overhead providing close air support (CAS). In recent years, US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has adopted Viasat’s AN/PRC-161 handheld radio which can carry voice and data traffic across the NATO Link-16 tactical data link (TDL) on 960MHz to 1.215GHz wavebands.

Having a means of moving written data between the JTAC and aircraft plays an important part in reducing the risk of ambiguity or lack of clarity, when both parties share targeting information encapsulated in NATO’s standard ‘Nine Line’ brief. This provides the pilot with the

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Author

Thomas Withington

Thomas Withington is an award-winning analyst and writer specialising in electronic warfare, radar and military …

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