- Reaction score
- 63
- Points
- 530
Direct strikes
New system connects JTACs, pilots digitally
By Michael Hoffman - mhoffman@militarytimes.com
Posted : March 17, 2008
Joint terminal attack controllers deployed to Iraq will soon have a brand-new method to call in airstrikes that will digitize the process and send strike coordinates directly up to aircraft visual displays.
The new communication system — designed to connect JTACs, the Air Support Operations Center and pilots through a series of satellite connections and laptops deployed to the field — will allow JTACs to send airstrike coordinates without always having to call them up to the pilot verbally.
The first ASOC Gateway — a vehicle-mounted communication system — will be deployed this spring, along with 8-pound tactical air control party close-air support system laptops that will compute target coordinates, display blue force combat locations and transmit target coordinates. The new system gives JTACs and pilots a whole new level of combat situational awareness.
“It reduces the risk of fratricide, decreases loiter time overhead and gets the aircraft faster to the fight. As a TACP, that’s what sold me on the system,” said Master Sgt. Matt Nugent, Air Combat Command TACP requirements lead.
Twenty JTACs got a chance to train with the new system Feb. 23-29 at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., along with 20th Fighter Wing F-16 Fighting Falcons, 23rd Fighter Group A-10 Warthogs and 116th Air Control Wing Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System aircraft.
“It went great,” said Master Sgt. Dave Howard, TACP Modernization Program field and training lead. “Guys are excited about the system. They see its true capabilities and the capabilities it’s going to provide on the battlefield and how it’s truly going to digitize TACPs on the battlefield.”
Pilots who took part in the exercise were impressed by the new level of situational awareness the ASOC Gateway provided, but Capt. Brian Erickson, a 75th Fighter Squadron A-10 pilot, said aviators will need more opportunities to train with JTACs on this new digitized method.
“The challenge is going to be: Can we tactically employ it and get the experience to work with it?” Erickson said.
Training opportunities that combine strike aircraft, JSTARS and JTACs in one exercise are rare across the country, he said, so experiences at Shaw were mixed.
In certain cases, such as when a unit is taking enemy fire, JTACs won’t have the time to use the Gateway and instead will verbally call in close-air support strike coordinates to the ASOC.
Depending on how the first ASOC Gateway performs in Iraq, the second system is scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan this fall. The service is planning to procure nine more operational ASOC Gateways by about September 2009.
The service tested the ASOC Gateway during a Central Command Air Forces Atlantic Strike Exercise held last November, and officials praised its performance after it almost cut in half the time it took to execute an airstrike. However, Nugent warned that the ASOC Gateway has yet to experience a combat environment.
Service officials and engineers have been working on the Gateway for more than a year since Lt. Gen. Gary North, Central Command Air Forces commander, announced a requirement to digitize the passing of coordinates on the battlefield.
While designing the ASOC Gateway, officials used the second battle of Fallujah as a model of a battle where the Gateway must succeed. Using lessons learned from Fallujah, it was decided to mount the ASOC Gateway on a vehicle to get it closer to the fight and reduce the potential for communications errors, said Maj. Brian Huether, program manager for TACP modernization.
Satellite connections allow JTACs to send coordinates to the Gateway up to 120 miles away, allowing a liberal placement on the battlefield, Huether said. Once the data reach the ASOC Gateway they are incorporated into the Link-16 and the Enhanced Position Location Reporting System Situational Awareness Data Link networks that communicate with computers on strike aircraft and Army units, providing an up-to-date picture of where the strike is planned.
The Gateway technology connecting Link-16 and SADL to provide pilots an air and ground picture has existed for a while, but the ASOC Gateway connects the pilots directly to the JTACs on the ground.
“This really allows the system to work the way it needs to,” Erickson said. “Until [the TACPs] get on it, it’s really just an aircraft-to-aircraft network.”
The ASOC Gateway isn’t the only project of the TACP Modernization Program at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass. Engineers are also attempting to cut down on the amount of gear JTACs must haul into combat and improve the aging communications systems aboard TACP vehicles.
As early as this summer, JTACs could receive a new laptop for the field that will weigh only 2.5 pounds, 5.5 pounds less than current Gateway-capable computers. The newly designed laptops will also display feeds from Army Rover drones and Air Force Predator UAVs, and show the blue force ground and air pictures, Huether said. With the ability to view UAV and drone feeds, the JTAC could leave his Rover video receiver behind, Howard said.
“Think of it as a toolbox — we give him the capability to tap into all these resources,” Howard said. “We do have concerns about [situational awareness] overload, so we have allowed [the JTAC] to filter in there so he can bring it down to as small a picture or as large a picture as he wants.”
The modernization program also looks to update the communication suites in about 900 TACP vehicles, with the majority being up-armored Humvees, by 2013. Program officials describe the current system as “aging” and plan to incorporate a Gateway-like capability with a $200 million investment over the next five years.
New system connects JTACs, pilots digitally
By Michael Hoffman - mhoffman@militarytimes.com
Posted : March 17, 2008
Joint terminal attack controllers deployed to Iraq will soon have a brand-new method to call in airstrikes that will digitize the process and send strike coordinates directly up to aircraft visual displays.
The new communication system — designed to connect JTACs, the Air Support Operations Center and pilots through a series of satellite connections and laptops deployed to the field — will allow JTACs to send airstrike coordinates without always having to call them up to the pilot verbally.
The first ASOC Gateway — a vehicle-mounted communication system — will be deployed this spring, along with 8-pound tactical air control party close-air support system laptops that will compute target coordinates, display blue force combat locations and transmit target coordinates. The new system gives JTACs and pilots a whole new level of combat situational awareness.
“It reduces the risk of fratricide, decreases loiter time overhead and gets the aircraft faster to the fight. As a TACP, that’s what sold me on the system,” said Master Sgt. Matt Nugent, Air Combat Command TACP requirements lead.
Twenty JTACs got a chance to train with the new system Feb. 23-29 at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., along with 20th Fighter Wing F-16 Fighting Falcons, 23rd Fighter Group A-10 Warthogs and 116th Air Control Wing Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System aircraft.
“It went great,” said Master Sgt. Dave Howard, TACP Modernization Program field and training lead. “Guys are excited about the system. They see its true capabilities and the capabilities it’s going to provide on the battlefield and how it’s truly going to digitize TACPs on the battlefield.”
Pilots who took part in the exercise were impressed by the new level of situational awareness the ASOC Gateway provided, but Capt. Brian Erickson, a 75th Fighter Squadron A-10 pilot, said aviators will need more opportunities to train with JTACs on this new digitized method.
“The challenge is going to be: Can we tactically employ it and get the experience to work with it?” Erickson said.
Training opportunities that combine strike aircraft, JSTARS and JTACs in one exercise are rare across the country, he said, so experiences at Shaw were mixed.
In certain cases, such as when a unit is taking enemy fire, JTACs won’t have the time to use the Gateway and instead will verbally call in close-air support strike coordinates to the ASOC.
Depending on how the first ASOC Gateway performs in Iraq, the second system is scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan this fall. The service is planning to procure nine more operational ASOC Gateways by about September 2009.
The service tested the ASOC Gateway during a Central Command Air Forces Atlantic Strike Exercise held last November, and officials praised its performance after it almost cut in half the time it took to execute an airstrike. However, Nugent warned that the ASOC Gateway has yet to experience a combat environment.
Service officials and engineers have been working on the Gateway for more than a year since Lt. Gen. Gary North, Central Command Air Forces commander, announced a requirement to digitize the passing of coordinates on the battlefield.
While designing the ASOC Gateway, officials used the second battle of Fallujah as a model of a battle where the Gateway must succeed. Using lessons learned from Fallujah, it was decided to mount the ASOC Gateway on a vehicle to get it closer to the fight and reduce the potential for communications errors, said Maj. Brian Huether, program manager for TACP modernization.
Satellite connections allow JTACs to send coordinates to the Gateway up to 120 miles away, allowing a liberal placement on the battlefield, Huether said. Once the data reach the ASOC Gateway they are incorporated into the Link-16 and the Enhanced Position Location Reporting System Situational Awareness Data Link networks that communicate with computers on strike aircraft and Army units, providing an up-to-date picture of where the strike is planned.
The Gateway technology connecting Link-16 and SADL to provide pilots an air and ground picture has existed for a while, but the ASOC Gateway connects the pilots directly to the JTACs on the ground.
“This really allows the system to work the way it needs to,” Erickson said. “Until [the TACPs] get on it, it’s really just an aircraft-to-aircraft network.”
The ASOC Gateway isn’t the only project of the TACP Modernization Program at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass. Engineers are also attempting to cut down on the amount of gear JTACs must haul into combat and improve the aging communications systems aboard TACP vehicles.
As early as this summer, JTACs could receive a new laptop for the field that will weigh only 2.5 pounds, 5.5 pounds less than current Gateway-capable computers. The newly designed laptops will also display feeds from Army Rover drones and Air Force Predator UAVs, and show the blue force ground and air pictures, Huether said. With the ability to view UAV and drone feeds, the JTAC could leave his Rover video receiver behind, Howard said.
“Think of it as a toolbox — we give him the capability to tap into all these resources,” Howard said. “We do have concerns about [situational awareness] overload, so we have allowed [the JTAC] to filter in there so he can bring it down to as small a picture or as large a picture as he wants.”
The modernization program also looks to update the communication suites in about 900 TACP vehicles, with the majority being up-armored Humvees, by 2013. Program officials describe the current system as “aging” and plan to incorporate a Gateway-like capability with a $200 million investment over the next five years.
