More on the comms connectivity issue - and work on a solution....
U.S. Air Force Sticks With Northrop Airborne Comms Node
"........The success of BACN has not been lost on the U.S.’s coalition partners, who themselves have difficulty passing data between dissimilar equipment within their air, land and naval forces. Northrop is marketing a family of airborne gateways to include Smart Node Pod, which can be carried on smaller platforms such as the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-9 Reaper. The company is also pushing a BACN-derived processor called Resilient Network Controller, optimized for connecting battle management and surveillance networks.
The international demand is being driven in part by the looming introduction of the Lockheed Martin F-35 among allied and NATO nations. F-35s communicate via the Multifunction Advanced Data Link, which is not compatible with earlier-generation aircraft and must be translated and retransmitted on Link 16 by some other means.
Australia will introduce 72 F-35s over the coming years, with aircraft arriving at Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Bases Williamtown and Tindal beginning in 2018. The RAAF is getting ahead of the problem by launching “Plan Jericho,” an initiative to link all airborne, land and maritime forces under one resilient combat network. That includes the Royal Australian Army’s troubled Airbus Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter, which communicates via EuroGrid, a data link format that is not supported by any other asset within the Australian Defense Force. The UK, meanwhile, will procure 138 B-model F-35s, which will have difficulty sharing data with the Eurofighter Typhoon.
Northrop is offering BACN-like airborne gateways to both nations and recently supported a live-fire demonstration in Puckapunyal, Australia, involving most of that country’s combat aircraft, including the Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet, E-7A Wedgetail and Tiger. The company provided an airborne gateway carried aboard its Gulfstream II business jet. The exercise in March, named Jericho Dawn 16-3, successfully demonstrated interoperability with the Tiger and other platforms.
“We connected the [Tiger] to the ground forces and to their naval and air forces,” Karkainen says. “They were pleased enough with our ability to do that quickly, since we were put under contract in January and implemented the demonstration in March of this year. They want to have an interim gateway to continue to support their [Plan Jericho] demonstrations. We’re still discussing requirements with them on what their interim gateway would look like and what platform it would be on. We will get the requirements, bid for them and move forward.”
The UK has a similar networking vision called the Future Integrated Battle Force, and Northrop is working with the British Defense Ministry to demonstrate how the Eurofighter and F-35 can be linked using airborne gateway technology. Northrop expects a contract for a flight demonstration soon, with the first tests expected by year-end or next spring..........."