Royal Air Force to enhance air control capabilities through Collins Aerospace

This comes as part of the RAF’s Air Support Operations Squadron Digital Command and Control experimentation program. The FasTAK Gateway makes it possible to share a tactical view to all connected air, ground and maritime units.

The FasTAK Gateway features the Collins Aerospace TacNet Tactical Radio Link 16 terminal along with data link processor software, running on mainstream laptop hardware, that manages the data links, radio frequencies and data forwarding for the equipment. The system delivers certified Link 16, Variable Message Format, Situational Awareness Data-Link and Cursor on Target communications with growth to integrate with a future all-domain operational environment.

Heather Robertson, Vice President and General Manager for Integrated Solutions at Collins Aerospace, said: “The FasTAK Gateway provides an affordable, complete Link 16 data link picture to tactical ground users and its modular design and software-driven integration approach enables Collins to reconfigure the system to add new data links in the future.”

Collins Aerospace has provided data link and integrated system solutions for the US, NATO and coalition forces for 20 years.