Link 16

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Link 16 (from English link for connection ) describes a tactical data link of NATO . Link 16 is defined as the digital data service of the military radio system JTIDS / MIDS in the NATO Standardization Agreement STANAG 5516 and in the American MIL-STD-6016.

development

Development began in the USA in 1975 as "TADIL J" (Tactical Data Information Link) for the JTIDS process of the US armed forces and was designed to support the older Link 11 (TADIL A) in the Navy and Link 4 (TADIL C, fighter data link) at the Air Force. When NATO was later also looking for a suitable procedure, the code "16" was assigned as a NATO data link for development and configuration management.

The first Link-16 applications were delivered in the mid-1990s, initially in carrier combat groups of the US Navy ; Since 2000, European nations have also been increasingly equipping their armed forces with Link-16-capable command systems , especially in NATO-integrated air defense applications.

Current further developments / derived applications of Link 16 are:

  • JRE (AP) Joint Range Extension (Application Protocol), a US standard for the media-free transmission of Link 16 information, e.g. B. via TCP / IP ,
  • VMF (Variable Message Format), a US standard for fire control of ground-based land systems, which also uses the data elements of the J.series message standard, but in a different composition,
  • in the broadest sense Link 22 , which is also defined on the use of the J.series message catalog and z. T. identical data messages are used.

technology

The Link-16 standard uses the multiplex method Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) for data transmission , which assigns each station within the network a certain time window for sending data. There are 128 time slots per second, each of which is 7.8125 milliseconds long and can transport 70 bits of data. To increase the transmission rate, up to 127 networks can be operated on different frequencies, so that 127 times as many time slots are available. A Link 16 network can manage up to 32,766 clients and 524,284 course vectors. In addition to the transmission of data in different formats, several clients can determine their position using the Link 16 system without having to resort to other navigation systems such as GPS or INS . In order to reduce the risk of enemy SIGINT reconnaissance and electronic countermeasures , several security measures have been integrated. During operation, a client changes between 51 different frequencies every 13 µs (around 77,000 times per second) and modulates a pseudo-random noise pattern on the base signal, which can only be removed again with a crypto key that is only available to allied forces. This key is also used to determine the transmission and reception frequency and to encrypt the data stream. The system works in the frequency range from 960 to 1215 MHz. The data rate is between 46 and 284 Kbit / s.

application

Using Link 16, aircraft, ships and army units of an association can transmit their situation information with a very short delay time. For example, an AWACS machine can communicate cleared targets both to a ground station and directly to other aircraft.

The Link 16 self-station report PPLI supports the Relative Navigation procedure , which is also implemented in the MIDS Terminal, with precise position reports that allow other stations to determine their own location precisely. Link 16 is also used for the issuing of commands and the coordinated use of weapons; data formats are also available for the control of aircraft.

Recently there have been developments to use Link 16 increasingly for the information network of weapon systems suitable for defense against ballistic missiles .

Exemplary weapon systems using Link 16:

  • AEGIS , the US Navy's command system on cruisers, destroyers and aircraft carriers,
  • AWACS , NATO's early warning system,
  • JSTARS , the USAF's ground surveillance system,
  • MIM-104 Patriot , an American-made air defense system widely used in NATO,
  • the ship classes F122 , F123 , F124 and K130 of the German Navy ,
  • De Zeven Provinciën class of the Royal Netherlands Navy,
  • various combat ships of the British, French, Italian and Spanish navies,
  • the U.S. Forces B-2 , F-15 , F-16 and F / A-18 fighter aircraft ,
  • the Eurofighter Typhoon ,
  • Panavia Tornado F.3 ADV, GR.4 (TIEC) from 2012, IDS / ECR (ASSTA3) from 2011
  • Ground-based air defense systems, the Control and Reporting Centers (CRC) (Note: Since the first basic qualification in the CRCs of the German Air Force, the further expansion of the Link 16 capability has been pushed ahead with vigor.),
  • deployable air defense systems, the Deployable Control and Reporting Centers (DCRC).

Network Participation Groups

The tactical information transmitted with Link 16 is encoded with the so-called J.-series messages , binary data words with a precisely defined meaning. These are divided into functional areas , which are assigned to network participation groups , i.e. virtual sub-networks:

  • PPLI (Network Participation Groups 5 and 6),
  • Surveillance (Network Participation Group 7),
  • Command (Network Participation Group 8),
  • (Aircraft) Control (Network Participation Group 9)
  • Electronic Warfare & Coordination (Network Participation Group 10).

Demarcation

As described above, Link 16 is only a service of the MIDS, although Link 16 and MIDS are often used synonymously . Strictly speaking, Link 16 is only about the syntax of certain information, while MIDS describes the radio technology process. The possibility of digital voice transmission using MIDS is also not Link 16; this is a different service.

See also