Military works on all-digital targeting system

  • Published
  • By Gerry J. Gilmore
  • American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  The U.S. military is developing an advanced communications capability for tactical fighters that will tightly connect the sensors and cockpits of many aircraft.

The 2-year-old Tactical Targeting Network Technologies program links tactical jet fighters' sophisticated sensors and avionics with real-time, digital communications, said Peter Highnam. He is a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency employee who works in the agency's information exploitation office.

The envisioned result is Information Age effectiveness in the complete process while minimizing collateral damage, Highnam said. The process includes detection, positive identification, targeting, meeting rules of engagement, strike and confirmed destruction.

The program is being developed to provide the networked infrastructure needed for what Highnam called "the tremendous transformational potential of network-centric warfare."

He identified one example, the rapid and precise location of enemy ground-to-air defense systems. It has been demonstrated that this performs "orders of magnitude faster" and more accurately when the sensors on several aircraft work directly together, he said.

Today's military uses a legacy system called Link 16, but TTNT -- an all-digital approach using a broad set of technologies only recently developed -- is far more advanced and can be inexpensively incorporated aboard jet fighters, Highnam said.

Using a cell phone analogy, Highnam compared Link 16 to older models that do a good job providing basic voice and low-rate data communications. The new program offers myriad communications conduits, just as today's advanced phones offer capabilities such as voice, e-mail, photos and Internet capability, he said. And all TTNT communications will be secure, he said.

"Take that (cell phone) notion, bring it across to the fast-pace world of tactical aircraft, (and that) is what we're about," Highnam said, citing TTNT's interoperability, high speed, low latency and ease of use.”