Published in Aviation Today
Article written by Frank Wolfe
Curtiss-Wright's Massachusetts-based Tactical Communications Group (TCG) has introduced the Hub and Network Translator (HUNTR), a next generation Tactical Data Link (TDL) translator to simplify military communications, reduce fratricide and speed mission completion.
The HUNTR software application integrates a number of TDLs, including Link 16, Variable Message Format (VMF), Cursor-On-Target (CoT), Joint Range Extension Applications Protocol (JREAP), Situational Awareness Data Link (SADL), and Cooperative Electronic Support Measures Operations (CESMO) data exchanges among ground forces, aircraft, ships, and command and control personnel.
Rather than a Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) having to use a radio to call in close air support, HUNTR can convert digital information from the JTAC to data that strike aircraft pilots can immediately use. ""It can happen in an instant,"" said Steve Horsburgh, director of product management and IT for Curtiss-Wright's Tactical Communications Group. “You’re reducing that mission from 30 minutes to a matter of a minute or two.”