Tactical data link (TDL) communication brings critical visibility to the battlefield by providing warfighters easily accessible, sharable, and precise location and identification information of everyone in the combat zone (support teams, adversaries, and friendlies in the air, sea, ground, and space arenas) which enables them to make better tactical decisions. TDL systems provide the backbone for network-enabled battlefield awareness and control with robust support for command and control message exchanges.
However, training is essential for warfighters and operators to effectively communicate across multiple TDLs. The more personnel who are comfortable exchanging Link 11, Link 16, VMF, and other TDL communications, the more opportunities there are for friendly forces to interact and interoperate to protect lives and achieve mission goals. Unfortunately, navies today face multiple challenges that limit TDL training opportunities:
- The cost of training in the field with ships and support aircraft is massive. Running realistic scenarios can easily cost millions of dollars. In most cases, it’s simply not financially or operationally feasible to incorporate all the platforms that would be present in a real-world battlefield situation, into training exercises. In addition, ships that are used for training purposes are not available for active duty, further straining naval fleets.
- It’s also very expensive and time-consuming to transport personnel to training locations. Most navies have only one, or very few, facilities for TDL training. As a result, personnel are typically flown long distances to receive training, increasing costs and the amount of time warfighters are off active duty.
The good news is navies can finally leave their TDL training challenges behind. Innovative, new solutions that combine TDL training and battlefield communications capabilities in a single system are allowing navies to completely change the paradigm around TDL training. They can train personnel in Link 16 and other TDL communications anywhere, even on ships during missions. And they can use the same system to set up a TDL network quickly and easily for command-and-control operations on any battlefield, at any time.
Download the white paper to learn more about
- Tactical data link training
- Battlefield situational awareness
- Combat readiness, rehearsal, and debrief
- Battlefield TDL simulation and network deployment
- A single training and operations solution