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I am proud to have been a small part of this program from 2008 thru 2011 and again in 2015. BACN aircraft are there to link Army and USMC units who would otherwise be out of line-of-sight comms. It provides a "bridge" between several forms of communication between combat aircraft, and between JTAC/TACPs and the strike aircraft in support of ground troops. BACN in Afghanistan led to 25% reduction in average time for aircraft response to Troops-In-Contact, and a 45% increase in kinetic strikes on enemy. Fielded BACN Global Hawk--“Nethawk” provides second network orbit for SWA—provides data relay, forwarding and translation for air and ground forces 24/7/365.
USAF to buy more BACN
Posted from janes.com
Pilot
Airplanes
Radio
Afghanistan
Posted 4 y ago
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Sounds like relay platforms between the controller and the birds. Leave it to USAF to work it out. I saw the line of death on the ground, when JSTARS had them dialed in after Desert Storm. Impressive, and nowhere to hide. A childhood neighbor retired at Warner Robbins as MG years ago. His time in was with JSTARS.
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Col Joseph Lenertz
Yes, you are correct. But it also links tactical data links between old and new airplanes, allowing them to swap targeting data. Very cool, thanks for the great response.
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CWO3 (Join to see)
It's all above me. I worked on III MEF rollout of SINCGARS, so I am that many years behind. Not just a link then, but encode/decode for multiple platforms and data configurations. Sounds like a multi band router. Good knowing the AF Labs and Commands are on the cutting edge. Thanks for the info.
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This is really neat and I had no idea they existed. A lot of the stuff I've read doing research is really focused on short distance comms or the use of satellites, but this platform makes perfect sense. Is this a frequent option for TACP/JTAC to tap in to, or are they part of mission planning? Thanks for the article.
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Col Joseph Lenertz
Yes, it is used often in Afghanistan...every day. Army and USMC units put in BACN requests to the CAOC where we have a BACN liaison officer to prioritize and approve the requests. The Air Tasking Order includes the BACN flights every day so the crews know where to be.
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SPC Brent Melton
Col Joseph Lenertz - Very awesome. I qualified as a JFO and during that training they told us we could request EW support from aircraft for missions which generated this question. Thank you again.
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