19 June 2020: Collins Aerospace continues to be the Royal Air Force’s choice to provide the FasTak Gateway. For over a couple of decades Collins Aerospace is providing the data link and integrated system solutions for the US, NATO and coalition forces for their tactical operations. The FasTak Gateway will be used by RAF’s Air Support Operations Squadron Digital Command and Control experimentation program to improve their tactical data link capabilities on the ground.
“The FasTAK Gateway provides an affordable, complete Link 16 data link picture to tactical ground users and its modular design and software-driven integration approach enables Collins to reconfigure the system to add new data links in the future,” said Heather Robertson, vice president and general manager, Integrated Solutions for Collins Aerospace.
The FasTak Gateway features the TacNet Tactical Radio Link 16 terminal along with data link processor software. It runs on the mainstream laptop hardware that manages the data links, radio frequencies and data forwarding for the equipment in a lightweight, transportable container. The ruggedized system transitions from transport to operational in 20 minutes. It delivers certified Link 16, Variable Message Format (VMF), Situational Awareness Data-Link (SADL) and Cursor on Target (CoT) communications with growth to integrate with a future all-domain operational environment.
