AIRBORNE
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ON THE AIR, IN THE AIR
Saying that an airborne radio is
just used for talking is like saying
that a food blender is only
a whisk. The capabilities
offered by the radios
which equip fixed- and
rotary-wing military
aircraft are increasing
all the time, as this
article will illustrate.
by Thomas Withington
A
irborne radios to equip all
kinds of military aircraft are
available from manufacturers
in Europe, North America
and Israel. European suppli-
ers in this regard include German telecom-
munications specialists Rohde and Schwarz
and their French counterpart Thales.
At the heart of Rohde and Schwarz’s
offerings is the company’s M3AR family of
Very High Frequency (VHF/30-300 mega-
hertz/MHz) and Ultra High Frequency
(UHF/300MHz to three gigahertz/GHz)
airborne transceivers. Offering 20 Watts
(W) of transmit power in AM (Amplitude
Modulation, where the amplitude of the
radio carrier wave varies in proportion to
the waveform being transmitted) and 30W
of transmit power in FM (Frequency
Modulation, where the frequency of the
radio carrier wave, rather than its ampli-
tude is varied according to the waveform
being transmitted), the radio can use a
number of waveforms including the North
Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)
HAVE QUICK I/II and SATURN frequen-
cy-hopping waveforms offering secure
UHF communications. The radios also
accommodate the company’s SECOS fre-
quency-hopping waveform which has inte-
grated encryption. SECOS offers a data rate
of up to 16 kilobits-per-second (kbps) and
can host up to 128 participants sharing
information on a network to this end.
These radios are relatively easy to integrate
on an aircraft as they are compatible with
40
Thales’ TMA-6000 is a new product developed by the company as a tactical datalink. The product
has already been tested on maritime patrol aircraft and on the pan-European nEUROn unmanned
combat aerial vehicle technology demonstrator © Thales
the United States Department of Defence
Mil-Std-1553 (Military Standard-1553)
protocols regarding integration with an
aircraft and its subsystems, and the
RS-485 Telecommunications Industry
Association/Electronic Industry Alliance
protocol for electrical standards. Three
transceivers comprise Rohde and Schwarz’s
M3AR airborne radio family which includes
the MR6000R, MR6000L and the MR6000A,
l ASIAN MILITARY REVIEW
the latter of which equips the
Heeresfliegertruppe (German Army
Aviation) Airbus Helicopters EC-725UHT
Tiger attack helicopter.
Thales’ airborne radio offerings include
the company’s NextW@ve TR-6000
Software Defined Radio family which,
according to a written statement supplied
to AMR by the company, “equips more
than 20 different types of platforms,
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including multi-role combat aircraft, heli- communications across VHF and UHF, defined radios, forming a key part of the
copters, freighters, tankers and Unmanned along with L-band (one to two gigahertz) erstwhile US Joint Tactical Radio System
Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).” Entering produc- and S-band (two-to-four gigahertz) for (JTRS) next-generation voice and data
tion earlier this decade, NextW@ve sup- Satellite Communications (SATCOM). communications system which was exten-
ports several different waveforms in Moreover, the SCR-7200AR is SCA-2.2.2 sively restructured from 2011. Although
encrypted and frequency-hopping config- (Software Communications Architecture- the programme no longer survives in its
urations such as Thales’ proprietary PR4G 2.2.2) compliant. The SCA standards have JTRS form, the procurements of new
waveform and the HAVE QUICK-I/II and been drafted by the US Department of radios now being the purview of the indi-
SATURN waveforms discussed above. In Defence (DoD) to cover hardware and vidual armed services in the United States
addition, NextW@ve can support national software interoperability with software military, SCA standards remain a key part
secure waveforms along with handling
Link-16 traffic. Link-16 is a NATO UHF
tactical datalink which handles track infor-
mation, voice and data communications,
the latter at speeds of up to 26.8kbps.
NextW@ve is more than capable of han-
dling this as it offers data rates of up to
250kbps.
Beyond the NextW@ve airborne radio
family, Thales is in the pre-production
stage for its TMA-6000 wideband airborne
datalink terminal, according to its state-
ment. This terminal operates in the Ku-
band (12-18GHz) and offers 137 megabits-
per-second (mbps) of bandwidth. The
firm says that the TMA-6000 has already
performed successful flights aboard the
pan-European nEUROn unmanned com-
bat aerial vehicle technology demonstra-
tor and onboard a Lockheed Martin P-3C
Orion maritime patrol aircraft of an undis-
closed country. Thales is keen to empha-
sise that the TMA-6000 is interoperable
with the United States’ Remotely
Operated Video Enhanced Receiver
(ROVER) real-time video imagery com-
munications architecture which involves
UAVs, inhabited military aircraft and
ground terminals.
Israeli Suppliers
Away from Europe, Israeli suppliers of
military airborne radios include Rafael
Advanced Defence Systems, Elbit Systems
and Commtact. Elbit Systems’ airborne
radios include its VRC-920 HF/VHF radio
which includes both encryption and fre-
quency hopping to preserve communica-
tions security. With up to 100 preset chan-
nels, the transceiver offers several power
outputs of between 0.25W and 20W with
data rates attainable of up to 32kbps.
Thales’ NextW@ve military airborne radio family includes several products such as the TRA-6030N
Other products in the Elbit Systems stable
multipurpose airborne terminal, and the TRA-6030 and TRA-6040 airborne V/UHF radios © Thales
include the SDR-7200AR which offers
SEPTEMBER 2014 l 41
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of ensuring interoperability in the radio
systems that will be procured as part of
these efforts.
SCA compliance is also a core element
of Rafael’s Broadband Mobile Ad Hoc
Network or ‘BNET’ SDR family which
includes an airborne component in the
form of the Global Link voice and data
communications system which operates in
the V/UHF range and provides L-band
communications. Finally, in terms of
Israeli suppliers, Commtact provides a
UHF/VHF radio (see this month’s Pulse
column for Commtact’s latest news) which
provides both an analogue and digital
data link. To digress for one moment,
while this may be known to some readers,
the difference between analogue and digi-
tal communications is that the latter trans-
mits a sound or signal in its original form,
whereas digital communications sample
the sound or signal at rate of several thou-
sand samples per second and turn that
sample into zeros and ones for transmis-
sion to another digital device which con-
verts these numbers back into an audible
wave for the listener. Commtact’s UVR
V/UHF radio offers both analogue and
digital communications for both data and
voice communications furnishing inhabit-
ed aircraft as well as UAVs in both a clear
and secure context.
42
United States helicopters and Boeing CH-47D/F
Although as noted above the US JTRS pro- Chinook heavylift helicopters to name but
gramme was extensively restructured in two. A number of United States Air Force
2011, many elements of the programme platforms will also receive the AN/ZRC-2,
survive including the Airborne, Maritime such as Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules
and Fixed (AMF) component of the under- freighters plus the Boeing KC-135R and
taking, for which Lockheed Martin is the McDonnell Douglas/Boeing KC-10A
prime contractor. In the airborne domain, Extender tankers.
Northrop Grumman and Raytheon are While Raytheon is involved in the
jointly developing the AN/ZRC-2 Small AN/ZRC-2 initiative alongside Northrop
Airborne Radio as subcontractors as part of Grumman, it offers other products such as
the AMF initiative. This radio provides the AN/ARC-231 Skyfire V/UHF radio
UHF, SATCOM, Link-16, Mobile User which is used extensively by the United
Objective System (MUOS, Lockheed States Army. This SDR provides voice and
Martin’s next generation of narrowband data AM and FM communications along
tactical SATCOM for the US military), with SATCOM. Waveforms which can be
Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW, accommodated by the AN/ARC-231
for mounted and dismounted troops), the include HAVE QUICK-I/II and SINC-
Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW, for dis- GARS (Single Channel Ground and
mounted troops) and Link-16 (see above). Airborne Radio System). The SINCGARS
This radio will equip several US Army air- waveform is in widespread use around the
borne platforms including the Boeing AH- world, and with US forces. It offers fixed
64D/E Apache Longbow/Guardian attack frequency and frequency-hopping modes.
Other airborne radios in the Raytheon sta-
ble include the AN/ARC-232 Starblazer
Commtact’s UVR family which offer single-band VHF and
V/UHF radio UHF radios carrying anti-jam waveforms
offers analogue and such as SATURN. The radio was devel-
oped by the company as a replacement for
digital communications the legacy AN/ARC-164 UHF radio han-
for data and voice dling HAVE QUICK-I/II communications
communications produced by Raytheon used by many
USAF aircraft including the Boeing B-
52G/H Stratofortress strategic bomber.
Already a major name in the provision
of tactical radios, it is little surprise that
Harris provide airborne transceivers such
as the RF-7850A-MR Falcon-III Multiband
Multi-Channel Airborne Mission Radio.
This system has two channels and provides
five watts of output power per channel.
Handling AM/FM analogue voice commu-
nications, the radio is capable of Frequency
Shift Keying (FSK: an FM mode which per-
forms digital transmissions via small
changes in the frequency of the transmis-
sion’s carrier wave) and Amplitude Shift
Keying (ASK: digital transmissions are per-
The Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS)
remains in extensive use by the US armed forces and other militaries
around the world. Exelis’ ARC-201 radio family supports the
SINCGARS waveform © Exelis
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R A D I O S
formed using changes in the amplitude of
the carrier wave) Mixed Exciter Linear
Prediction speech coding standard
voice transmissions, FSK/ASK
Continuous Variable Slope Delta
voice coding modulation and
ASK data transmissions. For
wideband communications,
the RF-7850A-MR employs the
company’s Adaptive Networking
Wideband Waveform (ANW2),
with narrowband networking
facilitated through the TDMA
Networking Waveform (Time Division
Multiple Access) which enables a single
radio channel to be shared among a num-
ber of users via the allocation of time slots.
Data rates for the radio vary at between
64kbps up to 1.6mbps with several incarna-
tions of the company’s Quicklook frequen-
cy-hopping waveforms and Citadel embed-
ded encryption furnishing the radio.
Rockwell Collins joins Raytheon in offer-
ing a number of military airborne radios. In
the V/UHF domains its product line
includes the AN/ARC-210 Generation-5
series and the Talon family of airborne Rockwell Collins’ AN/ARC-210 airborne radios can support a wide number of waveforms and levels
of encryption and security. Along with supporting several waveforms used by the US armed forces,
radios for international customers. In the
it supports the British armed forces’ Bowman waveform © Wikimedia Commons
HF domain, it provides the AN/ARC-190,
AN/ARC-220 and the AN/ARC-243.
According to Doug Schoen, director, gov- armed forces, the APCO-25 digital radio approach with ground-based SINCGARS
ernment systems business development in standards used for federal, state and local (see above) radios. Unique modules were
the Asia-Pacific for the company, these public safety authorities in North America added to the common modules to adapt
radios equip “multi-role combat aircraft, and the Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) them to the requirements of airborne
bombers, tankers, freighters, reconnais- waveforms used by civilian emergency applications. Over the next 20 years, the
sance, transport aircraft and UAVs around services around the world. In terms of data radios went through a number of pre-
the world.” In terms of communication transfer rates, the firm’s military airborne planned product improvements mirroring
security, Mr. Schoen adds that the firm has radios handle data at rates of between 16 the enhancements being incorporated into
“the capability to provide the global cus- kbps up to 45mbps. the ground SINCGARS radios.” Providing
tomer with any level of classification from Like the other US military airborne a data rate of 16kbps, these radios are
basic AES (Advanced Encryption Standard radio surveyed in this article Exelis pro- equipped with US National Security
– a US National Institute of Standards and vides a range of products which includes Agency Type-1 level encryption.
Technology encryption specification) up the ARC-201 VHF family comprising the Concerning the waveforms supported by
through Top Secret on a routine basis, ARC-201D(V), the current production ver- this family of radios, Mr. Kroeger says that
including unique country-specific cryptog- sion, in addition to the ARC-201B/E for “these radios are dedicated channels for
raphy, and we have a number of non- export and the ARC-341 which accommo- air-to-ground communication, and as such
COMSEC (Communications Security) dates the Bowman waveform (see above). are required to only run the SINCGARS
radios compatible with external, customer- Jim Kroeger, chief engineer for night waveform. SINCGARS actually supports a
supplied encryption systems.” Rockwell vision and communications systems at the number of different waveform variants
Collins’ military airborne radios can sup- company, says that “ARC-201 radios are ranging from a basic VHF-FM analogue
port a number of waveforms including installed in all of the US Army’s rotary through to a number of frequency hop-
SINCGARS, MUOS, SRW, WNW, ESSOR wing fleet.” He adds that “development of ping modes.” The ARC-201 family in US
(see below) and Link-16 along with the these radios began in the early 1980s and service will eventually be replaced by the
Bowman waveforms used by the British was based upon a common module AN/ZPY-2 radio (see above).
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Cobham’s military airborne radio offer-

ings are ideally suited to the Special Forces
user who can employ the firms’ Flexcomm
special missions and tactical radio com-
munications system. Flexcomm is a suite
of products which includes the RT-5000
VHF/UHF transceiver. This covers an
AM/FM analogue frequency range of 50-
870MHz allowing it to connect with
mobile radio, military communications,
air traffic control, FM broadcast and mar-
itime radio to name but a few. Other prod-
ucts in the Flexcomm line include the CD-
5000 display unit for the RT-5000 trans-
ceiver, along with the P-2000 digital/ana-
logue tactical FM radio which has been
designed for aircraft with limited space in
mind. One of the handy design features of
the P-2000 is that, like the RT-5000 it can
communicate with civilian emergency
service communications networks which
is ideal when military and civilian author-
ities are working together during disaster
relief operations, for example. With this in
mind, both of these radios support the
APCO-25 waveform (see above).

Tomorrow’s Communications
Regarding future trends for airborne
radio design, Mr. Schoen believes that the
capabilities of such systems will only
increase in the future. “Today’s newest
generation SDR radios are basically ‘fly-
ing computers’ with different front ends.
The internal processing power is growing
exponentially to handle the increasing
demands for voice, data and video simul-
taneously.” Thales foresees a number of
important evolutions for military airborne
radios in the future. According to the
statement provided to AMR by the com-
pany, these include the waveforms which
accord to the European Secure Software
Defined Radio (ESSOR) and Coalition
Wideband Networking Waveform
(COALWNW) standards. The European
Defence Agency, which supervises
European Union defence cooperation, is
developing the ESSOR as a common
architecture for European military
Software Defined Radios which includes
the realisation of a high-capacity HF, VHF
and UHF data waveform for handling
bandwidth heavy battlefield communica-
Cobham’s RT-5000 VHF/UHF transceiver can support a diverse range of communications linking
military and civilian users, deepening the level of cooperation when military and civilian authorities
are working together © Cobham
tions traffic between the ESSOR partner
nations of Finland, France, Italy, Portugal,
Spain and Sweden. The COALWNW pro-
gramme includes Australia, Finland,
France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden,
the United Kingdom and the United
States which aims to develop a similar
Research and
development efforts
will accelerate
the speed of air-to-air
communications
between inhabited
aircraft and UAVs
wideband networking waveform for use
by these nations. The employment of the
waveforms developed as part of the
ESSOR and COALWNW initiatives will
greatly accelerate and enlarge air-to-
ground/ground-to-air communications in
the same way that they will enhance tacti-
cal communications on the ground.
Beyond these waveform innovations,
Thales adds that research and develop-
ment efforts will accelerate the speed of
air-to-air communications between inhab-
ited aircraft and UAVs. This will become
increasingly important in the future as
multi-role combat aircraft act as ‘shep-
herds’ for ‘flocks’ of UAVs performing
strike or reconnaissance missions.

44 l ASIAN MILITARY REVIEW l