combat aircraft

Top left to right:

The Raptors

feed into the

recognized air

picture via voice

communications

and can receive

Link-16 updates.

A Raptor

hooked up to

the KC-10 boom

as it receives a

welcome fuel

top-off.

The E-3 Sentry

line at Al Dhafra,

now composed

exclusively of

Block 40/45

airframes.

Above: A U-2S

comes to rest

on the runway

at Al Dhafra

after a mission

supporting OIR.

Left: The huge

airfi eld at Al

Dhafra can

result in some

taxi lengths of

up to six miles!

wide ATO. ‘Kingpin’ executes that

plan as the battle eld command and

control centre for the theater. It’s a

huge area, and some of the outlying

regions rely on data relay to get the

information back to the CRC. ‘We live

for BACN,’ says Grider of the Battle eld

Airborne Communications Node

(BACN), developed to relay voice

communication over long distances,

providing an airborne data relay

and gateway that allows real-time

information to be passed between

di erent tactical datalink systems. It also

extends the range of these datalinks

and provides translation to enable

information sharing across the theater.

BACN was initially integrated on two

Global Express XRS aircraft; three in total

were leased and then bought outright in

2011 by the USAF, the E-11A designation

being assigned. The system is also

carried by the Block 20 EQ-4B Global

Hawk. ‘BACN  lls the holes,’ Grider says.

‘It’s the datalink extension. We also get a

tremendous amount of comms and they

extend those links that we rely on in our

ground stations.’

Alone and unafraid

Lt Col Heather ‘HF’ Fox is responsible for

those EQ-4 BACNs, as well as RQ-4s and

U-2s of the 99th ERS. ‘The squadron is

unique in that it is the only high-altitude

ISR [intelligence, surveillance and

reconnaissance] squadron with U-2, RQ-4

and EQ-4,’ she told Combat Aircraft. Fox

previously  ew the U-2, and now  ies

the Global Hawk. Her squadron features

the Block 30 RQ-4B, a multi-intelligence

platform that simultaneously carries

We are all here

to eradicate

ISIS, but when working

in close proximity

it’s often tough to

understand intentions

of non-coalition aircraft

Brig Gen Derek France

http://www.combataircraft.net // August 2018 37

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