The ARC-210 radio installed on the A-10C Warthog is essentially a “quantum leap” in secure radio communications aboard the aircraft, said Lt. Col. Kevin Campbell, of the Maryland Air National Guard’s 175th Fighter Wing, talking with reporters at AFA’s Air & Space Conference. He noted the digital radio is not exclusive to the A-10C, but it has revolutionized their chances of getting secure information flowing to and from their cockpit while in flight. “By next year, we hope to have satellite communications on every A-10 through the ARC-210 radio,” Campbell said.
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.