During a multi-service, multi-national exercise last month, Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom AFB, Mass., was able to verify that the new Mode 5-capable interrogator installed on a NATO E-3 AWACS had interoperability with all participants. According to an Aug. 21 release, the Joint Operational Test Approach Operational Assessment provided six-hour combat scenarios that pitched the prototype interrogator against a variety of platforms—fixed and rotary wing aircraft and ships enabled with their own Mode 5 capabilities. Capt. Will Williams, ESC’s Next Generation Friend or Foe program manager, explained that different vendors often interpret specifications “differently.” Williams said the exercise also showed that the AWACS Mode 5, with a little modification of codes by Danny Lopez, with the Cryptologic Systems Group at Lackland AFB, Tex., could correctly identify friend from foe. (Hanscom report by Monica Morales)
The Space Force plans to expand the scope of its data transport constellation in the next few years, kick-starting a competition to bring on new commercial capabilities and procuring nine launches in fiscal 2027 to support the hybrid satellite communications network.