BAE Systems, working under an $11.5 million Air Force contract with industry partners and the Air National Guard, incorporated and demonstrated the long-range data link capability to its Theater Airborne Reconnaissance System (TARS), a high-resolution, medium-altitude surveillance system. The data link capability provides real- and near-real-time transmission of images from TARS to a surface terminal, or to any other compatible ground-based receiving equipment.

“The new data link capability provides a significant operational enhancement, as image specialists can review these images while the reconnaissance mission unfolds,” said Mario Vega, TARS program manager for BAE Systems in Greenlawn, New York. “Based on the received imagery, missions can be altered within a given sortie based on information about prospective new targets of interest.”

System upgrades were tested, qualified, and demonstrated during performance and aircraft integration testing on F-16s at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The TARS data link equipment pod met all Air Force requirements for aircraft operations, imagery collection, carriage and handling, and safety of flight. The systems were then returned to field service in Iraq, where they are used on F-16s for medium-altitude battlefield surveillance.

The replacement of a tape recorder with a solid-state recorder is another significant system enhancement. Following a mission, the recorder’s removable memory module can be taken from the pod and its image information then read, displayed, and archived.

The Air National Guard has used TARS-equipped F-16s in peacetime and in wartime for the past decade. In peacetime, TARS gives the Guard the ability to closely monitor U.S. borders and surrounding seacoast areas for activities such as smuggling, illegal immigration, and terrorist activities.