Rockwell Collins won an $18 million contract from the Air Force to complete development and qualification of the Tactical Targeting Network Technology waveform, paving the way its implementation on a broad range of aircraft, announced the company. “TTNT will provide warfighters with a higher throughput, low latency networking capability to meet the demands of new and evolving mission requirements,” said Bob Haag, Rockwell Collins’ general manager of communication and navigation products, in the company’s Dec. 17 release. That is something “the warfighter does not have today,” he added. TTNT is built to deliver high data rate, long-range communication links for airborne platforms as a complement to existing tactical data link networks, according to the release. The Pentagon has demonstrated TTNT on aircraft including the B-2, B-52, E-2C Hawkeye, E-3 AWACS, F-16, F/A-18, and F-22. (See also Raptors Test Networking, Air and Ground.)
Collaborative Combat Aircraft designs from Anduril and General Atomics passed their critical design reviews early in November, clearing the way for detailed production efforts to get underway, the Air Force said. How future versions will be upgraded is still under discussion.