3 Sep 02. L-3 Communications (NYSE:LLL – News) announced that its Communication Systems-West division has been selected as the provider of Tactical Common Data Link (TCDL) technology by the Army’s Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD) for their Hunter Standoff Killer Team (HSKT) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD).

The HSKT ACTD is a six-year program comprised of a four-year Technology Demonstration (TD) followed by a two-year Extended User Evaluation (EUE). The contract is a strategic, competitively bid win for L-3. For the ACTD, TCDL technology will be integrated into the Army’s AH-64D Apache, A2C2S Blackhawk, and Hunter UAV systems. A formal Joint Military Utility Assessment (JMUA) will be conducted in FY2004 followed by the EUE in FY2005 and FY2006. Following a successful JMUA, the Army plans to transition this new capability to a formal acquisition program to equip the Army Aviation manned and unmanned aircraft fleet, an opportunity for more than a thousand systems.

TCDL has been developed to be a family of wideband, interoperable digital data links to support both unmanned and manned airborne reconnaissance platforms. Army Aviation is investigating TCDL as the interoperability standard for ground-to-air and air-to-air data links for tactical UAVs. L-3’s TCDL is well matched to fulfill the HSKT requirement, providing 200 Kbps on the command link and 2-45 Mbps on the return link. Built and certified to the CDL standard, L-3 TCDL systems ensure interoperability with many air and ground platforms across all US military services.