USAF puts Talon HATE to the test

[Zarvan]

422 TES F-15C serial 82-022/OT carrying the Talon HATE pod in February whilst undergoing testing at Nellis AFB. The large pod is carried on the centreline station. Source: Jamie Hunter
The US Air Force (USAF) is currently engaged in a flight test programme for its new Talon HATE pod for the F-15C Eagle. Talon HATE is a new system designed to help integrate and enhance the relationship between its two air dominance platforms - the F-15C Eagle and the F-22 Raptor.

Developed initially by the company's secretive Phantom Works as a rapid-prototyping concept, Talon HATE is a podded system that combines a covert data exchange capability with an inbuilt infrared search-and-track (IRST) sensor. It has been seen flying recently with the USAF's elite 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron (422 TES) at Nellis Air Force Base (AFB) in Nevada.

Boeing completed the final design review for Talon HATE in September 2014, although public information remains scant. Many see Talon HATE acting very much along the lines of the USAF's Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) currently deployed on E-11A, EQ-4, and WB-57 aircraft, and essentially acting as a data relay platform for a wide range of information.

The upper surface of the aircraft features a large new scabbed-on fairing. The fairing may be linked to providing all-aspect coverage of the link for the new system. (Jamie Hunter)

"The system assimilates information in real-time from multiple domains, creating an improved common operating picture for tactical awareness," said Alex Lopez, vice president, Advanced Network and Space Systems at Boeing Phantom Works.

One of the major limitations of the F-22 is its inability to communicate covertly with other aircraft types, although the F-22 features an intra-flight datalink (IFDL) that enables the aircraft to exchange data within a formation of F-22 aircraft.

Similarly, the F-22's Increment 3.2A spiral upgrade added Link 16, but only as a receive-only terminal because the non-stealthy Link-16 with its omnidirectional emissions could reveal the aircraft's location.

However, under programme director Sean Rice, the Talon HATE project has integrated the F-22's IFDL with the proven Multifunctional Information Distribution System-JTRS (MIDS-J) system. MIDS-J serves as a host for multiple concurrent communications waveforms that are essential for Talon HATE operations, with Talon HATE essentially receiving and translating the F-22 data and processing it for redistribution on MIDS/Link 16 waveforms to other friendly aircraft.

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[Freyja]

WB-57 aircraft

For communication with NASA aircraft? I didn't realize the WB-57 was being flown by the USAF.

WB-57 is said to be an ECM aggressor aircraft, by Wiki (as reliable as your editing wants it to be), but haven't seen one in USAF insignia anytime recently.

Talon HATE is a podded system that combines a covert data exchange capability with an inbuilt infrared search-and-track (IRST) sensor.

Even podded, an IRST was the missing link the F-15 sorely needed.

The already lethal Eagle's just getting better.