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CT II enables secure e-mails across thousands of miles

  • Published
  • By Maj. Paul Baldwin
  • 746th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  C-130 aircraft with the 746th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron here are conducting operations with secure, near real-time command and control communications through new technology. 

Combat Track II is installed in the aircraft and in offices on the ground, improving how C-130 aircrews communicate with tasking agencies. Because of the technology, aircrews have e-mail in the sky. 

Captain Andrew Payne, 746th EAS, deputy chief of tactics, C-130 Operations, uses CTII in the tactics office and interfaces with aircrews hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of miles away on a mission. 

"Combat Track II allows secure transmissions via satellite uplink," he said. "It can also send weather and mission data through attachments." 

C-130 tactics personnel use the system though a secure computer while aircrews use a laptop on the aircraft. 

Combat Track II on the aircraft is used in several ways. Aircrews can e-mail anyone connected to the system, such as Air Mobility Division and the Combined Air and Space Operations Center, as well as their own tactics office. 

According to Captain Payne, the benefit of having CTII was evident immediately during a recent incident involving an injured Soldier. 

"On a Mercy (Aeromedical Evacuation) mission we got a call from AMD Execution to refrag the crew to go pick up a patient who needed to get to Balad (Iraq)... and then hop on a C-17 going to Ramstein (Germany) for surgery on his leg," he said. 

Because of the system's far-reaching communication capability, Captain Payne was able to quickly send the information directly to the aircraft. 

Once the crew received the message, they were immediately able to re-plan the mission to pick up the injured Soldier as soon as possible. 

Before CTII became available, C-130 aircrews relied upon line-of-sight radio communications. 

"The greatest benefit is secure beyond-line-of-sight capabilities," said Captain Jeremy Wagner, 746th EAS, chief of tactics, C-130 operations. "We had the capabilities to use secure line-of-sight or unsecure beyond-line-of-sight. Now we have both in one." 

The program's link through satellites also provides additional navigational capability to the C-130, which works independently of the aircraft's navigational systems. A moving map is displayed on the laptop, showing the aircraft on its route of flight. 

"The moving map gives you instant situational awareness," said Captain Jason Stutzman, 746th EAS navigator. "It shows you where your aircraft is in relation to threats that may be out there." 

While aircrews can see their own aircraft on the screen as it follows their route of flight, agencies on the ground can flight-follow all the aircraft connected to the system as well. 

"It gives the Director of Mobility Forces the ability to see all the aircraft using the system, track them on a display, and talk to each of them," said Capt. Payne. "It greatly enhances the overall view of the AOR for mobility forces." 

Force multipliers like CTII help ensure Airmen are sent to fight the Global War on Terrorism with the best technology possible.