MODERNIZATION EFFORTS ... - Air Force Network Integration Center

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COmmAnD AnD COnTROl TAkES A lEAP
FORWARD ACROSS ThE lAST FROnTIER WITh
ThE bROAD-bASED lInk-16 nETWORk
By Michael Bishop
611th Air Communications Flight
ELMEndORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska — At
570,380 square miles, Alaska is more than twice the size
of Texas. That enormous area coupled
with extreme environmental factors
make defending this flank of North
America a huge challenge.
Tackling this challenge, though, are
men and women who manage the Link-
16 Alaska, or LAK, network.
Servicemembers recently completed
installation and ground testing of the
LAK at Elmendorf, Murphy Dome and
Sparrevohn.
The 17-node network provides coverage as
far south as the Gulf of Alaska to as far north as
the coast of the Arctic Ocean. It covers a land
mass one-fifth the size of the lower 48 states
and the surrounding 33,000
intercom✭ June 2007
miles of coastline. Sites are installed in
such remote places as Oliktok, Cape
Romanzof, and Middleton Island.
Most people have never heard these
names, and chances are there
won’t be a Discovery Channel
or National Geo-
8
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READABILITY BASED ON FLESH-KINCAID SCORES
FOG INDEX
The Air Force uses a
network fused together
by satellites and GPS to
bring comm support to the
warfighter.
JARGON WATCH
LAK: link-16 Alaska network
AOC: Air Operations Center
graphic special on these lonely outposts anytime soon.
The LAK is especially important for supporting the air
mission.
A Link-16 capable aircraft can establish itself in the
network before it leaves the ramp, avoiding many of the
timing and crypto glitches that commonly occur. The
network is set up to allow aircraft to seamlessly transition
from site to site and never lose contact with the
Alaska Air Operations Center.
This $26 million program also provides capabilities not
available anywhere else in the world. It’s the first
Link-16 network to operate from remote sites over
a distributed satellite architecture and the first to
operate in External Time Reference mode. ETR uses
the timing signals from the GPS to maintain network
synchronization.
Combine the minus 100-degree temperatures
of the North Slope with the dense fog,
high winds and generally nasty weather of
the Bering Sea, and just getting to a site for
maintenance is a huge challenge.
Remote monitoring and maintenance
is paramount to success. A maintainer can
remotely rekey the system from the AOC. A
simple drag and drop interface allows all 17
sites to be updated in less than five minutes
a day. In addition, every site constantly monitors its
internal environment, security and maintenance state.
The sites constantly report and record this information
back at the control system. If any parameter
exceeds normal limits, an alarm is sent back to the
control system. Then the site initiates preprogrammed
events to correct the anomaly. Also, software updates
“I believe in the future. He who holds Alaska
will hold the world, and I think it’s the most
important strategic place in the world.”
— Gen. Billy Mitchell
will be passed to the sites via satellite communications
in the future. The LAK will also be available to support
future exercises such as Red Flag-Alaska and Northern
Edge, that uses Alaska’s 67,000 square miles of training
ranges.
The LAK system is the culmination of six years of
collective effort from many organizations across the
Air Force —11th AF, 3rd Wing, Electronic Systems
Center, Ogden Air Logistics Center and Air Combat
Command headquarters elements have all played important
roles. Its capabilities will significantly improve
the situational awareness of operators in the fighters,
E-3s and the AOC enabling Alaskan warfighters to
provide top cover for North America.
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Anchorage, home to Elmendorf AFB and
the 11th Air Force, is the most centrally located
area in the northern hemisphere, almost equidistant
to Shanghai, Moscow and Washington
D.C. Alaska was on the frontlines of the Cold War,
since it’s separated from Russia by only two miles
at the closest point. To this day, interceptions of
Russian Bear bombers occur.
In recent years, the Ted Stevens International
Airport in Anchorage has become the largest air
freight terminal hub between North America and
Asia. It’s the third largest freight hub in the world.
Most maritime shipping between Japan, China,
Malaysia and the West Coast traverses Alaskan
waters. Alaska provides 20 percent of the crude
oil for the United States, accounting for 50 percent
of the crude oil to the Pacific states.
Alaska