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LINK-BR2 – A Capacidade de Comando e Controle no Século 21 Link

The Editor

The Braziian Air Force Commander Lieutenant-Air-Brigadier Antonio Carlos Moretti Bermudez accompanied by the Chief of Joint Operations of the Ministry of Defense, Fleet Admiral Petronio Augusto Siqueira de Aguiar, participated, December 16,  at ALA 3 in Air Force Base Canoas-RS of the first presentation of the Brazilian Air Force's Tactical Data Linking System, the LINK-BR2. At the event, F-5M fighters from Pampa Squadron exchanged combat information in mid-flight and sent information to a ground control station.

Braziian Air Force Commande, LT Brigadier Bermudez and the Commander Aerospace Operations LT Brigadier Domingues welcomed by AEL Sistemas  President, Mr Gal Lazar.

The technology known as Data Link is restricted to a few countries and crucial to modern warfare operations. The LINK-BR2 is under development by Brazilian engineers at AEL Sistemas, in Porto Alegre. This system may be integrated into another project of great importance for National Defense, which is the Software Defined Radio of the Ministry of Defense (RDS-Defense), a program led by the Army Technological Center (CTEx).

The LINK-BR2 and RDS-Defense are the most important interoperability projects conducted by the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense and will promote the ability to integrate the Navy, Army , and Air Force in a secure radio communication network in addition to allowing the exchange of tactical information from different sensors.

With the synergy between the LINK-BR2 and RDS-Defense projects, Brazil emerges as one of the few countries in the world capable of developing critical Command and Control technologies necessary to operate in a Network-Centered War environment.

AEL Sistemas´s CEO, Gal Lazar celebrated the historic milestone of the project. “Today was the first flight that demonstrated operational capabilities of the strategic project LINK-BR2 conducted by FAB / COPAC and led by AEL Sistemas. It is a System of Systems that implements a state-of-the-art Data Link that substantially elevates the Brazilian Air Force operational capabilities and demonstrates the high level of technical knowledge of our company. The LINK-BR2 System flight reinforces AEL Sistemas´s position – which together with the RDS-Defense Program – being placed as a developer and supplier of advanced communication systems to the Brazilian Armed Forces. ”

Art showing platforms interaction/ communication  in real timel (not all plataforms in FAB service) . 

The Link-BR2 is a Brazilian Air Force´s project managed by the Organizing Committee of the Combat Aircraft Program (COPAC), related to the establishment of a tactical Data Link for real-time information traffic between aircraft and ground stations. The program includes installation on F-5M aircraft in addition to mission planning, command, and control stations.

The Link-BR2 System is already planned to be integrated into the Brazilian Air Force's F-39 Gripen fighter, maximizing its operational and combat capabilities, allowing package operations and joint forces operations, providing radar information and messages as well as videos exchange between aircraft and ground forces, integrating the complete communication between the F-39 Gripen, F-5M, A-1M, and A-29 fighters, the E-99M command, and control planes and the command and control center on land and at sea.

Link-BR2's main contractor is AEL Sistemas which counts with two other Brazilian companies working as subcontractors: Aeromot for the platform´s structural modifications section and Kryptus for the security part.

RDS-Defesa is a Research and Development (R & D) project, coordinated by the Ministry of Defense and conducted by the Army Technological Center (CTEX), which seeks to use software-defined radio technology for military communications in Brazil. The Project´s main objective is to promote interoperability in the radio communications of the Brazilian Armed Forces with a family of national tactical radios. It uses the software architecture SCA (Software Communication Architecture), which allows the development of waveforms independent of the adopted hardware infrastructure.

In execution since 2013 by CTEX, the project just entered a new phase, when AEL Sistemas was contracted for the development and supply of 16 RDS vehicular prototypes. Signed on December 1st, the new contract will have an 18-month duration and has the objective to deliver a product capable of being certified for operational use by the Armed Forces, completing the project's R & D stage while enabling a national military radio with high added value, whose intellectual property belongs to the Brazilian Army.

AEL Sistemas – the successor to Aeroeletrônica, is a Brazilian company, located in Porto Alegre, which for more than 30 years has been dedicated to the design, development, manufacture, and logistics support of electronic systems for military and space applications. Using advanced technologies and knowledge, modern infrastructure, and systematic training, AEL produces state-of-the-art, reliable, and innovative solutions with the quality of its products and services internationally recognized. Currently, it is one of the main partners of the Brazilian Armed Forces. Embraer, Helibras, and INPE are some of the company's clients.

AEL Sistemas engineer presents RDS-Defesa project to Joint-Operations Chief, Fleet Admiral Petronio Aguiar. Foint development with Bazilian Army Tecchnological Center (CTEx)

FAB Dezembro 2020 Link