JSAS Supports UK MoD Training Programme
Leonardo DRS is to provide Draken Europe with advanced air combat training systems to support operational readiness training for British combat aircrew, the company announced on 9 August.
The company is partnering with Collins Aerospace to deliver the next-generation air combat training systems, in the form of a Joint Secure Air Combat Training System (JSAS) for use with Draken’s FALCON 20 fleet. “This is an opportunity to demonstrate the continued support and cutting-edge technology that we and our partners are bringing to coalition partners,” commented Larry Ezell, SVP/GM of the Leonardo DRS Airborne and Intelligence Systems business.
JSAS enables aircrews to train and improve joint tactics, techniques and procedures in a secure environment against a peer adversary threat. The solution comprises aircraft-mounted JSAS pods and a ground station, offering advanced, high capacity, low latency, and multi-hop mesh networking. A software-defined radio is used to host multiple waveforms, providing key enablers to achieve secure, multi-domain, live, virtual and constructive training.
This type of system is already in use with US services, and is expected to be cleared for use on the FALCON 20 fleet this summer. As part of Draken’s current operational readiness training contract with the UK MoD, JSAS will make near real-time combat training information available to be viewed on the ground and be ready for debrief immediately after landing. This interoperability is made possible by the Multiple Independent Levels of Security (MILS) architecture, which ensures classified data is protected while being shared across platforms with the same security levels.
JSAS, a variant of the next-generation Tactical Combat Training System-Increment II (TCTS II), also produced by Collins Aerospace and Leonardo DRS, will enable fully-encrypted interoperability with all coalition platforms from the legacy P5 as well as the future P6 air combat manoeuvring instrumentation (ACMI) waveforms.
Under this contract, Leonardo DRS will manufacture select portions of the JSAS pods and will also conduct final pod assembly and acceptance testing, to include aircraft integration and weapons simulations.
