Skip to content

Link 16 Track Ingest

Status: Planned

No adapter exists in gateway/src/formats/ yet. See the Status & Roadmap.

What it is

Link 16 (MIL-STD-6016 / STANAG 5516) is the primary NATO tactical data link for air and naval operations. It uses JTIDS/MIDS terminals to exchange encrypted, jam-resistant burst transmissions at high speed, with data organised into J-series message types (e.g. J2.2 air track, J2.3 surface track, J3.0 platform position).

Being a direct Link 16 participant requires MIDS terminal hardware and NSA-managed COMSEC, so a software system like Bedrock instead ingests Link 16 data relayed by intermediary systems that extract and forward track information.

Bedrock's integration

Planned. No Link 16 support exists yet. The gateway's existing ingest pattern (connect to a data source, parse messages, inject tracks) applies: the intended approach is an adapter in gateway/src/formats/ that receives J-series tracks from a relay (e.g. JREAP-C or SIMPLE) and displays them on the COP with derived APP-6 symbology.

Relay-interface options and the task breakdown live with the owning repo: gateway/docs/standards/link16-track-ingest.md.

See also