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Air Force

Handheld Viasat Radio To Provide Link 16 Connectivity For Close Air Support and Other Missions

Frank Wolfe

Thursday, January 23rd, 2020

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California-based Viasat has received a $90 million indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract from United States Air Force (USAF) Life Cycle Management Center at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio to provide USAF special forces with the company's Battlefield Awareness Targeting System—Dismounted (BATS-D) handheld Link 16 radios, also known as AN/PRC-161 radios. The company said that BATS-D "is the world's first and only handheld Link 16 radio" and "bridges a critical gap between air and ground forces by providing warfighters at the tactical edge…

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