Looking at Link11 transmissions

[ka3jjz]

Link11 (also known as STANAG 5511) is a data protocol that is heavily used by the military and NATO. Under normal circumstances all the traffic is very heavily encrypted; however the header information is evidently readable

The catch? Only 2 packages - Procitec's go2monitor and Hoka can read it. The price? Well, there's an old Dutch saying - if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it. I won't put it here, but trust me - it's in heart attack territory. If you have a weak heart, please move on.

There's an interesting article on what you can learn from such software here....

Link-11 SLEW with go2MONITOR

In early November, whilst working on an article for Janes, I noticed a Link-11 SLEW signal on 4510 kHz (CF) that was slowly growing in reception strength. I’d been monitoring frequencies used…

planesandstuff.wordpress.com

Mike

[edit] - Forgot to mention that this appeared on the UDXF reflector

 

[SandBagger1]

Thanks Mike, I enjoyed reading the post you linked to!

 

[Token]

Link11 (also known as STANAG 5511) is a data protocol that is heavily used by the military and NATO. Under normal circumstances all the traffic is very heavily encrypted; however the header information is evidently readable

The catch? Only 2 packages - Procitec's go2monitor and Hoka can read it. The price? Well, there's an old Dutch saying - if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it. I won't put it here, but trust me - it's in heart attack territory. If you have a weak heart, please move on.

Also, Link-11 is on the way out, being replaced by Link-22. And while Link-22 has a backwards compatible mode to -11, it also has a completely different mode. Once the Link-22 conversion is complete I bet you don't see the Link-11 format used anywhere near as often.

Link-11 can be sent in the clear, but it almost never is. We used to (in the late 1970's / early 1980's) joke and call Link-11 in the clear "Link-1 and a half". This was, of course, totally incorrect as there was an actual Link-1. Typically we set up Link-11 in the clear when dealing with foreign/allied ships in the formation. One of the issues with encryption was getting everyone on the same keys, difficult enough when all the units are in the same service.

T!

 

[ka3jjz]

I've heard about Link-22 taking Link-11's place for quite awhile now, but I don't believe it's ever been reported - at least in the UDXF. Time will tell, I guess...Mike

 

[Token]

I've heard about Link-22 taking Link-11's place for quite awhile now, but I don't believe it's ever been reported - at least in the UDXF. Time will tell, I guess...Mike

My last first hand work with Link-11 was in the late 1980's, and I have no first hand knowledge of Link-22, and if I did I could not post in this thread With that in mind all that I know is what I read in trade magazines, congressional line item reports, and the like.

The DTS (Data Terminal Set) contract to support Link-22 functionality was awarded in mid 2016. The C2P specific Link-22 Development testing was set for 2Q 2020, and intended to end by the end of that quarter, which means that is ending about now. IOC of the C2P Link-22 is set for 4th quarter, 2021. That is about a year from now. You don't IOC without having done some serious testing first.

Pure guess on my part, but based on public expenditures and public timelines Link-22 hardware is probably already in place in some units. Link-22 over-air testing has probably been going on for some time. For example the publicly released line item funding for Link-22 testing was smaller in FY20 than in previous years (but Link-16 follow on phases has increased), that probably means testing and certification is wrapping up as units hit the fleet, but definitely means there has been past testing. On the hobby side of the house I have not seen anyone report a signal believed to be Link-22. That could mean a few different things, but possibly it means that hobbyist have not correctly ID'ed Link-22 yet.

I personally do not know what the non-Link-11 compatible version of Link-22 looks like. I strongly suspect that native Link-22 is going to look like other PSK based data modes and be less visually distinctive than Link-11 is. I could well have already seen it and not realized it. A lot of unknown signals end up getting blamed on things like HFT that might, or might not, be related to HFT...or other suspected sources, such as encrypted wideband MIL modes

T!