US Special Forces Receive Exceptional Video Capabilities

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Video data link handheld radios were required in order to help US special forces personnel receive, transmit, and display full-motion video for situational awareness. Officials of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, signed a $130 million contract with Harris Corp. RF Communications to develop and build the Handheld Video Data Link (HH-VDL) radio.

The HH-VDL radio will help Air Force battlefield airmen exchange secure and unsecure full-motion video and annotated images with command authorities via a small, lightweight, ruggedized, and reliable transceiver. Battlefield airmen include combat air controllers, pararescuemen, special operations weather teams, and tactical air controllers, according to militaryaerospace.com.

The HH-VDL system can be carried for long durations on limited battery power in a variety of difficult environmental and combat conditions. Video data link capability improves intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) that is essential to close air support, command and control (C2), air superiority, target identification, and situational awareness (SA), Air Force officials say.

The HH-VDL system must have Type 1 encryption capability through the use of National Security Agency (NSA) cryptocore modernization and government-approved encryption.