TRANSITION PLAN FOR DEVELOPMENT OF THE AUTOMATED TACTICAL AIRCRAFT LAUNCH AND RECOVERY SYSTEM

THE NEXT GENERATION MILITARY AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM WILL RELY HEAVILY ON A BROADER RANGE OF EQUIPMENT/TECHNOLOGIES THAN HAS BEEN USED IN ATC APPLICATIONS TO DATE. A BASELINE TACTICAL MILITARY SYSTEM CONCEPT, THE AUTOMATED TACTICAL AIRCRAFT LAUNCH AND RECOVERY SYSTEM (ATALARS) IS A CANDIDATE FOR THE NEXT GENERATION SYSTEM. ATALARS EVOLVED FROM A SERIES OF OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS STUDIES/REPORTS AND SYSTEM CONCEPT STUDIES. THE SYSTEM IS BASED ON PASSIVE, LOW PROBABILITY OF INTERCEPT OPERATIONS, RELYING ON AIRCRAFT DERIVED POSITION DATA AND SOPHISTICATED COMMUNICATIONS, PROCESSING AND DISPLAY EQUIPMENT IN LIEU OF CONVENTIONAL PRIMARY AND SECONDARY RADARS. THIS STUDY EFFORT WILL DEVELOP A TRANSITION PLAN AND PRELIMINARY IMPLEMENTATION APPROACH FOR DEVELOPING A PROOF-OF-CONCEPT DEMONSTRATION OF THE ATALARS SYSTEM. THE APPROACH WILL BE BASED ON A NUMBER OF SYSTEMS, PLANNED OR IN DEVELOPMENT WHICH HAVE CAPABILITIES/TECHNOLOGIES APPLICABLE TO ATALARS. THE OUTCOME OF THE STUDY WILL BE A COMPILATION OF TASKINGS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH ATALARS SUBSYSTEM SHOWING MAJOR DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS AND LEADING TO A FULLY INTEGRATED SYSTEM. SUBSYSTEM DEVELOPMENT DISCUSSIONS WILL BE SUPPORTED BY PRELIMINARY PROGRAM SCHEDULES.