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New Royal Navy Wildcat helicopters can't transmit vital data
Citat:Britain's latest military helicopter fleet has still not had a tactical data link capability fitted, two years after the aircraft entered service.
Although the new Leonardo Wildcat helicopters have already been deployed operationally aboard Royal Navy warships, including deployments as the sole helicopter aboard frigates patrolling overseas, they do not have a tactical data link (TDL) capability allowing them to transmit data to other units.
Instead, crews must use a USB stick after landing to transfer data collected by the Wildcat's radar and camera systems to its host ship. The only other alternative, at present, is for the crew to call out contacts over the radio by voice – just as Fleet Air Arm observers did during the Second World War.
Air International magazine reported in its February issue that although Wildcat HMA2s are fitted with the Bowman secure voice radio system, the helicopters still lack the TDL capability fitted to other frontline naval and military helicopters such as the Merlin and Puma.
 https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/02/17/lynx_wild.....7418847495
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