Overview#
During a maritime strike coordination exercise off the Norwegian coast, a combined NATO air-defence cell needs to track every airborne contact across three nations, four platform types, and two separate C2 networks, all in real time. Link-16, formally standardised as TADIL-J (Tactical Digital Information Link J), is what makes that possible. It is the primary secure tactical data link across NATO and allied forces, carrying real-time track data, targeting information, and status messages between fighter aircraft, naval vessels, AWACS platforms, and ground-based air-defence systems. The link operates in the J-series message format over a TDMA radio network, giving every participating unit the same recognised air picture without relying on voice coordination.
Argus integrates Link-16 via a SIMPLE-compatible message decoder. Decoded track data is persisted to PostgreSQL and made immediately available for fusion with other data sources on the common operational picture, including ATAK ground positions, GMTI radar tracks, and acoustic detections.
Open Standards#
- MIL-STD-6016 / STANAG 5516 (TADIL-J): the binary J-series message format (J2.2 air track, J3.2 surface track, J7.0 electronic warfare, J13.2 target sorting) that the decoder directly parses from raw bytes, extracting track number, position, velocity, force affiliation, and IFF mode per the word-field definitions in these specifications.
- STANAG 5602 (SIMPLE): the NATO SIMPLE gateway encapsulation standard over which Link-16 messages are received; the integration is built against the
LINK16_SIMPLEstandard designation and the STANAG_5602_SIMPLE adapter is registered in the NATO interoperability layer. - Cursor on Target (CoT) 2.0: the XML event format used to relay decoded track data into ATAK-compatible ground picture layers; a CoT 2.0 ingest endpoint is registered as part of the same NATO interoperability stack that fuses Link-16 air tracks.
- STANAG 4676 (Track Data): the NATO track reporting standard registered as a peer adapter for operational picture fusion, allowing Link-16 tracks to be correlated with STANAG 4676 track reports from other coalition sensors.
- STANAG 4774 / STANAG 4778 (Confidentiality Labels / Label Binding): the NATO security labelling specifications enforced on all ingested track records; every Link-16 message carries a
secrecy_leveltag validated against the STANAG 4774 label policy and STANAG 4778 binding rules before being made available to users. - IEEE 1278 (Distributed Interactive Simulation) / IEEE 1516 (HLA): the simulation exchange standards for ground-unit and coalition exercise environments into which Link-16 tracks are fused via the DIS and HLA-RTI adapter endpoints on the same operational picture domain.
- GraphQL: the query and mutation API through which all Link-16 track data is exposed (
link16Tracks,link16Stats,ingestLink16Message), with field-level authentication and organisation scoping enforced by the Strawberry schema.
Last Reviewed: 2026-03-18 Last Updated: 2026-04-14
Key Features#
SIMPLE-Compatible Message Decoding#
Ingest Link-16 messages encoded in base64 via the ingestLink16Message mutation. The decode_link16_message adapter parses the binary J-series message format, extracting message type (J2.0 Track report, J3.0 Reference point, J7.0 Electronic combat), track number, platform type, position (latitude, longitude, altitude), velocity, heading, and identity (friend/unknown/assumed friend/hostile). Decoded track data is persisted to PostgreSQL immediately on ingestion.
Track Inventory#
Query the ingested track database via link16Tracks with filtering by track number, platform type, or classification level. Tracks are returned in chronological order with full decoded field sets. The link16Stats query returns counts by J-series message type and platform category: air, surface, subsurface, and land.
SIMPLE Standard Alignment#
The integration is built against the LINK16_SIMPLE standard designation, aligning with NATO information exchange requirements for coalition Link-16 data sharing. Decoded track data carries correct source tagging for EDF audit trail compliance, and all ingested records reference their originating standard.
SecrecyLevel-Controlled Track Access#
Track records carry secrecy_level tags. Operational track data from a live tactical network segment is typically classified NATO CONFIDENTIAL or above. Row-level secrecy filtering prevents lower-clearance users from accessing operational track data, satisfying multi-level security requirements for combined joint task force environments.
EDF Audit Trail#
Every Link-16 message ingestion generates an interop ingest audit record with source standard LINK16_SIMPLE, timestamp, decoded track count, and the acting user and organisation identifiers.
Use Cases#
- Air Defence Common Operational Picture: Fuse Link-16 air track data with Argus surveillance zone definitions and geofencing alerts to trigger automated notifications when tracks enter or exit defined airspace boundaries.
- Joint Task Force Coordination: Aggregate Link-16 tracks from multiple participating units into a single Argus operational picture, giving command-level staff without direct Link-16 terminal access the full tactical air picture.
- Exercise Data Recording and Replay: Record all ingested Link-16 tracks during a coalition exercise for post-exercise analysis, timeline reconstruction, and lessons-learned reporting.
- Cross-Domain Track Fusion: Correlate Link-16 air tracks with maritime AIS data, ATAK ground unit positions, and sensor-fused detections to build a comprehensive multi-domain operational picture.
Integration#
Available via GraphQL: link16Tracks, link16Stats (queries); ingestLink16Message (mutation). All operations require authentication and organisation scoping.
Standard: LINK16_SIMPLE / TADIL-J. Works alongside DIS (ground unit simulation fusion), HLA-RTI (coalition exercise environment), ATAK (ground force positions), and the Operational Picture domain.