Advanced Data Transfer System (ADTS) and Moving Map Capabilities in the Personnel Recovery (PR) Environment

By LT Joe “WORM” Rodgers, USN

For years now (maybe even decades), members of the HSC Community have been anxiously awaiting the rollout and employment of ADTS and moving maps in the MH60S. As this long-awaited technology slowly but surely creeps its way into the Fleet, tips and tricks outside of the published manuals and TTPs are bound to make their way through the ranks, whether by word of mouth or written documentation. As someone who was lucky enough to use this system for the majority of my Fleet tour, I would like to share a few very simple but useful techniques that are helpful in the overland tactical training environment. None of this is likely to be ground-breaking information, but for those who have minimal or no experience with the system, it may shed light on a few new digitalized capabilities.

The first, and most obvious, upgrade is the ability to upload various charts to the aircraft’s mission display. Instead of just a black screen with local points, user waypoints, and routes scattered on it, these features will be overlaid on a backdrop of whichever chart you’ve uploaded. This will often be a JOGAIR or a TLM, but can be as detailed as five or one meter imagery, or even GEOTIFF images that show detailed photography of an HLZ or unfamiliar airport diagram.

While useful in the standard VFR realm, one could argue that it pales in comparison to a tablet with a proficient ForeFlight user behind the wheel. Where this is a real game changer is the terrain flight (TERF) environment, particularly when aircrews are less familiar with the route or area. Of course, the necessity of an in-depth chart study and the requirement to print and annotate paper charts cannot be overstated. However, a moving map display with topographical imagery and one’s aircraft position superimposed along a route can immeasurably increase situational awareness in a heartbeat.

Continuing more specifically into the PR mission set, the bullseye plotting function is another very simple but useful tool that allows a user to do exactly what it sounds like–plot a bullseye on one’s mission display. Although it is useful to have a visual depiction of the bullseye on the screen, the real functionality comes when plotting information passed in realtime. After jotting down information and grids of various threats in the cockpit, one can easily transfer this information to the mission display where it is overlaid on the moving map display described earlier. Again, it is still valuable to have a printed bull plot on one’s placemat or prayer book, especially for the situational awareness of the crew members in the back.

This function is further enhanced with the use of the inaircraft intervisibility (IV) tool, made possible due to the integration of elevation data in the software. Any good mission planner knows the IV tool that is accessible in Joint

Mission Planning System (JMPS). While this has its clear benefits, the shortcoming of this tool is that it can only be effectively employed with threats whose presence and location are known before takeoff. To assume threats will https:// www.msn.com/en-us/feed not change or relocate between an initial intelligence brief and mission launch is at the least optimistic, and probably somewhat shortsighted. The IV tool in a moving map-equipped aircraft allows one to input threat characteristics and capabilities, hook select the threat, and turn on a visual depiction of where an aircraft is visible or masked from said threat. Needless to say, a proficient working knowledge of ranges and capabilities of threats in the Area of Responsibility (AOR) is a requirement for this to be used effectively for pop-up threats.

Lastly, this IV tool can be turned around and applied to our friendly forces using the same principles, specifically to establish line of sight communications with a survivor. During mission planning for a PR event, one can hope to have one or several options for points along the route prior to the landing zone. These are based on a myriad of factors, to include terrain, Solar Lunar Almanac Program (SLAP) data, aural signature, threats, and the survivor’s last known location. The capability of line of sight communications can be predicted reasonably well, but is subject to change on the fly as a result of threat movement, the survivor’s movement, or a simulation of either by a SWTI trying to throw a wrench in your plan. In the event of a more immediate or strip-alert style PR mission, several of these factors may not even be known to a sufficient degree of accuracy. Pop-up threats can be plotted after the lowdown with the above-described procedure. When the survivor’s location is passed to the rescue asset, the IV tool can also be utilized here. While plotting the given grid as a manual hostile contact with an appropriate name (i.e. SURVIVOR), any good PQM or aircrewman can bust out the SAR TACAID and read off the predicted line of sight range at a given altitude. Hook selecting the new manual contact, the IV tool can be activated to give you an idea of your communications range. This provides several pieces of information: Will your Initial Point need to be adjusted? Are you not hearing from the survivor because they’re separated from their radio, or because you aren’t within line of sight range? In either case, an on-the-spot adjustment can be made with greater ease and accuracy.

The above described techniques are all simple, and have probably been figured out, used, and possibly even improved upon by many who are practiced in the use of an ADTS/ moving map equipped aircraft. For new users, I hope this has given you a head start on a few of the capabilities of this newer system, and a stepping stone to make improvements and develop techniques of your own to pass to the rest of the Community.