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About Us

Link 22 is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) secure radio system that provides Beyond Line-Of-Sight (BLOS) communications. It interconnects air, surface, subsurface, and ground-based tactical data systems, and it is used for the exchange of tactical data among the military units of the participating nations.
The Link 22 Project is conducted collaboratively by seven nations under the aegis of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The nations are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US), with the US acting as the host nation. 
Link 22 was developed to replace and overcome the known deficiencies of Link 11 and to complement and interoperate easily with Link 16.  This program is called "NATO Improved Link Eleven", which is abbreviated to "NILE". The tactical data link provided by the NILE system has been officially designated Link 22.

Our History
During the late 1980s, NATO, agreeing on the need to improve the performance of Link 11, produced a mission need statement that became the basis for the establishment of the NATO Improved Link Eleven (NILE) Program. This program specified a new tactical message standard in the NATO standardization agreement (STANAG) 5522 to enhance data exchange and provide a new layered communications architecture. This new data link was designated Link 22 by NATO.
The NILE program is funded and collaboratively conducted by seven nations under the aegis of a memorandum of understanding (MOU). A steering committee controls the complete NILE program. The program is managed by the Project Management Office (PMO), located at the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR)'s Program Management Warfare (PMW) 150 in San Diego, California. The PMO consists of a representative from each participating nation and a Project Manager from the US.
The Link 22 goals are:
  • to replace Link 11, thereby removing the inherent limitations of Link 11.
  • to improve Allied interoperability.
  • to complement Link 16; and
  • to enhance the commanders' war fighting capability.
From 2007 to 2009 NILE nation Germany contracted German industry to enhance performance and tactical capabilities for Link 22 HF fixed frequency (FF) operation. Three goals were achieved:
  • increased robustness for the standardized data rates (defined by MSN 1-6)
  • gapless communication range extended up to 1000 NM
  • increased throughput by additional high-speed waveforms
The Link 22 system is centered around its core component, the system network controller (SNC). This software exists as a single implementation, produced by the NILE PMO and owned by the NILE nations. To ensure compatibility across Link 22 implementations, all participants must use this SNC software. Each implementing nation will acquire this software and will implement it in a hardware environment suitable for its own application. Therefore, the SNC is not available as a commercial product, and is supplied by NILE PMO to NILE agreed Third-Party Sales nations with an annual maintenance fee.
An overview and introduction to Link 22 is provided by the "Link 22 Guidebook". This Guidebook has been written in a manner that provides information for Link 22 operators, planners, managers, executives, developers, and testers. 
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This web space contains only public domain information; for more information please contact the
NATO Improved Link Eleven Project Management Office (NILE PMO)