U.S. B-52 Bombers Complete First IRIS Broadband Air Demo

The U.S. Air Force has moved one step closer to equipping its B-52 bombers with a new beyond line-of-sight (BLOS) communication capability called IRIS.

The IRIS system, which leverages the Low Earth Orbit Iridium NEXT satellite constellation guarantees complete global coverage. Additionally, IRIS will forgo using the dated 2.4 Kbps bandwidth capacity of Iridium for the much-improved L-Band speeds of Iridium Certus, a broadband service that has a bandwidth capacity of up to 704 Kbps.

The 49th Test and Evaluation Squadron executed the first air demonstration utilizing the BLOS communication system paired with an Iridium Certus terminal on a B-52 Stratofortress at Barksdale Air Force Base, June 22.

“In a wartime scenario, the single point of failure often lies in our ability to communicate,” said Capt. Richard Brown, 49th TES Conventional test flight commander. “If we can’t send and receive mission critical data from our aircraft reliably and efficiently, then we will lose. The IRIS system is one of the many datalink solutions that we need in order to equip the warfighter for today’s fight.”

While the bomber crew took to the skies, a combat operations team from the 608th Air Operations Center provided command and control and assessed the voice and data transfer capabilities that were observed from the IRIS-equipped B-52 to include the transmission of real-time images and videos.

“Today, we learned that the IRIS System can be immediately employed using current joint tactics for operational and tactical control of long-range strike aircraft,” said Lt. Col. Paul Goossen, 608th AOC Combat Operations Division chief.

The AOC team also acknowledged the method of “how” the service acquires a new capability plays a significant role in the timeline of fielding the new capability.

Air Force Global Strike Command leveraged an AFWERX Small Business Innovation Research Phase II contract to gauge the feasibility of tying a commercial, off-the-shelf Outerlink Global Solutions system into the B-52 global satellite architecture to enable unimpeded coverage. The SBIR program engages small businesses with federal research and development.

Following the success of the test event, AFGSC will continue working through the AFWERX process to attain a SBIR Strategic Finance contract to support IRIS. This will allow for permanent bomber integration and seamless coordination across geographic air operation centers using the system. IRIS is set to replace the Global Iridium Bomber Set (GLIBS) that has been in service since 2017.

The BLOS communication system is one of AFGSC’s solutions to integrate the B-52 fleet into the greater Joint All-Domain Command and Control problem set. IRIS is one of many programs on the horizon responsible for the B-52 paradigm shift from a legacy sustainment platform to a lethally modernized multi-domain aircraft.