Tactical Systems Corporation (TSC) has developed and delivered a new Tactical Assault Kit (TAK) plugin for its Mobile Tracking System (MTS), significantly enhancing interoperability and situational awareness at the tactical edge. The integration enables real-time data sharing between MTS-equipped platforms and TAK-enabled devices across joint and coalition forces.
TAK Ecosystem Gains New Integration with MTS
The Android Tactical Assault Kit (ATAK), part of the broader TAK ecosystem developed by the U.S. Department of Defense, has become a cornerstone in modern dismounted command-and-control. It provides geospatial visualization, messaging, sensor feeds, and mission planning tools to warfighters via Android devices. By integrating a dedicated plugin into TSC’s Mobile Tracking System—a lightweight platform used for tracking assets in dynamic environments—this development bridges persistent tracking data with real-time tactical overlays.
The plugin allows MTS to publish position location information (PLI) directly to TAK servers or peer clients over secure networks. This ensures that commanders using ATAK can visualize MTS-tracked assets such as vehicles or unmanned systems on their operational maps in near real-time.
Mobile Tracking System: Lightweight ISR for Dynamic Missions
TSC’s Mobile Tracking System is designed for mobile platforms including ground vehicles, UAVs, maritime vessels, and even personnel kits. It uses low-SWaP-C components to provide GPS-based tracking fused with inertial navigation systems and optional RF triangulation or sensor inputs. The system is often deployed in expeditionary ISR roles where persistent tracking is required without relying on high-bandwidth SATCOM links.
MTS units typically include:
- GNSS receiver with anti-spoofing capability
- Secure communications module (e.g., TrellisWare TSM-X or Silvus StreamCaster)
- Embedded computing module running Linux-based software stack
- Optional EO/IR sensor integration or RF direction-finding modules
The addition of the TAK plugin allows these units to act as “edge sensors” feeding live data into broader C4ISR frameworks without requiring operator intervention.
Interoperability Across Joint and Coalition Networks
One of the key advantages of TAK is its widespread adoption across U.S. military branches as well as NATO allies. By enabling MTS to communicate natively with TAK clients over standard protocols like Cursor-on-Target (CoT), TSC ensures that its system can plug into existing operational architectures without bespoke middleware.
This is particularly relevant in joint operations where Blue Force Tracking (BFT) interoperability is critical but SATCOM bandwidth may be constrained or contested. The MTS-TAK integration supports mesh networking protocols over MANET radios such as TrellisWare’s TSM waveform or Persistent Systems’ Wave Relay to maintain resilient PLI dissemination even in GPS-denied environments.
Operational Use Cases: From Border Security to SOF Missions
The enhanced MTS-TAK capability suite is already being evaluated by U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) elements for use in austere environments where rapid deployment and low-profile ISR are essential. In one test scenario conducted during a recent field exercise at Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg), an MTS-equipped vehicle relayed target movement data via TAK to dismounted teams several kilometers away using only MANET radios—no satellite uplink required.
Other potential applications include:
- Border patrol operations using UAVs equipped with MTS nodes feeding live tracks into homeland security TAK networks
- Disaster response coordination where first responders share asset locations via ATAK-compatible apps
- NATO exercises involving multinational forces requiring common operating picture interoperability without centralized servers
Security Architecture and Future Roadmap
TSC emphasized that the TAK plugin adheres to DoD cybersecurity standards including FIPS-compliant encryption and role-based access control. The company plans future updates that will allow bidirectional tasking—enabling operators on ATAK devices to send commands back to MTS nodes such as “follow target,” “rendezvous,” or “initiate sensor scan.”
A future version may also support integration with WinTAK (Windows-based version of ATAK) and CoT-over-IP gateways for enterprise-level command centers.
Conclusion: Edge-to-Core C4ISR Enablement
The delivery of this TAK plugin represents a significant step toward modular, interoperable battlefield networks where sensors at the edge can feed actionable intelligence directly into tactical decision-making tools like ATAK. As militaries continue shifting toward distributed operations under Multi-Domain Operations doctrine, lightweight systems like TSC’s MTS—with native support for open standards like CoT—will play an increasingly vital role in closing the sensor-to-shooter loop.
