The Ministry of Defence has awarded Thales UK a contract worth £9.8 million to support the system that manages and monitors all Link 16 activity across the United Kingdom, the department stated in a contract award notice.
The notice was published on 10 August 2026 and records the contract as concluded on 7 August. It covers in-service support of the Link 16 Network Management System for an initial two years, with two further one-year options and additional options for out of hours support during crisis operations. Work will be performed at Templecombe in Somerset, where Thales UK is based.
According to the notice, UK defence has an enduring requirement to manage and monitor Link 16 activity across the country and to support up to two deployed operations simultaneously. The system allows operators to watch network activity and adjust the network architecture to keep conditions optimal. It also monitors activity for compliance with the frequency clearance agreement held between the department and the Civil Aviation Authority, which governs how the waveform may be used in UK airspace.
The contract was placed without competition, and the department sets out its justification in some detail. Only one tender was received. The equipment configuration is described as unique, with the installed software owned and supported by Thales as the original equipment manufacturer holding proprietary rights, meaning the company alone possesses the technical information, tools and expertise required. Changing the system in the immediate term, the notice states, could result in an inability to use the Link 16 network across all platforms in the UK Flight Information Region, significantly curtailing the ability of platforms across domains to train for operations.
Link 16 is the NATO standard tactical data link, operating in the L-band and allowing aircraft, ships and ground stations to exchange track, position and command information in near real time without voice traffic. British platforms carrying it include Typhoon, F-35B Lightning, P-8A Poseidon, E-7 Wedgetail, the Type 45 destroyers, Type 23 frigates and the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers, alongside ground-based air command and control nodes.
The network is a finite resource rather than an open channel. Link 16 divides transmission into time slots allocated in advance, and participants must be assigned slots through a network design before they can join. Managing those designs, deconflicting them between exercises and operations, and ensuring transmissions stay within agreed frequency bounds is what the management system exists to do.
That last point matters beyond the military, because Link 16 operates in a band shared with civil aeronautical navigation aids, which is why its use in UK airspace is governed by a formal agreement with the aviation regulator.
Thales UK’s Templecombe site has a long history in underwater systems and sonar work for the Royal Navy, and also houses communications and command and control activity. The company employs several thousand people across UK sites including Crawley, Belfast, Glasgow and Bristol.
