A tactical air navigation system, commonly referred to by the acronym TACAN, is a navigation system used by military aircraft. It provides the user with bearing and distance (slant-range) to a ground or ship-borne station. It is a more accurate version of the VOR/DME system that provides bearing and range information for civil aviation. The DME portion of the TACAN system is available for civil use; at VORTAC facilities where a VOR is combined with a TACAN, civil aircraft can receive VOR/DME readings. Aircraft equipped with TACAN avionics can use this system for enroute navigation as well as non-precision approaches to landing fields. The space shuttle is one such vehicle that was designed to use TACAN navigation (although it has since been upgraded with GPS as a replacement).
The typical TACAN onboard user panel has control switches for setting the channel (corresponding to the desired surface station's assigned frequency), the operation mode for either Transmit/Receive (T/R, to get both bearing and range) or Receive Only (REC, to get bearing but not range). Capability was later upgraded to include an Air-to-Air mode (A/A) where two airborne users can get relative slant-range information. Depending on the installation, Air-to-Air mode may provide range, closure (relative velocity of the other unit), and bearing,[1] though an air-to-air bearing is noticeably less precise than a ground-to-air bearing.
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The TACAN navigation system is an evolution of radio transponder navigation systems that date back to the British Oboe system of World War II.
TACAN in general can be described as the military version of the VOR/DME system. It operates in the frequency band 960-1215 MHz. The bearing unit of TACAN is more accurate than a standard VOR since it makes use of a two frequency principle, with 15 Hz and 135 Hz components.
The distance measurement component of TACAN operates with the same specifications as civil DMEs. Therefore to reduce the number of required stations, TACAN stations are frequently co-located with VOR facilities. These co-located stations are known as VORTACs. This is a station composed of a VOR for civil bearing information and a TACAN for military bearing information and military/civil distance measuring information. The TACAN transponder performs the function of a DME without the need for a separate, co-located DME. Because the rotation of the antenna creates a large portion of the azimuth signal, if the antenna fails, the azimuth component is no longer available and the TACAN downgrades to a DME only mode.
Theoretically a TACAN should provide a ninefold increase in accuracy compared to a VOR but operational use has shown only a ±3 fold increase.[2]
Accuracy of the 135 Hz azimuth component is ±1° or ±63 m at 3.47 km.[3] Accuracy of the DME portion is 926 m (±0.5 nautical mile) or 3 percent of slant range distance, whichever is greater - see FAA 9840.1 1982.[3]
TACAN stations can provide distance up to 390NM
Because the azimuth and range units are combined in one system it provides for simpler installation. Less space is required than a VOR because a VOR requires a large counterpoise and a fairly complex phased antenna system. A TACAN system theoretically might be placed on a building, a large truck, an airplane, or a ship, and be operational in a short period of time. An airborne TACAN receiver can be used in air-to-air mode which allows two cooperating aircraft to find their relative bearings and distance.
For military usage a primary drawback is lack of the ability to control emissions (EMCON) and stealth. Naval TACAN operations are designed so an aircraft can find the ship and land. There is no encryption involved, an enemy can simply use the range and bearing provided to attack a ship equipped with a TACAN. Some TACANs have the ability to employ a "Demand Only" mode wherein they will only transmit when interrogated by an aircraft on-channel. It is likely that TACAN will be replaced with a differential GPS system similar to the Local Area Augmentation System called JPALS. The Joint Precision Approach and Landing System has a low probability of intercept to prevent enemy detection and an aircraft carrier version can be used for autoland operations.
Some systems used in the United States modulate the transmitted signal by using a 900 RPM rotating antenna. Since this antenna is fairly large and must rotate 24 hours a day, it can cause reliability issues. Modern systems have antennas that use electronic rotation (instead of mechanical rotation) with no moving parts.
Like all other forms of ground-based aircraft radio navigation currently used, it is likely that TACAN will be replaced by some form of space based navigational system such as GPS.[4]