Army turns enemy voices into targets with 2,769-pound Enhanced Trackwolf
By Miriam Adler ·
Enemy voice communications are exposed and pinned to a map, feeding a "quickfire" link to shooters tasked with pulling the trigger.
The equipment arrives in transit cases. It is designed to be "man-transportable," though the math of that transport is grueling: each station weighs 2,769 pounds. This is the AN/TSQ-199, known as Enhanced Trackwolf, a system built to ensure that no high-frequency voice communication remains private once it hits the sky.
A program description mirrored by the FAS Intelligence Resource Program describes a machine intended to "intercept, locate, exploit, or initially target" threat communications. For the Commander of U.S. Army Europe, this meant an "organic capability" to strip away the anonymity of the airwaves. It is a ground-based system that hunts for high-frequency (HF) sky waves—signals that bounce off the ionosphere to travel long distances—and pins them to a map.
Too Large for the Desert
Surveillance, like any industry, evolves through failure. The original AN/TSQ-152 Trackwolf was a beast of a system. It could be configured as a "large, fully capable mobile COMINT field station" or a slightly leaner "four-vehicle field configuration." But the reality of war is rarely as tidy as a manual.
During the operations of Desert Shield and Desert Storm, the Army discovered that the original Trackwolf was "too large and cumbersome for rapid deployment." It was a logistical anchor in a conflict defined by speed and shifting sands. Congress stepped in during Fiscal Year 1993, directing the creation of a version that could move as fast as the troops.
The result was the Enhanced Trackwolf (ET). The Army traded the four-vehicle convoy for the transit case. The new system allowed for setup and tear-down times of less than four hours. It was a lesson in efficiency: to better watch the enemy, the watchers had to become smaller, more elusive, and easier to carry.
Document imagery from irp.fas.org From the files: irp.fas.org
200 Kilometers Behind the Line
There is a specific, calculated distance to this kind of listening. The Collection and Processing Subsystem (CPS) is normally positioned in the theater rear area, approximately 200 kilometers behind the Forward Line of Own Troops (FLOT). This distance creates a buffer of safety for the technicians, but the reach of the system remains absolute.
The CPS handles the "signals intercept," while the Direction-Finding Subsystem (DFS) does the locating. The DFS uses three remotely located outstations that feed data back to a Net Control Station. Together, they form a net. If a voice is picked up, the system doesn't just record the words; it finds the emitter.
This is not merely about intelligence gathering; it is about the transition from a voice to a coordinate. The document notes that the system is capable of "instant signal acquisition, recognition, targeting, & reporting." The hardware, a mix of new items and older field station components, is designed to capture the "entire HF spectrum," ensuring that even the most modern modulations and Low Probability of Intercept (LPI) signals are pulled from the air.
Quickfire to Shooters
In the technical shorthand of the U.S. Army, the path from a captured conversation to a kinetic strike is strikingly short. The FAS document lists one of the system's primary performance characteristics as "Quickfire through ACE to shooters."
This phrase is the heartbeat of the machine. The "intercept" is only the first step. The "exploitation" follows. Once a target is located by the AN/TSQ-199, the information is fed into the All Source Analysis System (ASAS) and pushed through the link to the people tasked with pulling the trigger. The system does not just listen; it facilitates the strike.
The contract for this capability went to Technology for Communications International, based in Fremont, California. They built a system that could operate in temperatures ranging from freezing to a sweltering 120 degrees Fahrenheit, powered by commercial grids or HMMWV generators. It is a tool for any environment, designed for "Army-wide conflicts and special missions."
As the system matured through the mid-1990s, the goal was total integration. The record indicates that projected future activities included creating a seamless interconnectivity between Trackwolf, the Navy, and the National Security Agency direction finding nets.