Editing Tactical air navigation system (section)

{{Short description|Military air navigation system}}
[[File:DBs-900E-Sheppard-AFB.png|alt=|thumb|Typical US Air Force TACAN site using a dB Systems Model 900E TACAN Antenna]]
A '''tactical air navigation system''', commonly referred to by the [[acronym]] '''TACAN''', is a [[navigation]] system initially designed for naval aircraft to acquire moving landing platforms (i.e., ships) and later expanded for use by other military aircraft. It provides the user with bearing and distance (slant-range or hypotenuse) to a ground or ship-borne station. It is, from an end-user perspective, a more accurate version of the [[VHF omnidirectional range|VOR]]/[[distance measuring equipment|DME]] system that provides [[Bearing (navigation)|bearing]] and [[distance|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 [[Instrument approach#Non-precision approaches and systems|non-precision approaches]] to landing fields. However, a TACAN-only equipped aircraft cannot receive bearing information from a VOR-only station.