Thu, Sep 23, 2010
Prototype Model Delivered To Apache Integration Team
A developmental radio for what is being described as a
revolutionary Internet-Protocol tactical communications network has
been delivered to the U.S. Army AH-64D Integration
Team. A preliminary engineering development model radio with
essential Link-16 functionality was delivered by Lockheed Martin to
the Airborne and Maritime Fixed Station Joint Tactical Radio System
(AMF JTRS) Program Office. The AMF JTRS Program Office then
provided the preliminary Joint Tactical Radio to the Apache Longbow
AH-64D platform integration laboratory in Mesa, Arizona.

File Photo
AMF JTRS is an Internet-Protocol network that through software
defined radio technology, will connect a diverse range of radios
and waveforms to provide joint forces with secure, real-time,
interoperable communications.
"This delivery is a significant event in the future of the JTRS
Enterprise as it represents the first opportunity for an aircraft
program to begin working on software defined radio interfaces,"
said Mark Norris, Vice President for Lockheed Martin's Joint
Tactical Network Solutions within IS&GS-Defense. "This delivery
will allow a 'walk before you run' approach for the AH-64D
integration team before receiving the actual engineering
development model in early 2011."
To better prepare for the paradigm shift from stove-piped,
legacy radios to the new world of software defined, multi-waveform,
multi-channel, secure networking systems, the Lockheed Martin AMF
JTRS engineering team has been working in unison with Boeing Apache
AH-64D engineers for the past six months. The early delivery of
this radio - which incorporates control software and essential Link
16 functions – allows the Apache integration team to begin
integrating the Joint Tactical Radio command and control functions
onto their platform architecture.

File Photo
Having the preliminary engineering development model in the lab
also allows the team to realize the next level of efficiencies,
such as performing numerous networking, avionics and software
checks, as well as preparing the physical configuration and
infrastructure of the labs to accommodate the engineering
development model and ancillaries.
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