Lockheed Martin [LMT] recently delivered the first two intra-fire unit message routing subsystems essential to Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) Internal Communications Subsystem (MICS) hardware components that will support upcoming integration tests, an executive from the tri-national effort said.
“MICS is a key part of our design, we knew the system was going to be wireless, that it was going to be plug and play, and knew it needed to be a network distributed architecture,” Steve Barnoske, president of MEADS International, told Defense Daily recently at the Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
MICS provides secure tactical communications between the MEADS major end items across a high-speed network.
MEADS system elements include a launcher designed to fire the PAC-3 MSE (Missile Segment Enhancement) missile, surveillance radar, fire control radars, and a C4I battle manager vehicle.
With MICS, the MEADS major end items can be widely dispersed while still communicating clearly, rapidly and efficiently. The message routing subsystem supports the networked exchange of command, control and status data between the major components and the tactical operations center.
The MICS message routing subsystem provides internet protocol-based communications connectivity while significantly reducing MEADS major end items’ vulnerability to enemy threat systems. “This is a key milestone in that development activity to support the netted-distributed capability of the system,” Barnoske said.
As the prime contractor for MEADS under the NATO MEADS Management Agency, MEADS International awarded Lockheed Martin the MICS design and development contract in December 2006.
Delivery of all 16 Message Routing Subsystem units and post-delivery systems integration and test will be complete in 2013.
Barnoske said that MICS is essentially on schedule with exception of the radio component that “has been changed a couple of times as a program.” L-3 Communications [LLL] is making the radio part of MICS. Either a surrogate radio or fiber optic cable will be utilized in upcoming pre-integration tests, he added.
Under development by Germany, Italy and the United States, MEADS is a mobile system that will replace Patriot in the United States, Patriot and the already retired Hawk system in Germany, and the Nike Hercules in Italy. MEADS International consists of Italy’s MBDA, Germany’s LFK and Lockheed Martin in the United States.
MEADS system elements are continuing integration and testing at system integration laboratories in the United States and Europe, and are on track for flight tests at White Sands Missile Range, N.M, starting in 2012.
Earlier this year, the MEADS battle management capability successfully demonstrated interoperability with the NATO Air Command and Control System (ACCS) during a Joint Project Optic Windmill (JPOW) test in July, the MEADS International program office said (Defense Daily, Oct. 1)
The interface test was conducted using the Active Layer Theatre Ballistic Missile Defense (ALTBMD) Integration Test Bed being developed by NATO.
The system is designed to combine superior battlefield protection with extensive flexibility, allowing it to protect maneuver forces and to provide selected critical assets for homeland defense against tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and aircraft.