Lockheed Martin’s [LMT] Airborne and Maritime/Fixed station Joint Tactical Radio System (AMF JTRS) is demonstrating the maturity of the complex system installed on a Boeing [BA] AH-64 Apache helicopter at the Army’s Network Integration Evaluation 12.1 at Ft. Bliss, Texas and White Sands Missile Range, N.M, a company official said.
“Our objective in NIE was to not only showcase AMF JTRS maturity but also show the power of AMF JTRS coupled to the Apache in the scenarios we’re involved in,” Mark Norris, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s AMF JTRS program said in an interview. “The successful demonstration also further illustrates that “we’re on the glideslope to getting through Milestone C in next 12 months or so. The AMF JTRS used in the NIE scenarios were pre-engineering design models, showing the interoperability, too, with other program of record radios like Rifleman.”
The company could showcase that value “by extending the aerial network, putting (pre-engineering development model) AMF JTRS in the air, we could connect ground soldiers that otherwise could not talk to one another or exchange information due to terrain masking, mountainous terrain,” he said.
The AMF JTRS is expected to be a NSA certifiable Type 1 encrypted, Internet Protocol communications network to connect Army, Navy, and Air Force platforms, enabling joint warfighters to share real-time voice, video and data communications.
The radios are expected to use the Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW) and the SRW on unmanned aerial vehicles, helicopters and aircraft.
The first platform for AMF JTRS fielding is the AH-64 Apache helicopter .“A primary objective was to demonstrate not only AMF JTRS maturity and ability to run this complex (Soldier Radio Waveform) SRW waveform, but to also demonstrate the value of extending the aerial network layer and to take advantage of the Apache’s capabilities,” Norris said.
A number of radio units have been delivered to the integration lab for the Air Force and Army for testing.
“We’re rapidly maturing here and showing we can run three sophisticated waveforms,” Norris said. AMF JTRS can run Link 16, which while not internet protocol (IP) enabled is still a complex waveform, and the company has demonstrated the ability to run the complex IP enabled WNW and SRW waveforms.
Additionally, Alex Moore, AMF JTRS business development at Lockheed Martin, said the company demonstrated interoperability with the HMS JTRS form factor of General Dynamics [GD] Rifleman Radio, which is going through its Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) during NIE 12.1 at White Sands.
Doug Booth, AMF JTRS director, business development, said NIE effort was to take the radio through six different vignettes approved ahead of time by the customer. The IP SRW waveform was fitted on the Apache and the goal was to fit the IP SRW waveform on the Apache and ensure it linked with the Rifleman radio SRW waveform.
The vignettes would test the range, quality and how robust the radio was as it connected with the different networks, Booth said.
“We were successful with all vignettes,” he said. For example, one vignette included mountainous terrain, where the ground soldiers carrying Rifleman radios were unable to talk to each other because they were separated by elevation and mountains. But an Apache flying on its own mission overhead was able to connect to those ground soldiers and exchange data and imagery. Soldiers on the ground could talk to each other because the AMF platform was acting as a “bridge” in the sky.
“We basically created an aerial IP network in the process,” greatly improving situational awareness for soldiers, he said.
Booth said the Apache was not just acting as an aerial layer, it was conducting its own missions, and has other priorities such as close air support, but while it is flying, the AMF radio will connect with whoever is around.
Lockheed Martin worked with Brigade Modernization Command to ensure AMF JTRS was addressing the kinds of missions units train on before deploying.
The intention is to “get everyone talking” with AMF JTRS, Norris said.
Moore said informal feedback so far has been positive, appreciative of the effort the company was making to extend the aerial tier and show the capabilities AMF JTRS would bring to the battlespace. Soldiers from Brigade Modernization Command took part only in the one of the six vignettes.
Norris said it’s possible the company would hear official evaluations before the end of the year, since the after action reviews will be going on over the next few weeks.
The invitations for NIE 12.2 next spring have not gone out yet, and Lockheed Martin would like to be part of it.
“We don’t want to stop with this demonstration,” Norris said.
But even if AMF JTRS doesn’t go to NIE 12.2, it will continue to expand its envelope.
“We will be taking same pre-EDM radio with the WNW waveform and putting on the U-2 platform and flying at much higher altitude,” Norris said. The radio system will go on an Air Force owned, dedicated test U-2 aircraft that Lockheed Martin maintains. WNW and SRW will be installed in the U-2 and “demonstrate what some additional altitude will do for you in terms of ground-to-ground connectivity.”
The Lockheed Martin AMF JTRS team includes BAE Systems, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman [NOC] and Raytheon [RTN].