Military Amp Aerospace Electronics - April 2019 PDF

APRIL 2019
RELEVANT. TRUSTED.
ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES.
Pentagon
payday
Requested DOD budget
of $718.3 billion has
roughly 40 percent of
funds earmarked for
electronics and related
technology. PAGE 5
Thinking small
Modern aerospace and
defense applications
with a focus on
small size, weight,
power consumption,
and cost. PAGE 24
militaryaerospace.com
AI in unmanned
military systems
Finding the right
balance between
machine autonomy
and human-assisted
operations. PAGE 12
1904MAE_c1-c4.indd 1 4/3/19 4:47 PM

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1904MAE_c1-c4.indd 2 4/3/19 4:47 PM
APRIL 2019
VOL. 30, NO. 4
2 TRENDS
4 NEWS
4 IN BRIEF
12 SPECIAL REPORT
COvER STORY 
Artificial intelligence (AI) in

unmanned vehicles
Computer scientists and unmanned vehicles
designers work to find the right balance between
machine autonomy and human-assisted
operations in the next generation of military
systems on land, at sea, and in the air.
24 TECHNOLOGY FOCUS
Military power electronics seeks to
increase voltage and efficiency
Power control for aerospace and defense
applications aims at sometimes-conflicting demands
for custom designs, open-systems standards,
and the ever-present quest for small size, weight,
power consumption, and cost (SWaP-C).
30 RF & MICROWAVE
35 UNMANNED VEHICLES
38 ELECTRO-OPTICS WATCH
41 PRODUCT APPLICATIONS
44 NEW PRODUCTS
Military & Aerospace Electronics® (ISSN 1046-9079), Volume 30, No. 4. Military & Aerospace Electronics is published 12 times a year, monthly by PennWell® Corporation,
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www.militaryaerospace.com MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICS APRIL 2019 1

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trends BY JOHN KELLER, EDITOR IN CHIEF 
Good times continue for the U.S. defense

industry, as Pentagon money continues to roll-in
Remember last year when we consid- The electronics-heavy Pentagon — an 18.1 percent increase; $232.1 mil-
ered the 2019 U.S. Department of De- budget for research, development, test, lion for command, control, and com-
fense (DOD) budget request to be one and evaluation (RDT&E) in 2020 is on munications systems — a 24.8 per-
of the biggest of all time? Well fast-for- the upswing, as well. DOD officials are cent increase; $163.9 million for sensor
ward a year, and the 2020 military bud- asking Congress for $104.29 billion for technologies — an 11.7 percent reduc-
get request is even bigger. RDT&E projects next year. That’s up tion; and $128.6 million for advanced
Last spring when top Pentagon lead- 8.7 percent from the $95.96 billion DOD electronics technologies — a 15.8 per-
ers were asking Congress for $686.1 bil- researchers received this year. Feder- cent increase.
lion, many of us thought it would be the al fiscal year 2020 begins next Oct. 1. U.S. Special Operations Command
largest DOD budget we might ever see. Enjoy the moment, Pentagon Comp- is asking for $245.8 million for avia-
At the time, it was a breath of fresh air, troller David Norquist told the defense tion systems — a 39.8 percent increase;
after what seemed like years of seques- industry last fall. $167.6 million for operational enhance-
tration, and congressional continuing So where’s all this money going? ments — a 62.8 percent increase; $72.6
resolutions, things were finally were Here are some examples: cyber secu- million for maritime systems — a 71
looking up. rity and trusted computing would re- percent increase; $68.3 million for
Now comes the 2020 DOD budget receive $9.6 billion next year, highlighted warrior systems — a 9.1 percent re-
quest, and the news for the nation’s de- by $3.7 billion for offensive and defense duction; $42.4 million for unmanned
fense industry just keeps looking bet- cyberspace operations; $5.4 billion for intelligence, surveillance, and recon-
ter. The Pentagon is asking for $718.3 cyber security; and $61.9 million to naissance (ISR) — a 6.1 percent reduc-
billion next year, which is up 4.7 per- modernize the DOD general-purpose tion; and $20.7 million for the MQ-9
cent over the 2019 request — prom- cloud computing environment. Reaper surveillance and attack un-
ising another record year for U.S. de- Unmanned and autonomous proj- manned aerial vehicle (UAV) — a 12.5
fense spending. ects would receive $3.7 billion; artifi- percent increase.
The 2020 budget focuses on technol- cial intelligence and machine learning Missile defense next year would re-
ogies like unmanned vehicles and au- would receive $927 million; hyperson- ceive $13.6 billion, including $1.7 bil-
tomation; artificial intelligence (AI) and ic weapons development would receive lion for 37 SM-3 Aegis ballistic mis-
machine learning; hypersonic weap- $2.6 billion; and directed-energy tech- sile defense weapons; $1.5 billion for
ons; and directed-energy weapons. nologies like laser weapons would re- missile-defense studies; $1.7 billion
Roughly 40 percent of the entire DOD ceive $235 million, according to DOD. for ground-based midcourse defense;
budget goes for military electronics and The U.S. Defense Advanced Research $800 million for 37 Terminal High Al-
related technologies, such as comput- Projects Agency (DARPA), one of the titude Area Defense (THAAD) mis-
ers, sensors, communications, integrat- Pentagon’s premiere research organi- siles; and $700 million for 147 Patri-
ed circuits, electronic warfare (EW), zations, would receive a 3.8 percent in- ot advanced capability (PAC-3) missile
surveillance and reconnaissance, and crease in 2020, up from $3.43 billion to enhancements.
power electronics. That translates to $3.56 billion. There’s much more in the 2020 DOD
about $288 billion for the defense elec- DARPA is asking for $512.4 million for budget. The defense industry can be
tronics industry next year. network-centric warfare technologies grateful at least for another year. 
2 APRIL 2019 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICS www.militaryaerospace.com
1904MAE02-03.indd 2 4/3/19 4:47 PM

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1904MAE02-03.indd 31
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6/22/18 2:22 PM
PM
news
General Dynamics to refurbish Special Forces sets May technology
Army Stryker vehicles in
deals worth $2.7 billion demonstration for artificial intelligence (AI)
Armored combat vehicles experts at General
BY John Keller
Dynamics Land Systems in Sterling Heights, with industry partners with promis-
Mich., will repair, retrofit, and support U.S. TAMPA, Fla. — Weapons experts at U.S. ing solutions. If the SOCOM technolo-
Army M1126 Stryker combat vehicles to like- Special Operations Command (SOCOM) gy demonstration evaluation panel fa-
new condition under terms of two separate at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., are in- vorably evaluates a solution brief at the
five-year contracts announced in late February viting companies to demonstrate new demonstrations, negotiations may be-
collectively worth $2.7 billion. Officials of the enabling technologies in artificial in- gin immediately.
Army Contracting Command in Warren, telligence (AI), machine learning, and This event is considered compet-
Mich., are asking General Dynamics for ret- robotic process control; hyper-enabled itive in the same manner as a broad
rofit, damage repair, and reset-refurbishment operator; and next-generation imagery, agency announcement or commercial
services to support the Stryker family of vehi- surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR). solutions opening, and solutions will
cles; as well as for Stryker wholesale supply, SOCOM will sponsor a technology be evaluated independently for tech-
performance-based, logistics services. A reset demonstration called the Disrupter nical merit.
contract involves the repair and retrofit of Applications for artificial intelli-
battle-worn or damaged products to a like- gence, machine learning, and robotic
new condition, which means to refurbish to process automation may for predictive
near zero miles and hours of wear and tear. maintenance; warfighter mental and
The Stryker family of eight-wheeled armored physical health; cyber protection and
fighting vehicles from General Dynamics Land resilience; logistics; contract manage-
Systems is a derivative of the Canadian LAV ment; and partnered force operations.
III combat vehicle from a General Dynamics- Technologies may involve cogni-
General Motors Defence Canada team, and tive problem-solving software; pow-
is based on the Swiss Piranha III 8×8 com- er-efficient chips and solid-state cir-
bat vehicle. Stryker is designed as a deploy- cuits; AI-enhanced smart phones and
U.S. Special Operations Command is inviting
able fighting vehicle that is more lethal than companies to demonstrate enabling portable devices; simulations and cog-
light vehicles like Humvees, yet is lighter technologies in artificial intelligence (AI), nitive modeling assessment tools; au-
and more maneuverable than heavyweight machine learning, and robotic process tonomous or cognitive capabilities for
combat vehicles like the M1 Abrams main control in May. drones, vehicles and robotics; and tools
battle tank. For more information contact and that reduce cognitive workload.
General Dynamics Land Systems online Event from 20 to 22 May 2019 at Tam- Capabilities of interest for artificial
at www.gdls.com, or the Army Contracting pa Convention Center, 333 South Frank- intelligence, machine learning, and ro-
Command-Warren at www.tacom.army.mil. lin St., Tampa, Fla. 33602. The event botic process automation include per-
happens at the same time as the Spe- ception; speech recognition; document
Sikorsky-Boeing’s Future cial Operations Forces Industry Con- analysis; signals analysis; natural lan-
Vertical Lift helicopter ference (SOFIC) at the Tampa Conven- guage processing; recommendation en-
takes maiden flight tion Center. gines; and autonomous action, naviga-
On March 21, the Sikorsky-Boeing SB>1 During the event, participants pri- tion, and movement.
DEFIANT helicopter achieved first flight at vate one-on-one session with evalua- Technologies of interest for hy-
Sikorsky’s West Palm Beach, Fla., site. The tion panel to pitch, demonstrate, and per-enabled operator include edge com-
aircraft, developed by Sikorsky and Boeing, discuss their solutions. SOCOM offi- puting and analytics; layered and au-
cials want to enter into agreements tomated tactical communications and
4 A P R I L 2 0 1 9 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICSwww.militaryaerospace.com
1904MAE04-11.indd 4 4/3/19 4:47 PM

navigation; tailorable human machine location; meshed and layered network- has unique two-coaxial main rotors and a
interfaces; adaptable flexible sensors; ing; multi-domain sensor fusion; cog- rear mounted pusher propulsor design. The
biometric and forensic analysis tools; nitive man-machine interfaces; social helicopter is part of the Army’s Joint Multi-
social network mapping and sentiment network mapping; and predictive sen- Role technology demonstration program
measurement tools; interoperability timent analysis tools. which has the purpose to define require-
and integration standards and models; Companies interested should sub- ments for a medium-lift Future Vertical Lift
heuristic or probabilistic techniques to mit white papers no later than 3 April aircraft. The helicopter is participating in the
speed decision making; telemetry and 2019 online at https://sofwerx.wufoo. Army’s Joint Multi-Role-Medium Technology
Internet of battlefield things; intuitive com/forms/wo6tj441xqosqn. For ques- Demonstrator program. Data from DEFIANT
mobile applications; and technologies tions or concerns contact John Kenney will help the Army develop requirements for
that increase stand-off identification by email at john.kenney@socom.mil, or new utility helicopters expected to enter ser-
and characterization. by phone at 813-826-5671.  vice in the early 2030s. The Pentagon’s fis-
Technologies of interest for cal year 2020 budget request released ear-
next-generation ISR include imagery, More information is online at www.sofwerx.org/ lier in March included approximately $790
surveillance, and reconnaissance tools; disrupter, www.sofwerx.org/wp-content/uploads/ million for Future Vertical Lift research and
standoff biometrics; micro and nano Disrupter-TFAs-5-Mar-2109-002.pdf, or https:// development, including $152 million for FVL
technology; unattended sensors; data www.fbo.gov/spg/ODA/USSOCOM/SOAL-KB/US- advanced technology.
aggregation; spectrum detection and SOCOM2019DISRUPTER/listing.html.
1904MAE04-11.indd 5 1
AeroCol_MAEbg_1903 4/3/19 9:13
2/1/19 4:47 AM
PM
news
Boeing to build 78 F/A-
18E/F carrier-based combat
2020 $718.3 billion DOD budget
jets in $4 billion deal
is up; eyes hypersonics, laser
Combat aircraft designers at the Boeing Co.
will build 78 F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Block weapons, trusted computing
III carrier-based jet fighter-bombers for the
BY John Keller
U.S. Navy under terms of a $4 billion con-
tract announced in mid-March. Officials of WASHINGTON — Leaders of the U.S. Depart-
the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent ment of Defense (DOD) are asking Con-
River Naval Air Station, Md., are asking the gress for $718.3 billion in federal fiscal
Boeing Defense, Space & Security segment year 2020, which represents a 4.7 per-
in St. Louis to build 61 single-seat F/A-18E cent increase over this year’s military
and 17 two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornets budget, according to budget figures re-
under terms of this five-year contract. The leased last month, which would rep-
twin-engine carrier-capable multirole fighter resent another record year for U.S. de-
and light-attack F/A-18E/F combat jets and fense spending.
their avionics are based on the McDonnell The 2020 DOD budget request fo-
Modernizing the nation’s nuclear forces is a
Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, which entered U.S. cuses on technologies like unmanned cornerstone of the record 2020 budget
Navy squadrons in 1983, but are larger and vehicles and automation; artificial in- proposal for the U.S. Department of Defense.
more advanced derivatives. The F/A-18E/F telligence (AI) and machine learning;
has a larger wing and a longer fuselage to hypersonic weapons; and directed-en- Missile defense next year would re-
carry more fuel and more powerful engines. ergy weapons in their fiscal 2020 bud- ceive $13.6 billion, including $1.7 bil-
The Block III configuration adds enhanced get request to Congress. Fiscal year lion for 37 SM-3 Aegis ballistic missile
network capability, longer range, reduced 2020 begins next October 1. defense weapons; $1.5 billion for mis-
radar signature, an advanced cockpit sys- Roughly 40 percent of the entire DOD sile-defense studies; $1.7 billion for
tem, and enhanced communications sys- budget goes for military electronics and ground-based midcourse defense; $800
tem. Boeing will begin converting existing related technologies, such as comput- million for 37 Terminal High Altitude
Block II Super Hornets to Block III early in ers, sensors, communications, integrat- Area Defense (THAAD) missiles; and
the next decade. The fighter’s life also will ed circuits, electronic warfare (EW), $700 million for 147 Patriot advanced ca-
be extended from 6,000 hours to 10,000 surveillance and reconnaissance, and pability (PAC-3) missile enhancements.
hours, Boeing officials say. For more infor- power electronics. Space would receive $14.1 billion
mation contact Boeing Defense, Space & Cyber security and trusted com- next year, including $3.7 billion for es-
Security online at www.boeing.com/computing would receive $9.6 billion next tablishing the U.S. Space Force; $1.7
pany/about-bds, or Naval Air Systems year, highlighted by $3.7 billion for of- billion for four national security space
Command at www.navair.navy.mil. fensive and defense cyberspace op- launches; $1.8 billion for one GPS III
erations; $5.4 billion for cyber securi- secure navigation satellite; and $1.6
Radiation detection offers ty; and $61.9 million to modernize the billion for space-based overhead per-
remote inspection of shipping DOD general-purpose cloud comput- sistent infrared surveillance.
containers and trucks ing environment. New aircraft would receive $57.7
Physicists at the University of Maryland have Unmanned and autonomous projects billion, including $11.2 billion for 78
developed a powerful new method of radi- would receive $3.7 billion; artificial in- F-35 joint strike fighters; $2.3 billion
ation detection by using an infrared laser telligence and machine learning would for 12 KC-46 aerial tankers; $2 billion
beam to induce a phenomenon known as receive $927 million; hypersonic weap- for 24 F/A-18E/F carrier-based jet fight-
an electron avalanche breakdown near the ons development would receive $2.6 bil- er-bombers; $800 million for six VH-93
material. The new technique can perform lion; and directed-energy technologies presidential helicopters; $1.5 billion for
remote detection of shielded material from a like laser weapons would receive $235 six P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and
million, according to DOD documents. surveillance aircraft; $1.5 billion for six
6
A P R I L 2 0 1 9 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICSwww.militaryaerospace.com
1904MAE04-11.indd 6 4/3/19 4:47 PM

news
U.S. Marine Corps CH-53K heavy-lift Pentagon seeks $104.29 billion military research
helicopters; and $1.1 billion for eight
F-15EX air-superiority jet fighters. budget — an increase of 8.7 percent
DOD also wants $34.7 billion for mil-
BY John Keller
itary surface ships and submarines, in- research and development budget
cluding $2.2 billion in research for the WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of next year, in what would be a major
future Columbia-class ballistic missile Defense (DOD) is asking Congress for boost for crucial enabling technolo-
submarine to replace Ohio-class boats; an 8.7 percent increase in the military gies in communications, surveillance,
$2.6 billion for one Ford Class aircraft car-
rier; $10.2 billion for three Virginia-class
fast attack submarines; $5.8 billion for
three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers;
$1.3 billion for one new frigate; $1.1 bil-
lion for two fleet replenishment oilers;
$200 million for two towing, salvage,
and rescue ships; and $447 million for
two large unmanned surface vehicles.
For ground systems DOD wants $14.6
billion, including $1.6 billion for 4,090
joint light tactical vehicles (JLTVs); $2.2
billion to modify 165 M-1 Abrams main
battle tanks; $400 million for 56 amphib-
ious combat vehicles; and $600 million
for 131 armored multi-purpose vehicles.
For munitions and weapons DOD
wants $1.1 billion for 40,388 joint di-
rect attack munitions (JDAMs); $1.4 bil-
lion for 10,193 guided multiple launch
rocket systems (MLRS); $700 million for
125 RIM-174 SM-6 shipboard missiles;
$400 million for 1,925 small-diameter
bombs; $700 million for 9,000 Hellfire
missiles; $600 million for 430 joint air-
to-surface standoff missiles; and $200
million for 40 long-range anti-ship mis-
siles (LRASMs).
Nuclear weapons modernization
would receive $31 billion next year,
including $3 billion for B-21 long-range
strike bomber research; $2.2 billion for
Columbia-class ballistic missile sub-
marine research; $700 million for the
Long-Range Stand-Off Missile; and $600
million for the next-generation land-
based intercontinental ballistic missile
(ICBM) — also known as the Ground-
Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD). 
www.militaryaerospace.com
1904MAE04-11.indd 7 4/3/19 4:47 PM

DawPro_MAE_1307 1 6/5/13 2:34 PM
news
distance, and improves on current technolo- computers, electronic warfare (EW), for command, control, and communi-
gies that require close proximity to the radio- electro-optics, and related electron- cations systems — a 24.8 percent in-
active material. With additional engineering ics technologies. crease; $163.9 million for sensor tech-
advancements, the remote detection method DOD officials are asking for $104.29 nologies — an 11.7 percent reduction;
could be scaled up and used to scan trucks billion for electronics-rich research, and $128.6 million for advanced elec-
and shipping containers at ports of entry, development, test, and evaluation tronics technologies — a 15.8 percent
providing a powerful new tool to detect con- (RDT&E) projects in the department’s increase.
cealed, dangerous radioactive material. The fiscal 2020 budget request, which was In basic research DARPA is asking
researchers described their proof-of-concept released in mid-March. That’s up 8.7 for $442.6 million for information and
experiments in a research paper published in percent from the $95.96 billion DOD communications technologies — a 9.3
the journal Science Advances. As radioactive researchers received this year. Feder- percent increase; $337.6 million for tac-
material emits decay particles, the particles al fiscal year 2020 begins next Oct. 1. tical technology — a 9.1 percent in-
strip electrons from — or ionize — nearby The research crease; and $332.2
atoms in the air, creating a small number of budget typically is million for elec-
free electrons that quickly attach to oxygen heavy in technol- tronics technolo-
molecules. By focusing an infrared laser beam ogy development, gy — a 5 percent
into this area, Schwartz and his colleagues and is where the reduction.
easily detached these electrons from their Pentagon pays for In other de-
oxygen molecules, seeding an avalanche-like electronics tech- fense agencies,
rapid increase in free electrons that is relatively nologies consid- the U.S. Missile
easy to detect. ered to be critical Defense Agency
for tomorrow’s (MDA) in 2020 is
Deadly Boeing crashes raise weapon systems. The Pentagon is seeking a major boost for asking for $7.25
questions about commercial crucial enabling technologies in
Of this RDT&E billion — a 1.7
aircraft automation communications, surveillance, computers,
request, the U.S. percent increase.
electronic warfare (EW), electro-optics, and
Two Boeing 737 Max 8 jets, a variant of Air Force is ask- related electronics technologies in the 2020 In advanced tech-
the world’s most popular jetliner, crashed ing for $46.07 military research budget. nolog y devel-
within six months of each other in a rate billion; defense opment, MDA is
of failure that raises questions about the agencies for $25.17 billion; the U.S. asking for $1.16 billion for the ballis-
airplane’s cockpit automation. Preliminary Navy and Marine Corps for $20.43 bil- tic missile defense midcourse defense
data from the first of the crashes, Lion Air lion; and the U.S. Army for $12.4 bil- segment — a 44 percent increase;
Flight 610, suggests that the automated sys- lion. This represents a plus-up for each $727.5 million for Aegis shipboard
tem forced the plane into a steep dive soon service branch over this year: 11 per- ballistic missile defense — an 18.7
after takeoff. At least half a dozen pilots cent for the Air Force; 4.6 percent for percent reduction; $571.5 million for
have complained about unexpected nose defense agencies; 9.5 percent for the ballistic missile defense enabling pro-
dives from the system. To be sure, automa- Navy and Marine Corps; and 9 percent grams — an 8.6 percent reduction; and
tion is widely used in commercial avionics for the Army. $564.2 million for ballistic missile de-
and has been praised for making the skies The U.S. Defense Advanced Research fense command and control — an 11.1
much safer. But there are growing concerns Projects Agency (DARPA), one of the percent increase.
among pilots and safety experts that the Pentagon’s premiere research organi- The Office of the Secretary of De-
industry is relying too much on automation, zations, would receive a 3.8 percent in- fense (OSD) is asking for $5.29 billion
especially overly complex systems. Boeing, crease in 2020, increasing from $3.43 for research and development in 2020
meanwhile, is facing questions about its billion to $3.56 billion. — a 10.2 percent reduction; the Chem-
decisions to withhold information from In applied research in 2020, DAR- ical and Biological Defense program
regulators about the anti-stall technology PA is asking for $512.4 million for net- is asking for $1.05 billion — a 5.4 per-
implicated in the Lion Air crash.  work-centric warfare technologies — cent increase; the U.S. Special Opera-
an 18.1 percent increase; $232.1 million tions Command (SOCOM) is asking for
8
1904MAE04-11.indd 8 4/3/19 4:47 PM

news
$820.3 million — a 34 percent increase;
and the Defense Information Systems
Skyborg unmanned combat aircraft to
Agency (DISA) is asking for $542.9 mil- push bounds of artificial intelligence (AI)
lion — a 92.4 percent increase.
In Special Operations Command ad- BY John Keller Researchers are interested in a pro-
vanced technology development pro- WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio — U.S. Air totype inexpensive, quick-turnaround,
grams, SOCOM is asking for $245.8 Force researchers are approaching autonomous unmanned combat air
million for aviation systems — a 39.8 industry for mature enabling tech- vehicle (UCAV), which will be a mod-
percent increase; $167.6 million for op- nologies for a prototype a low-cost ular, fighter-like aircraft that can take
erational enhancements — a 62.8 per- unmanned combat aircraft called on increasingly complex technologies
cent increase; $72.6 million for mari- Skyborg, which will have artificial and tasking to support the warfighter.
time systems — a 71 percent increase; intelligence (AI) and modular pay- Once fielded, Skyborg will enable
$68.3 million for warrior systems — a loads for a wide variety of fighter and warfighters to adjust Skyborg’s pay-
9.1 percent reduction; $42.4 million for ground-attack capabilities. load and autonomy modularly to sup-
unmanned intelligence, surveillance, Officials of the Air Force Research port an array of missions. Researchers
and reconnaissance (ISR) — a 6.1 per- Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force are interested only in technologies that
cent reduction; and $20.7 million for Base, Ohio, issued a capability request quickly can move to operational use.
the MQ-9 Reaper surveillance and at- for information (FA8650-19-S-9340) in Advanced autonomy and artificial
tack unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) — March for the Skyborg Autonomous Un- intelligence (AI) are poised to change
a 12.5 percent increase.  manned Combat Air Vehicle project. the character of the international
IMU / AHRS | GNSS/INS | GPS-COMPASS
NEXT-GENERATION
INERTIAL NAVIGATION
INDUSTRIAL SERIES TACTICAL SERIES
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news
battlefield substantially in the near
future, Air Force researchers explain.
Researchers want to field an autono-
mous system that meets an immedi-
ate operational need, as well as that
can jump-start complex AI develop-
ment, prototyping, experimentation,
and fielding.
Air Force officials plans to proceed
at an accelerated timeline, with exper-
iments and demonstrations planned
for as early as 2020.
Skyborg will be attritable, meaning
it will have a lost enough cost to sac- The Air Force is approaching industry for enabling technologies for a prototype a low-cost
rifice it in combat to attack high-val- unmanned combat aircraft called Skyborg, which is expected to push the bounds of
ue targets. It also will be reusable after artificial intelligence (AI).
flying routine missions. It also has the
ability of an intelligent system to com- mission planning tools that emphasize AFRL.SDPE.Skyborg@us.af.mil. Email
pose and select independently among modularity and openness. questions or concerns to Skyborg Con-
different courses of action. Researchers also want an autono- tracting Officer Mike Wafzig at michael.
Its artificial intelligence embedded mous aircraft that can operate with wafzig@us.af.mil. 
computing will have modular compo- personnel who have limited engineer-
nents and protocols that conform to ing or pilot experience. More information is online at https://www.
open-systems standards, which inte- Companies interested were asked fbo.gov/spg/USAF/AFMC/AFRLWRS/FA8650-
grate easily with third-party products. to email responses by 15 April 2019 to 19-S-9340/listing.html.
Open systems mitigate risks associat-
ed with technology obsolescence, vend-
er-unique technology, and single sourc-
es of supply and maintenance, Air Force
Air Force asks industry to build OLED
researchers explain. micro displays for military upgrades
Skyborg must have an open AI soft-
ware architecture and toolkits that en- BY John Keller OLED is a next-generation display
able timely modifications and upgrades WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio — U.S. Air Force technology that is replacing liquid crys-
of complex autonomous behaviors; researchers are surveying U.S. compa- tal displays (LCD) in applications like
have modular open-systems mission nies that can build organic light emit- small displays for wearable electron-
hardware; and meet military certifi- ting-diode (OLED) micro displays to ics, mobile micro displays, and small
cation and acquisition requirements. help upgrade currently fielded U.S. mil- size, weight, and power consumption
Desired, but not required, in Sky- itary electronics. (SWaP) uses.
borg are the ability autonomously to Officials of the Air Force Research OLEDs, which can be about the size
avoid other aircraft, terrain, obstacles, Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air of a coin, are made from thin films of
and hazardous weather; conduct au- Force Base, Ohio, issued a request for organic light emitting materials that
tonomous takeoffs and returns; have information (FA8650-19-S-5018) on emit light when electricity is applied.
separate sensor payloads and flight Monday for the Defense Production They have a much simpler structure
computers to allow for modular ad- Act (DPA) Title III Technology Market and have several advantages, compared
justments and adaptability; and have Research, Organic Light Emitting Di- to LCDs.
mission-planning software that inte- ode (OLED) Microdisplay Technology For Air Force purposes, an OLED mi-
grates with next-generation Air Force Production Capability project. cro display has a minimum format of
10
1904MAE04-11.indd 10 4/3/19 4:47 PM

640 by 480 pixels, with and a pixel pitch no larger than 15-mi-
crons. Relevant OLEDs must qualify to function in military
CT assemblies vs conventional PTFE-based assemblies
environments for shock and vibration, and operate in tem-
peratures from -40 to 65 degrees Celsius. 2000
These displays must maintain contrast ratios better than 1000
Phase variation [ppm]

10,000:1, and a minimum dimming range down to 0.1-foot 0
Lamberts for white. Monochrome brightness must be better -1000
than 3,000-foot Lamberts and RGB color OLED better than

-2000
50-foot Lamberts, and the displays must be daylight-read-
-3000
able and maintain nighttime performance.
Technology advancements must address achieving a -4000
–60 –30 0 30 60 90 120
2,048-by-2,048-pixel color pixel format within a 1.25-inch Temperatur [°C]
package that can display a minimum of 256 measurably Low density PTFE
MF_141_CT
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Air Force electro-optics experts are searching for companies able to broad range of RF applications where phase
build advanced OLED flat-panel displays for future military stability over temperature is key. They increase
electronics upgrades. system accuracy by suppressing the abrupt
phase change observed at room temperature
Air Force researchers also are interested in current and with conventional PTFE-based assemblies. The
future manufacturing capabilities that will help to create industry-leading phase vs. temperature per-
an economically viable military and commercial supplier formance is available in a wide selection of
of military-grade OLED micro-displays. cable size and design (flexible, handformable,
Companies interested were asked to email their inten- semi-rigid) to fulfill the RF requirements in Aero-
tions to respond by 25 March 2019 to the Air Force’s Timo- space & Defense, Test & Measurement and
thy Kramer at Timothy.Kramer.5@us.af.mil. Industrial environments.
To respond to this request for information email 10-page
unclassified white papers to Timothy Kramer at Timothy. For more facts: › hubersuhner.com
Kramer.5@us.af.mil. For questions or concerns contact Tim-
othy Kramer by phone at (937-713-9886, or by email at Tim-
othy.Kramer.5@us.af.mil.
More information is online at https://www.fbo.gov/spg/USAF/AFMC/AFRL-

WRS/FA8650-19-S-5018/listing.html. HUBER+SUHNER AG 9100 Herisau/Switzerland
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1904MAE04-11.indd 11 4/4/19 9:00 AM

HubSuh_MAE_1904 1 3/20/19 10:00 AM
S PECIA L REPORT
Artificial intelligence (AI)

IN UNMANNED VEHICLES
Computer scientists and unmanned vehicles designers pilots killed or captured flying low al-
titude surveillance missions over hos-
work to find the right balance between machine autonomy tile territory.
and human-assisted operations in the next generation Yet unmanned flight is one thing;
and autonomous flight can be some-
of military systems on land, at sea, and in the air. thing else. None of the thousands of
UAVs produced and deployed by near-
BY J.R. Wilson ly every nation on Earth in the past 20
years has been fully autonomous; there
One of the biggest buzzwords in mili- for 20 years, led by the U.S. and demon- always has been a human in the loop.
tary and commercial technology devel- strated with devastating effect during True autonomy would remove the
opment today is autonomy — self-driv- the Second Gulf War. human element, with the autonomous
ing cars; aircraft with no pilot onboard; The first U.S. UAV, which at first unmanned vehicle (AUV) operating en-
land, sea, and underwater vehicles used what is now considered a prim- tirely on its own, reporting back to hu-
without human controllers. itive technology in the First Gulf War, mans on what it has found during an
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), was merely following the path cre- intelligence, surveillance and recon-
remotely controlled by humans, have ated by Israelis in the 1980s as they naissance (ISR) mission. Potentially,
been a key part of the world’s militaries sought to reduce the number of human such platforms also could be armed
1904MAE12-23.indd 12 4/3/19 4:46 PM

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S PECIAL REPORT
and act on their own in a hunter/killer

mode, but current international agree-
ments prohibit any armed attack with-
out a human “pulling the trigger”.
Full autonomy requires the use of
another major technology challenge
— artificial intelligence (AI) — which
is replete with its own controversies,
not only technological, but also ethi-
cal, moral, and legal.
History of autonomous vehicles

What may surprise many who believe
all these to be wonders of the 21st cen-
tury’s new age of technology is the rel-
atively long history of unmanned and
autonomous vehicles. This history far
predates their introduction into the
The Textron Systems Common Unmanned Surface Vehicle is the U.S. Navy’s first unmanned
surface vehicle program of record.
modern world in the late 20th Century.
What is generally considered to be
the first autonomous vehicle, in fact, The autopilot, part of nearly every passenger vehicle that used cameras
was designed by Leonardo da Vinci major aircraft in the world today, was to detect street markings while mov-
around 1500. His self-propelled cart invented in 1933 by Sperry Gyroscope ing at nearly 20 miles per hour.
used high-tension springs to move Co. in New York and gained worldwide A decade later, German engineer
without being pushed or pulled and a fame when pioneering pilot Wiley Post Ernst Dickmanns took that a step fur-
steering mechanism that could be set used it on a 13,000 mile, round-the- ther, placing a bank of cameras and 60
in advance to send it along a predeter- world flight. “Mechanical Mike” used microprocessing modules on the front
mined path. As with many of da Vinci’s gyroscopes to track the aircraft’s head- and back of a car and creating what he
inventions — including the helicopter ing by interfacing with flight controls called “dynamic vision” — an imaging
and parachute — there is no evidence to keep it on course. system that focused only on objects rel-
his cart was ever built. Another form of autonomy is the evant to the vehicle’s movement. His
The first autonomous platform ac- car cruise control, which maintains VaMoRs eventually was able to travel
tually produced and deployed was the a set speed while engaged. Although at speeds up to 60 mph on Germany’s
Whitehead Torpedo in 1868. Inventor the Teeter Cruise Control was invent- high-speed Autobahn.
Robert Whitehead took existing short- ed in 1945, it did not see commercial From 2004 to 2013, the U.S. Defense
range torpedoes, which traveled under use until 1958. Advanced Research Projects Agency
momentum from their initial firing, The race to the moon led to the first (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., sponsored
and installed a pressurized system that self-driving vehicle actually built, the a series of challenges for academic, in-
enabled them to propel themselves un- Stanford Cart, in 1961, when engineer- dustrial, and private inventors to de-
derwater, maintaining depth, for sever- ing graduate student James Adams pro- velop a car that could self-navigate
al hundred yards. It had the same im- posed a way for a lunar rover to move through a variety of environments,
pact on naval warfare at the time as about the moon’s surface despite the from a 150-mile desert course in 2004
the Predator UAV had on aerial war- 2.5 second transmission delay from re- to a 60-mile urban setting in 2007.
fare nearly a century and a half later. mote controllers on Earth. While none of the entrants completed
Torpedo guidance also evolved rapid- In 1977, Japan-based Tsukuba Me- the desert challenge, four cars succeed-
ly after that, with expanded influence chanical Engineering advanced the ed in traversing the urban route with-
on other weapons, including aircraft. concept of self-driving cars with a in that challenge’s six-hour time limit.
14
1904MAE12-23.indd 14 4/3/19 4:46 PM

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www.militaryaerospace.com MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICS A P R I L 2 0 1 9 15
DataDev_MAE_1904 1 3/26/19 10:49 AM
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S PECIAL REPORT
Military leaders may be even more weapons are released, so the military
cautious when it comes to AI. “By their is very cautious about deploying fully
very nature, the military is less cau- autonomous systems with the ability
tious,” Engle says. “The question about to do harm. More quickly will be sup-
full autonomy on the battlefield is do port systems, such as medevac and
you want a system that does not have supply delivery.”
a human in the loop controlling when Sean Baity, Technology Director for
Unmanned Systems at Textron Sys- HR3000 is a rugged, half-rack width, short
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Rapidly evolving technology and military applications,” he says.

“The technology is evolving very rapid- “That is going very quickly, with siz-
ly. The hardware and software aspects able investments and defense interest-
are fairly accessible, no longer required in bringing that level of rigor and
ing exquisite platforms or yet-to-be de- confidence into defense systems,” Ba-
veloped math; they are now point and ity says. “One area leading this effort
The Textron Systems Aerosonde HQ is a
click. Right now it is building confi- is UUVs [unmanned underwater vehi-
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1904MAE12-23.indd 16 4/3/19 4:47 PM

S PECIAL REPORT
any human intervention. That is a chal- right time to achieve the intended out- giant predicted a future where AI plays
lenging environment, but does not have come, being able to recognize a situa- a major role in just about every part of
the considerations of civil air space tion and make a decision that reach- military and civilian life.
safety.” es the appropriate outcome, he says. “In an AI-enhanced future, hu-
AeroVironment Inc. in Monrovia, One of the most enthusiastic sup- mans will become better at everything;
Calif., has a long history in the pro- porters of AI-based systems is Lock- they’ll also become safer and less vul-
duction of UAVs for the military and, heed Martin Corp. in Bethesda, Md. In nerable to danger,” the paper states.
more recently, for commercial use. Ste- a January 2019 paper, the aerospace “AI-enabled autonomous systems are
ven Gitlin, vice president of corporate
strategy, also sees the technology out-
pacing the military’s concept of opera-
tions (CONOPS).
“It’s a quickly evolving space with
lofty ambitions and a lot of horsepow-
er and we’ve been able to deliver some
basic autonomy capabilities that we be-
lieve, over time, can deliver more value
to the customer,” Gitlin says. “Anything
that can enable a customer to perform
their mission more safely, efficiently
and cost-effectively is attractive. And
that’s what unmanned vehicles have
done already. It’s a continuum.”
In terms of technologies neces-
sary to enable the next generation, he
adds, “there’s a lot of development go-
ing on in machine vision, AI, neural
nets, machine-to-machine communi-
cation. Those calls need to happen very
quickly and the more complex the en-
vironment and task, the faster those
calls need to take place.” AI’s role will
be making the right decisions at the
The Textron Systems Shadow Tactical

Unmanned Aircraft System has more than 1
million flight hours of experience from
operations around the world.
1904MAE12-23.indd 17 4/3/19 4:47 PM

ECS_MAE_1904 1 3/25/19 1:57 PM
S PECIAL REPORT
The Textron Systems Aerosonde Small Unmanned Aircraft System has more than 300,000 flight hours of experience from land and sea
operations around the world. At any given point in time, there is an Aerosonde system operating somewhere in the world.
changing the way militaries operate be successful, could raise the figure surveillance missions or undersea car-
and protect their forces, the way first far higher for military and commer- go vessels to deliver sensor payloads
responders fight fires, how research- cial sales combined, with one of the and other UUVs.
ers explore the far reaches of space and largest applications being agriculture, The Navy and DARPA have been
the ocean’s depths.” where automation already has taken working with Boeing and Lockheed
“Effective manned/unmanned a strong hold. Martin for several years on a vari-
teaming reduces the high cognitive ety of large UUV efforts, such as the
workload, allowing the warfighter to Autonomy in unmanned vehicles Large-Displacement Unmanned Un-
focus on creative and complex plan- Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace derwater Vehicle project. The LDUUV
ning and management,” the paper con- and defense company, also is a major is an autonomous submarine no larger
tinues “Autonomous systems also have supporter of unmanned technologies than 80 inches in diameter that will be
the ability to access hazardous mis- today and fully autonomous unmanned used to help develop concepts for us-
sion environments, react more quick- vehicles tomorrow. In mid-February, ing the larger XLUUVs.
ly and provide persistent capabilities the U.S. Navy awarded Boeing Defense, While the operating environment for
without fatigue.” Space & Security a $43 million order to UUVs is less complex than that for ei-
Some analysts predict global sales build four Orca Extra-Large Unmanned ther UAVs or UGVs, it nonetheless pres-
of $100 billion in unmanned vehi- Undersea Vehicles (XLUUVs). At sev- ents several unique obstacles for an
cles through 2025, 80 percent of that en feet in width, the XLUUV is among unmanned system. First, direct com-
on UAVs. But those figures do not ac- the largest unmanned submersibles munication from a manned submarine
count for AUVs, which, if shown to ever conceived for long-endurance or surface ship is impossible. Instead,
18
1904MAE12-23.indd 18 4/3/19 4:47 PM

S PECIAL REPORT
the UUV must cope with rapidly chang- And a lot of decisions will need to be potential combat adversaries: China
ing thermal layers to large aquatic ani- made in real time.” and Russia. Both have made it clear
mals like whales, to fishing nets, mine- they are working hard on both tech-
fields, and even sunken ships. To be Autonomy and safety nologies — and China has boasted of
successful, a long-range underwater One concern of those involved in the its advances in 5G. In addition, nei-
vessel needs some form of AI to han- development of AI and AUVs in the ther government faces the potential
dle those obstacles as well as changing U.S. is the possibility of falling behind weight of public opposition should
conditions related to its mission. two of the nation’s chief rivals and something go wrong.
AI is actually a multi-layered con-
cept, ranging from machine learning,
to adaptive reasoning, cognitive com-
puting, and to full artificial intelligence.
The first has been in use for several
years, the second more recently, the
third is still under development, and
Trust Elma and our

the final step has some way to go. Each,
however, has a role to play in AUV de-
velopment and deployment.
“AI is a software function,” says
award winning
Mercury’s Engle. “The key with soft-
ware in general is programmers have
OpenVPX Products
sets of requirements they have to
write software to answer. But with
autonomy, you can’t possibly list every
possible problem you may encounter
while flying, for example. We can only
program for what we know the prob-
lems are today. The promise of AI is
the ability to create software that can
handle a situation it hasn’t encoun-
tered before, approaching the prob-
lem much the way a human would,
drawing on past experience to deal
with a new problem.”
Technology eventually is expected
to catch up. “Technology is evolving,”
says John Bratton, Mercury’s director
of product marketing for sensor and
mission processing. “In terms of pro- OpenVPX chassis, backplanes, management solutions
cessing, now we have the ability to pro- and probe cards – innovative products leading the way
cess a lot of the algorithms needed for
AI. But an overarching theme has to be
infrastructure. For example, the abili- With you at every stage!
ty of an unmanned vehicle to have an
understanding outside the norm will Elma Electronic Inc. elma.com
depend on the increased bandwidth
of 5G, which also is very low latency.
ElmaEle_MAE_1904 1 3/14/19 1:48 PM
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S PECIAL REPORT
“In the last 10-to-15 years, across the world, we’ve gotten The extensive certification programs are almost certain
used to the concept of digital convergence,” Bratton says. to change significantly.
“The functionality that goes into smart “Going through certificating with an
phones, with a full back-up of cloud air vehicle currently is very long and
data center resources behind it, it will arduous, with only a few companies
be a critical enabler for autonomy. Those seeking certification,” says Mercury’s
same technologies are now being seen in Engle. “But there are hundreds of start-
other applications, such as automotive.” ups popping up all over the world that
Safety also plays a big role. “There eventually will show up at the FAA [and
is the potential for us to be behind the its overseas equivalents] and ask to be
Russians and Chinese [in military AI and certified. How to scale this industry to
AUVs], who may not have the same safe- handle the evaluation and approval of
Falcon-Strike is a C5ISR small form factor,
ty mindset,” Bratton says. “The U.S. has high performance multi-mission computer all those systems is something we have
a goal of saving every possible person fielded for fixed and rotary wing missions as to resolve. And that’s just aviation. Be-
and minimizing the risk to every sol- well as ground-vehicle counter-UAV fore a ground vehicle can be deployed,
dier. But that’s more sociological than applications. does some federal agency have to vali-
technical. This is a brand-new domain date it is ready to go? I think that is an-
and we don’t fully understand the liability issues. If an au- other thing slowing this industry down.”
tonomous vehicle runs someone down, who is liable — and Textron’s Baity says he believes the true force driving
what were the circumstances involved? There are no abso- future AUV development will not be the military, but the
lutes with AI outputs, so it will be a little more interesting.” commercial world.
The role of commercial AI

“The economy of scale for the components that enable pro-
gressive autonomy will be important, such as the comput-
ing and sensor and data fusion capabilities developed for
the auto industry,” Baity says. “That also impacts percep-
tion. Fully autonomous systems will emerge in areas with
a low probability of causing harm, such as underwater or
in space. We will see them in commercial applications such
as warehouses, but basically an environment that can be
described in a deterministic way. To avoid safety issues or
overburden the military user is not useful.”
Much of it depends on the evolution of computer tech-
nology, Baity continues. “The computation aspects will
continue to progress and increase capabilities, especial-
ly in the perception aspect, in resilience and modality, not
depending on one form of perception but a combination of
sensors. For the foreseeable future, humans will remain on
the loop as we address the cognitive workload of that oper-
ator to manage that system, which involves systems that
can provide the right answer to manage those systems ef-
fectively. The other aspect is verification. In defense, you
have programs that run through proving out and develop-
ing confidence, which will remain, but the economics of
that are high. Standards compliancy and plug-and-play are
part of that to create technologies we can afford to deploy.”
20
MasBond_MAE_1904 1 3/25/19 2:44 PM
1904MAE12-23.indd 20 4/3/19 4:47 PM

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1904MAE12-23.indd 121
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S PECIAL REPORT
FLIR Systems in Wilsonville, Ore., Enabling technologies for AI the board, making what was science
acquired Endeavor Robotics (nee iRo- To handle a fully autonomous system, fiction only a few years ago quickly be-
bot) last February, is expanding its from navigation to sensors to com- coming reality.”
portfolio from sensors to robotic munications — perhaps, eventually, Unmanned systems have prolif-
systems, with a long-term focus on weapons — will require a complex, erated across all domains, from the
autonomy. multi-level AI system with a single Boeing-built U.S. Air Force unmanned
“In the future, we will be looking interface to all of those to avoid SWaP X-37B mini-shuttle, to the Orca, to driv-
to integrate manned and unmanned parameters that make the system too erless cars to UAVs. The next step, fully
systems across multiple domains, in- large to be practical. autonomous platforms, appears to be
cluding unmanned air and ground sys- “Through integrating, ruggedizing technologically close, and depends only
tems, collaborating in the battle space the right hardware, we can enable an on advances in artificial intelligence.
as well as working with manned sys- AI footprint in a single system rather “AI is a vision of what could be, with
tems,” says Roger Wells, vice president/ than several difference pieces in the a tremendous amount of work under-
general manager for unmanned sys- past,” says Aneesh Kothari, vice pres- way, such as machine learning and oth-
tems & integrated solutions at FLIR’s ident of marketing at rugged computer aspects that simplify things down to
Government & Defense Business Unit. er specialist Systel Inc. in Sugar Land, a ‘check engine’ light level,” says Tex-
“This gives us the opportunity to move Texas. “It also provides a single point tron’s Baity. AI will make sure that con-
from sensors, where we have a long of integration for all the sensors these fidence is established and maintained
and robust history, to intelligent sen- platforms will carry. The number of in the system and mitigates the cost of
sors and sensing to fully integrated things now possible is quite remark- training and maintenance. There is a
solutions designed to meet the needs able. And such systems divert weight desire to minimize the amount of train-
of the missions.” and operational requirements from the ing required so you can walk up to a
It’s likely we will see more of this in individual soldier.” system and know how to use it, much
the future. “We see unmanned auton- Many improvements have come as you do with a telephone.
omous systems becoming much more only recently. “It seems to be evolving “The area of autonomy is a broad
pervasive, in our personal lives and on very rapidly, especially in the past two one and people feel very passionately
the battlefield,” Wells continues. “It is years,” Kothari says. “You can see that about it,” Baity continues. “It is some-
evolving by leaps and bounds every across the military services, such as the thing that will benefit our lives and our
day. We are getting to the point in our Army’s robotic combat vehicle, small- ability to get the job done. We want to
technology development — especial- er-form-factor UAVs, UGVs being looked make sure they are extensions of hu-
ly in terms of SWaP [size, weight and at as forward deployed units, the Na- man intent and managed in that man-
power] — where we can package tre- vy’s autonomous helicopter. The manner, covering customer needs in air,
mendous amounts of capability into date for AUVs is quite common across land and sea.” 
small units. The architectures are al-
lowing the systems to more effective-
ly integrate into the force structure as COMPANY LIST
well as operate in autonomous ways
across a wide spectrum of missions. AeroVironment Inc. FLIR Systems Systel Inc.
The analytics, AI and applications are Monrovia, Calif. Wilsonville, Ore. Sugar Land, Texas
allowing our systems to be more ef- www.avinc.com www.flir.com www.systelusa.com
fective at understanding the environ- Boeing Defense, Space & Lockheed Martin Corp. Textron Systems Unmanned
Security Bethesda, Md. Systems
ment and conducting their mission Huntington Beach, Calif. www.lockheedmartin.com/en- Hunt Valley, Md.
relative to what they are sensing. This www.boeing.com/defense/ us/capabilities/autonomous- https://www.textronsystems.
autonomous-systems unmanned-systems.html com/what-we-do/
is providing a unique set of capabil-
unmanned-systems
ities to small units on the front line, Crystal Group Mercury Systems Inc.
Hiawatha, Iowa Andover, Mass.
with systems around them support- www.crystalrugged.com https://www.mrcy.com
ing that.”
22
1904MAE12-23.indd 22 4/3/19 4:47 PM

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TECHNOLOGY F CUS
Military power electronics One design approach Vicor takes to

meet SWaP-C requirements is replac-
seeks to increase voltage ing traditional brick packaging with the

company’s DCM packaging approach,
which helps them design devices that
and efficiency are two to three times smaller than the

company’s previous-generation power
bricks. Vicor DCM products are not re-
Power control for aerospace and defense applications aims at sometimes- ally bricks, but are power components
that are in a much smaller package. For
conflicting demands for custom designs, open-systems standards, and the ever-
DC-DC converter applications, to meet
present quest for small size, weight, power consumption, and cost (SWaP-C). SWaP-C requirements, that DCM fami-
ly is gaining momentum very rapidly,”
BY John Keller says Vicor’s Russell.
Modern aerospace and defense elec- are still paramount,” says Robert Rus- Increasing voltage challenges
tronics applications are calling for pow- sell, vice president of product market- One of the primary challenges for
er control and conditioning compo- ing at Vicor. “Our idea is to improve on power systems designers today is
nents that offer increasing amounts of the SWaP-C metric while letting our cus- squeezing every last bit of power out
power density, efficiency, and voltages tomers do what they are good at, so they of ever-more-tightly packaged power
to meet often-stringent requirements can do what they do.” components. “Everybody
of small size, weight, power consump- The ability to take- always asks for higher
tion, and cost (SWaP-C). on SWaP-C is one of the power density and effi-
At the same time, however, the pow- ciency,” says Leonard Les-
er industry is confronting requirements lie, vice president of en-
from other directions — namely grow- gineering at VPT Inc. in
ing needs for high-power systems like Blacksburg, Va.
laser weapons, all-electric aircraft, and “We get requests for
many other applications that are de- Elma Electronic is in the increased power in the
manding high power and low SWaP-C. rugged embedded same package, and less
“Things are getting smaller and computing business, yet power dissipation from
company engineers have
more powerful,” says Jeffrey Ham, our products,” Leslie
designed their own VPX
principal applications engineer at Vicor strongest pitches that Vi- and small-form-factor says. “As systems get
Corp. in Andover, Mass. “The smaller cor officials make to their embedded power more complex, and as
we can make something and the more customers. “Our products modules to meet they try to do more in the
powerful we can make it, enables our draw a lot of interest for customer needs. same space and weight,
customers to meet their needs.” size and weight, where they are pushing for a
Designing electronics that are small- customers need a lot of power in a more dense solution.” VPT engineers
er and more powerful than ever before small package,” says Tom Curatola, are approaching this challenge with
is an imperative that runs across the in- field applications engineer at Vicor. updated power topologies like syn-
dustry’s waterfront, and power electron- “They look at our expertise to pack chronous rectification. “Some of the
ics is no different. “SWaP-C challenges a lot of power into a small package.” things we’ve worked on are wider input
1904MAE24-29.indd 24 4/3/19 4:46 PM

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1904MAE24-29.indd 251
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TECHNOLOGY F CUS
voltage ranges to meet mil-specs without additional mod- high-voltage opportunities — 270 volts and up,” says Ste-
ules in front of the converters,” he says. ven Goldman, product line manager for solid-state power
New kinds of packaging can be key to meeting today’s controller products at DDC. “That’s a big shift for us, and we
power challenges. “To move to higher are going to higher voltages and high-
voltages, we need packages that meet er power.”
clearances for safety,” says Vicor’s Ham. Much of the shift to higher-power
“Having a higher-voltage device lets you systems comes from the hybrid and
use less copper to drive current. We need electric vehicle industry. Military sys-
to reduce the amount of current flow- tems designers want to take advan-
ing around at a given voltage level. The tage of these maturing power tech-
driver is the customer’s desire to re- nologies as they move to ever-more
duce the size of his payload without powerful systems.
adding more copper for moving cur- “We are seeing a lot of higher-pow-
rent at lower voltages.” The U.S. Ar- er requirements driven by motive sys-
my-Marine Corps Joint Light Tactical tems,” explains DDC’s Santini. The
Vehicle (JLTV), for example, is moving commercial electric power market is
up to 600-volt systems for a variety centered on 370 volts for the automo-
of power needs — sometimes even tive market. There are small hybrid ve-
higher — Ham points out. hicles and some high-power drives that
Not only can higher voltages help are centered on 400 volts.”
increase overall system power, but This has military systems designers
they also play a role in keeping SWaP Elma Electronic engineers have designed thinking about how to implement tomor-
to a minimum. A relevant application their own CompactPCI small-form-factor row’s systems like all-electric drones.
is tethered unmanned aerial vehicles embedded power modules to support the “That’s when you start seeing 370-volt
company’s line of small rugged embedded
(UAVs), which receive their operating buses instead of just 270-volt buses in
computers.
power and instructions through a thin military applications,” Santini says.
cable to the ground. “In the tethered Additional high-power military appli-
drone market, anything that can be done to reduce the size cations involve the emerging generation of laser weapons, as
of the tether is important, so the higher the voltage, the well as systems that are moving away from hydraulic actua-
smaller the cable size that is necessary.” tion to electric power. “In high-power systems, we are seeing
Not only do systems designers need higher-voltage sys- customers looking even for 1,000-volt systems,” says DDC’s
tems than they have in the past, but they also need clean- Goldman. “This is pushing us to the higher-power require-
er and more precise power control. ments; they need all the power they can get. Those laser
“Some of the things that before might have been accept- weapons use a super-capacitor to power and fire the weapon.”
able include living with harmonics,” says John Santini, chief
technologist at Data Device Corp. (DDC) in Bohemia, N.Y.
“Now they are saying we can’t afford those harmonics any-
more, and need a true power factor corrector. The Navy, for
example, for years has used multi-pole transformer rectifi-
er setups, or some kind of passive power factor correction.
Now our customers are saying we need active power fac-
tor correction, so then you are driven to an active solution.”
Shift to high power

It’s a given that military electronics designers want more The VPT SVPL series of space-qualified point-of-load DC-DC
power at their disposal, and it’s up to the power industry converters is designed for the harsh radiation environment of space
to give it to them. “I’m seeing a lot more high-power and applications.
1904MAE24-29.indd 26 4/3/19 4:46 PM

TECHNOLOGY F CUS
In response to high-power demands, lot of customization for 5- and 3.3-volt systems,”

DDC last year introduced the RP- says Dan Arnhols, western sales man-
28001000N0 MIL-STD-704F-compliant ager at Milpower Source in Belmont,
12-channel, 270-volt DC, 150-amp sol- N.H. Milpower Source specializes in
id-state power controller, initially for extremely rugged power components
vetronics in military land vehicles. and subsystems in aerospace and de-
The RP-28001000N0 offers programma- fense applications. “If we design for 12-
bility, system health diagnostic and prog- volt systems, the customization happens
nostic data, and high power density in a with 5- and 3.3-volt systems,” Arnhols
compact and rugged form factor. It em- says. “Everyone wants something unique.”
ploys DDC’s technology, with more than Even at the electronic enclosure and chassis lev-
a million nodes installed on military and el, requests for custom power designs are routine.
aerospace systems since 1988, including on “One trend involves some kind of custom power
the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV). “We supply design,” says Ram Rajan, senior vice presi-
Vicor Corp. is looking
have had a lot of requests for that board since beyond the traditional dent of engineering at Elma Electronic in Fremont,
we introduced it,” says DDC’s Goldman. “Ever power brick module to Calif. It’s always a challenge for a power supply
since we went to 150- and 270-volt devices it offer new designs that company to engage in programs because of the
has inserted us in a lot of different applica- are two to three times initial low volumes.”
tions, like mission pods, electro-optical sen- smaller than previous- The increasing use of rackmount embedded
generation power
sors, radars, and things going into manned computing systems that conform to industry
products.
and unmanned aircraft pods.” standards like OpenVPX presents its own set of
The trend to higher power has no end in
sight. “The biggest thing is we will have applications in 270 Designed and Optimized for
volts DC and 370- and 400-volt buses because it is wide- H˚˚h-P˚˚f˚˚m˚˚c˚˚B˚˚mf˚˚m˚˚˚˚
ly used in commercial automotive,” says DDC’s Santini.
R˚˚l-T˚m˚˚Sych˚˚˚˚z˚d˚D˚˚˚˚˚z˚˚˚˚˚,˚P˚˚c˚ss˚˚˚˚
“There’s also a lot of discussion about solar power. For for- &˚S˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚f˚M˚ss˚v˚˚Am˚u˚˚s˚˚f˚D˚˚˚
ward-based soldiers, the environment is not really known,
and solar power is a big benefit because you don’t have to
truck in fuel as much. Some of the bigger solar systems are
300- and 400-volt systems.” 1,000s˚˚f˚Sy˚ch˚˚˚˚z˚d˚˚h˚˚˚˚ls
Of course, systems designers cannot design for high

power without considering electronics cooling and ther-
100GbE˚B˚˚dw˚d˚h
mal management. “All our systems are conduction cooled,”
says Michael Agic, business unit manager for power con-
trol products at DDC.
“People who really use a lot of power think about cool-
ing — and they think about liquid cooling,” Agic continues.
12˚˚TB˚S˚˚˚˚˚˚
“Then there are customers who are not really power us-
ers — they have pods that do specific functions — and for –˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚
them thermal management is an afterthought. For those

we have to guide the customer along.”
Standards, COTS, and custom

In this era of open-systems industry standards, most peo-
www.A˚˚˚˚M˚c˚˚.c˚m
ple might thing that power control and conditioning com-
ponents would be jumping quickly on the standards band-
wagon, but actually the opposite is true. “We are doing a

AnnMic_MAE_1904 1 3/4/19 1:16 PM
1904MAE24-29.indd 27 4/3/19 4:46 PM

TECHNOLOGY F CUS
that includes N+1 failover, VBAT, and 50-millisecond hold-

up. It also defines connectors that mate with a VITA 62-com-
patible backplane.
VITA 62.1, meanwhile, provides requirements for build-
ing a high-voltage 3-phase 3U-class front-end power sup-
ply module that can power a VPX chassis. The module will
fit within the standard envelope defined for VPX modules
in the VITA 48.0 standards.
“We are focusing on VITA 62 to be able to have a common
architecture and a common set of features that people can
VPT Inc. in Blacksburg, Va., is offering several different radiation- mix and match to create a system,” says Milpower’s Arn-
hardened power electronics devices for use aboard manned hols. “Innovation is putting power on a 3U or 6U form fac-
spacecraft and satellites, as well as for high-altitude aircraft. tor, and DOD [the U.S. Department of Defense] is mandat-
ing VITA 62 going forward. Our
challenges. “It’s very difficult to find an off- innovation is dealing with the
the-shelf solution that conforms to our rack- challenges of putting power in
mount requirements,” Elma’s Rajan says. “The a very small space, and deal-
trend is custom power supplies because they ing with the thermal issues
need shelf-management solutions. It’s very that people need to deal with.
program-driven, and is difficult for commod- “People want as much pow-
ity power supply companies to meet those er as they can get in a single
requirements.” board, and get the output that
Milpower Source engineers are meeting their customer requires,” Arn-
demands for custom power with libraries of hols continues. “They want
power designs that can go together quickly for flexibility in the VITA 62 power
custom power solutions. “Milpower has 3,000 DDC’s rugged 12-channel card, and that is what we bring to the
solid-state power controller board
individual power designs,” Arnhols says. “We table. We can say, here is our standard
provides control, protection, and
have a library of already-proven circuits we can continuous monitoring to 150 power card, yet deliver custom chang-
mix and match to tailor for a customer’s appli- amps to 12 independent electrical es, usually at no extra charge.”
cation; we don’t have to go back and re-invent system loads. Vicor also is joining the VPX parade
the wheel. That’s a big plus with new VITA 62 products. “In VPX
for our customers, who are we are seeing a lot of adoption,” says
very nervous that a custom Jim Kotopka, the company’s director of
design will have a lot of is- business development. “That’s why we
sues, but we remove that in are investing heavily in that area, and
a custom design.” are developing a family of products to
That’s not to say that support it.”
open-systems standards are Elma is directly involved in the em-
not taking part in power elec- bedded computing business, yet in the
tronics; quite the contrary. DDC’s 280-Watt power converter supplies 28 recent past company engineers de-
volts of power for in-flight entertainment and signed their own VITA 62-compliant
VPX and VITA 62 USB charging ports for portable electronic power supplies. Now that the VITA 62
The ANSI VITA 62 specifications for devices on passenger aircraft. market is taking shape, however, “we
VPX modular power supplies define want to step away from that,” Rajan
the power-generation requirements for power modules that says. “VPX solutions filled a niche, but now we are moving
support a VITA 62 slot on the VPX backplane. It uses the to small-form-factor applications with power supplies that
standard VPX 3U/6U form factor, and offers functionality fill a small slot.” 
1904MAE24-29.indd 28 4/3/19 4:46 PM

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1904MAE24-29.indd 291
SmartSho_MAE_1904 4/3/19 11:06
3/27/19 4:46 PM
AM
RF&
m i crowave
Raytheon to build three
prototype AMDR radar systems Harris to provide EW avionics to protect
for Burke-class destroyer
Surface warship radar experts at the
Kuwaiti combat aircraft from missiles
BY John Keller
Raytheon Co. will build three advanced-pro-
totype versions of the new AN/SPY-6(V) Air PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. — Electronic war-
and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) under fare (EW) experts at Harris Corp. will
terms of $402.7 million U.S. Navy order provide sophisticated EW systems to
announced in March. Officials of the Naval the government of Kuwait that are de-
Sea Systems Command in Washington are signed to protect combat aircraft from
asking the Raytheon Integrated Defense incoming radar-guided missiles.
Systems segment in Marlborough, Mass., Officials of the Naval Air Systems
to provide three low-rate initial production Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Harris is providing the AN ALQ-14 electronic
warfare (EW) system to help protect Kuwaiti
(LRIP) versions of the AMDR for late-model Station, Md., has announced a $43.3 mil-
military aircraft from radar-guided missiles.
Arleigh Burke-class (DDG 51) Aegis destroy- lion order to the Harris Electronic Sys-
ers. LRIP means building small quantities of tems segment in Clifton, N.J., for addi- 78 AN/ALQ-214 A(V)4/5 EW jammers for
the system to enable Navy experts to test the tional lot 16 AN/ALQ-214 A(V)4/5 EW F/A-18C/D and F/A-18E/F combat jets.
it thoroughly to ensure it meets Navy require- jammers for F/A-18E/F Super Hornet The RF countermeasure system en-
ments. This phase also enables Raytheon to fighter-bombers for the Kuwaiti military. gages incoming missiles autonomous-
tool-up for full-rate production. LRIP is the The AN/ALQ-214(V)4/5 is an elec- ly with a series of measures designed
first step in switching from customized hand- tronic jammer component of the in- to protect the aircraft from detection.
built prototypes to the final mass-produced tegrated defensive electronic count- The AN/ALQ-214(V)4 is a smaller and
end product. The AMDR will supersede er measures system (IDECM) avionics. lighter version of its predecessors, and
the AN/SPY-1 radar, which has been stan- It protects fighter-bombers from ra- has an open-architecture design that
dard equipment on Navy Aegis Burke-class dar-guided surface-to-air and air-to- is ready for integration on several dif-
destroyers and Ticonderoga-class cruisers. air missiles. ferent kinds of aircraft.
One year ago Boeing agreed to sell The system is designed to count-
Northrop Grumman starts full- 28 Super Hornets to Kuwait worth as er radar-guided anti-aircraft missiles
scale development of AARGM- much as $1.2 billion. Of this order, 22 with electronic countermeasures (ECM)
ER radar-killing missile will be single-seat F/A-18E models and techniques that deny, disrupt, delay,
U.S. Navy aerial warfare experts are begin- six will be F/A-18Fs — the two-seat ver- and degrade the enemy missile launch
ning full-scale development of a new and sion of the jet. The U.S. State Depart- and engagement sequence. The sys-
advanced radar-killing missile designed ment approved the Super Hornet sale tem identifies, ranks, and counters
to enable U.S. jet fighter-bombers to sup- to Kuwait in November 2016. incoming missiles, and displays en-
press enemy air defenses preceding bomber The ALQ-214 component of the gagements to the flight crew for situ-
attacks. Officials of the Naval Air Systems IDECM EW system has been delivered ational awareness.
Command at Patuxent River Naval Air to the U.S. Navy and to the Royal Aus- On this order Harris will do the work
Station, Md., announced a $322.5 million tralian Air Force for contemporary in Clifton, N.J.; as well as in San Jose,
contract in March to the Northrop Grumman versions of the Boeing F/A-18 combat San Diego, Rancho Cordova, and Moun-
Corp. Innovation Systems segment (formerly aircraft. The system blends sensitive tain View, Calif., and should be finished
Orbital ATK) in Dulles, Va., for engineering receivers and active countermeasures by August 2022. 
and manufacturing development (EMD) of to form an electronic shield around the
the AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation aircraft, Harris officials say. For more information contact Harris Electronic Sys-
Guided Missile – Extended [PAGE 34] Last month Harris won a $168.8 mil- tems online at www.harris.com/es, or Naval Air
lion order to provide the U.S. Navy with Systems Command at www.navair.navy.mil.
1904MAE30-34.indd 30 4/3/19 4:46 PM

Vadum to support EW project to counter waveform-agile a preprogrammed countermeasure
enemy radar with machine learning technique.

Yet the job of identifying modern dig-
BY John Keller REAM seeks to develop ways of itally programmable radar variants us-
CRANE, Ind. — U.S. Navy avionics experts keeping up with rapidly changing en- ing agile waveforms is becoming more
are looking to electronic warfare (EW) emy radar frequencies, recognizing pat- difficult. Modern enemy radar systems
experts at Vadum Inc. in Raleigh, N.C., terns in frequency shifts, and automat- are becoming digitally programmable
to support a project that aims at de- ically devising methods to jam or spoof
veloping detection and classification these frequencies-on-the fly.
techniques that identify new or wave- The REAM project is developing de-
form-agile radar threats and automat- tection and classification techniques
ically respond with an electronic war- that identify new or waveform-agile ra-
fare (EW) attack. dar threats and automatically respond
Officials of the Naval Surface War- with an electronic attack.
fare Center Crane Division in Crane, Today’s airborne EW systems are
Ind., announced a five-year $9.4 mil- proficient at identifying analog ra-
The U.S. Navy EA-18G Growler electronic
lion sole-source contract to Vadum to dar systems that operate on fixed fre- warfare jet, shown above, may benefit from
support the Reactive Electronic Attack quencies. Once they identify a hostile machine learning to counter future
Measures (REAM) project. radar system, EW aircraft can apply waveform-agile radar systems.
Innovation
That’s Assured. Custom Microelectronics
Trusted and assured chain of custody from
initial design through assembly and test. Ideal
for sensitive military programs requiring custom
microelectronics to achieve best-in-class size,
weight and power (SWaP) performance.
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Copyright © 2019 Mercury Systems and BuiltSECURE are trademarks of Mercury Systems, Inc.
Other trademarks are property of their respective owners.- 3480
MerSys_MAE_1904 1 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICS A P R I L 3/12/19 31
2 0 1 94:49 PM
1904MAE30-34.indd 31 4/3/19 4:46 PM

RF&
m i crowave
with unknown behaviors and agile waveforms, so identify- the EA-18G carrier-based electronic warfare jet to count-
ing and jamming them is becoming increasingly difficult. er agile, adaptive, and unknown hostile radars or radar
Things will get worse in the future as radars develop modes. REAM technology is expected to join active Navy
the ability to sense their environment with artificial intel- fleet squadrons around 2025.
ligence and machine learning, and adapt their transmis- On this contract, the Navy is choosing Vadum sole-source
sion characteristics and pulse processing algorithms to de- to avoid roughly $5.9 million in cost duplication, and pre-
feat attempts to jam them. vent as much as three years’ unnecessary schedule delay,
New approaches like REAM seek to enable systems to Navy officials say.
generate effective countermeasures automatically against Vadum specializes in EW modeling and simulation. The
new, unknown, or ambiguous radar signals in near re- company has expertise in RF and wireless circuit and systems
al-time. They are trying to develop new processing tech- design; electronic board design, layout, and fabrication; em-
niques and algorithms that characterize enemy radar sys- bedded hardware and software design; RF modeling and sim-
tems, jam them electronically, and assess the effectiveness ulation; computational electromagnetics; antennas; wireless
of the applied countermeasures. testing; cell phone forensics; servo and stepper motor control;
Waveform-agile radar systems of the future will shift fre- algorithm and digital signal processing development; cryp-
quencies quickly in a pre-programmed electronic dance to tography; data compression; and RF detection.
foil electronic warfare attempts to defeat them. On this contract Vadum will do the work in Raleigh, N.C.,
Last April the Northrop Grumman Mission Systems seg- and will be finished by February 2024. 
ment in Bethpage, N.Y., won a $7.3 million contract to de-
velop machine-learning algorithms for the REAM program. For more information contact Vadum online at www.vaduminc.com, or the
The company is moving machine-learning algorithms to Naval Surface Warfare Center-Crane at www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/
Warfare-Centers/NSWC-Crane.
Custom Engineered
Air Force asks L-3 to build
Power radar proximity sensor to
Supplies trigger air-burst munitions
BY John Keller
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah — Airborne weapons experts at L-3 Tech-
nologies Inc. will design and build an avionics radar prox-

imity sensor to enable combat aircraft pilots the heights
at which their bombs and smart munitions explode over
targets under terms of a $131.8 million eight-year U.S. Air
Custom Power Supply Force contract.
Solutions For Your Officials of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center
Unique Requirements at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, are asking the L-3 Space & Sen-
— Our design or yours – we specialize in mission-critical applications
sors-Cincinnati segment in Cincinnati to build the Cock-
— Customizable features include multiple cooling options, operating
temperatures from -55C to 100C, PFC, & harmonic reduction pit-Selectable Height-of-Burst Sensor (C-HOBS).
— Applications includeoptical,flight,ground,VME,&retrofitsolutions
This new avionics subsystem will replace the now-field-
— Autonomous or embedded via an array
of communication protocols ed Northrop Grumman DSU-33D/B height-of-burst sensor,
as well as address obsolescence issues. Northrop Grumman
www.airborn.com has been building the DSU-33D/B sensor since 1999, and re-
cently delivered the 200,000th system.
32
Airborn_MAE_1904 1 3/12/19 4:52 PM
1904MAE30-34.indd 32 4/3/19 4:46 PM

RF&
m i crowave
C-HOBS is a modification program to re-

solve obsolescence issues with the DSU-33D/B
sensor and to improve sensor performance.
It will maintain the same form, fit and func-
tion as the DSU-33D/B, and will address cer-
tain targets of opportunity to future-proof the
sensor. Details of the C-HOBS specifications
are classified.
Upgrades of the C-HOBS program include
manual and cockpit-selectable radar-guided
height-of-burst with improved system per-
formance for JDAM and the Next Generation
The L-3 Cockpit-Selectable Height-of-Burst Sensor (C-HOBS) will trigger a wide Area Attack Weapons (NGAAW) missions, Air
variety of munitions for damage-inducing air bursts. Force officials say. L-3 is expected to build as
C-HOBS is a radar proximity sensor that provides high pre- many as 60,000 C-HOBS units.
cision variable proximity function to the fuze system. The sen- On this contract L-3 will do the work in Cincinnati, Ohio,
sor will provide manual and cockpit-selectable heights of burst, and will be finished by April 2027. 
precision height sensing, and possible terrain discrimination.
The sensor will interface with various weapons systems For more information contact L-3 space & Sensors-Cincinnati online at
— particularly the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) the https://cinele.com, or the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center-Hill
on U.S. Navy and Air Force bomber aircraft. Air Force Base at www.hill.af.mil.
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Northrop Grumman to upgrade SATCOM data [FROM PAGE 30] Range (AARGM-ER). The
AARGM-ER is an advanced and extend-
link aboard E-6B airborne command post ed-range version of the High-Speed Anti-
Radiation Missile (HARM). It is a new variant
BY John Keller
channels and one Ka satellite commu- of the AGM-88E missile that equips Navy
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. — Satellite communications channel. Other equipment carrier-based fighter-bombers and electronic
nications (SATCOM) experts at Northrop includes power conditioning, cooling, warfare jets.
Grumman Corp. will build and test ad- electrical, and network distribution.
vanced SATCOM capability for the U.S. The system also has equipment that Construction moves forward
Navy E-6B Mercury strategic airborne interfaces Block II B kits into the exist- on gallium nitride (GaN)
command post and communications re- ing E6-B avionics architecture. radar system in Alaska
lay aircraft under terms of an $37.5 mil- The E-6B provides command and Construction is moving forward on a U.S.
lion order announced in March. control of U.S. nuclear forces should military project to build a new ballistic mis-
Officials of the Naval Air Sys- sile defense system in Central Alaska that
tems Command at Patuxent Riv- involves a gallium nitride (GaN)-based sol-
er Naval Air Station, Md., are id-state active electronically scanned array
asking the Northrop Grumman (AESA) early warning radar. Officials of the
Mission Systems segment in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Anchorage,
Herndon, Va., to provide modi- Alaska, announced a $128.7 million contract
fications to the E-6B aircraft in- to ASRC Construction Holding Co. LLC in
volving the plane’s Multi-Role Anchorage, Alaska, to build the Long Range
Tactical Common Data Link Discrimination Radar (LRDR). The LRDR,
(MR-TCDL). planned for service in 2020 is part of the U.S.
Northrop Grumman will build new SATCOM
Northrop Grumman will pro-
equipment for the Navy E-6B Mercury airborne ground-based midcourse defense anti-ballis-
vide seven MR-TCDL data link command post, which maintains communications tic missile system. The U.S. Missile Defense
B-kits, one mission avionics sys- with submerged ballistic submarines at sea. Agency (MDA) in Huntsville, Ala., awarded
tems trainer B-kit, and A- and the Lockheed Martin Corp. Rotary and
B-kit spares for the MR-TCDL upgrade ground-based control become inoper- Mission Systems segment in Moorestown,
aboard the E-6B Mercury. able. The plane is based on the four-en- N.J., a $784.3 million contract in late 2015
The Boeing E-6 Mercury is an air- gine Boeing 707 passenger jetliner. to build the LRDR. The LRDR program is
borne command post and commu- The plane has a battle staff area and the backbone of the MDA’s layered defense
nications relay aircraft based on the new flight deck systems based on mod- to protect the U.S. homeland from ballis-
1950s-vintage stretched Boeing 707- ern Boeing 737 avionics. The E-6 flew tic missile attack. It will be a long-range
320 narrow-body passenger jetliner. in 1987, and the first E-6B was accept- radar that will provide precision metric data
compared to the original 707 jetliner, ed in December 1997. The last produc- to improve ballistic defense discrimination
the E-6 Mercury has new engines and tion E-6B was delivered to the Navy in and replace existing sensors in the Ballistic
other system upgrades. late 2006. Missile Defense System (BMDS). LRDR will
The plane conveys instructions from On this contract modification keep pace with evolving ballistic missile
the National Command Authority to de- Northrop Grumman will do the work threats and increase the effectiveness of
ployed Navy nuclear ballistic missile in Salt Lake City, San Diego, and Bos- ground based interceptors, Lockheed Martin
submarines, as well as to land-based ton, and should be finished by Octo- officials say. For more information contact
atomic missiles and nuclear-armed ber 2021.  ASRC Construction online at http://asrccon-
bombers. struction.com; Lockheed Martin Rotary and
The E-6 Mercury’s MR-TCDL provides For more information contact Northrop Grum- Mission Systems at www.lockheedmartin.
secure Ku line-of-sight and Ka SAT- man Mission Systems online at www.northrop- com, or the Army Corps of Engineers Alaska
COM systems for the E6-B aircraft. The grumman.com, or Naval Air Systems Com- District at www.poa.usace.army.mil. 
data link includes two Ku line-of-sight mand at www.navair.navy.mil.
34
1904MAE30-34.indd 34 4/3/19 4:46 PM

UN M A N N ED
vehicles
Navy eyes sonar, communications, and
power upgrades for Black Pearl UUVs
BY John Keller
two-way Iridium SATCOM. This in-
STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. — U.S. Navy re- volves developing a new software driver
searchers are looking for companies for the Iridium board, developing soft-
able to upgrade unmanned underwater ware to enable basic two-way messag-
vehicles (UUVs) for research programs ing, and developing software to help
in anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and upload missions to the UUV via Iridi- The Navy is anticipating sonar,
mine countermeasures. um. Also needed are software drivers communications, and power upgrades for
Officials of the Naval Research Lab- and mechanical structures to accom- Black Pearl unmanned underwater vehicles.
oratory (NRL) at Stennis Space Center, modate Navy research payloads in the
Miss., issued a request for information payload sections. Optionally, the Navy may want
on Tuesday (N00173-19-RFI-WR02) for The contractor also will build and structural and battery upgrades to the
the Unmanned Underwater Vehicles test five upgraded Black Pearl UUVs Reliant UUV to make it like the Black
(UUVs) for Undersea Research project including tail sections for each of the Pearl — a state-of-the-art 21-inch-di-
to upgrade the 21-inch-diameter Black Black Pearl UUVs; a battery power sec- ameter UUV with GPS/INS/DVL navi-
Pearl UUV with new capabilities. tion for each UUV; and a nose section gation capability, low noise propulsion,
Navy researchers want to add two- for each UUV. Also needed is a set of and onboard energy sufficient to car-
way Iridium satellite communications topside support equipment to enable ry out missions longer than 24 hours.
(SATCOM) to the Black Pearl UUV; al- the UUVs to operate together as a sys- The vehicle uses a graphics-based PC
ter the unmanned submersible’s pay- tem, sharing some of the common top- mission planning tool.
loads bay; determine the best way to side equipment. The original Black Pearl design has
accommodate side-scan and multi- This will include two RF deck boxes a 3-to-5-nautical-mile per hour operat-
beam sonar; and manufacture new with antennas; two Iridium deck boxes ing speed, a 400-meter depth capabili-
UUVs and control systems, tail sec- with antennas; one Sonardyne Dunk- ty, a minimum of 18 kilowatt-hour en-
tions, and batteries. er kit; two RDF receivers and antennas ergy storage, and a real-time GPS-aided
Bluefin Robotics, a division of the (quantity 2); five battery chargers; two fiber optic gyro (IXSEA PHINS III), iner-
General Dynamics Corp. Mission Sys- vehicle carts; two vehicle and support tial navigation system (INS) integrated
tems segment in Quincy, Mass., is man- equipment shipping cases; one vehi- with Doppler velocity log instrument
ufacturer of the Black Pearl. The compa- cle toolkit; and two ruggedized oper- capable of measuring the vehicle’s hor-
ny won a $7.1 million contract in April ator laptop computers and software. izontal position, velocity, and attitude.
2014 design and build the Black Pearl Spare parts needed include three an- The position accuracy drift rate
autonomous underwater vehicle — an tennas; three tail cones; three propellers while traveling submerged on a straight
underwater drone for research in long and duct kits; four vehicle power switch- line, is 0.15 percent of distance traveled,
range and multi-static mine hunting es; three 1.85-kilowatt batteries; five wet or less. The system has an over-the-
and ASW programs, as well as in new cables; 15 drop weights; 30 drop-weight horizon (OTH) communication capa-
distributed sensing research. Bluefin burn wires; three RDF emergency trans- bility for periodic vehicle status, mon-
experts were to build as many as five mitters; three O-ring kits; three fastener itoring, and redirection using Iridium
next-generation underwater drones kits; three joining bands; 18 barrel nuts; SATCOM system while the vehicle is
based on the company’s Bluefin 21 UUV. six nose line with float and float hard- on the surface.
The Navy wants to find a contrac- ware; one MEH board set; one SVS+P The UUV supports several payload
tor to develop improved capability for sensor; and one AvTrak 6. types, supplied by NRL researchers,
1904MAE35-37.indd 35 4/3/19 4:53 PM

UNMANNED
vehicles
Air Force ramping-up that may include broadband low fre- on one battery charge, and moves at
production of subsonic quency sonars for MCM and ASW; en- speeds to 4.5 knots while using a total
Long-Range Anti-Ship vironmental data sensors such as water of 13.5 kilowatts of electricity.
Missile (LRASM)
depth, speed of sound in water along The UUV is a popular vehicle for
U.S. Air Force airborne weapons experts are vehicle path, water temperature, and deep-dive research and counter-mine
ramping-up production of the next-gener- water current); and payloads for acous- operations. The UUV is the basis for the
ation AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship tic modem research (ACOMMS). Navy General Dynamics Knifefish sur-
Missile (LRASM) for use against high-prior- It can carry several sensors and pay- face-mine countermeasure unmanned
ity enemy targets like aircraft carriers, troop loads at once in swappable payload sec- underwater vehicle (UUV).
transport ships, and guided-missile cruis- tions and battery modules for in-field Companies interested in the Black
ers. Officials of the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle mission reconfiguration. The UUV is Pearl UUV upgrade project were asked
Management Center at Eglin Air Force Base, a deep-rated ocean drone that can be to email responses to The Navy’s Ryan
Fla., have announced a $172.1 million con- launched and recovered from a simple Wheelock by 31 Jan. 2019 at ryan.whee-
tract to the Lockheed Martin Corp. Missiles A-frame or docking head. lock@nrlssc.navy.mil. 
and Fire Control segment in Orlando, Fla., The Bluefin 21 design is 16.2 feet
to build 50 LRASMs as part of Lot 2 pro- long, 21 inches in diameter, and weighs More information is online at https://www.fbo.gov/
duction. This contract is the second order 1,650 pounds. It can dive to nearly spg/DON/ONR/Code3235/N00173-19-RFI-WR02/
for LRASM production. Lockheed Martin 15,000 feet, can operate for 25 hours listing.html.
won an $86.5 million contract in July 2017
to manufacture the first 23 LRASM muni-
tions in Lot 1 production. That contract
marked the first production award for the
air-launched variant of the anti-ship missile
for the U.S. Navy and Air Force. LRASM is a
Air Force orders four MQ-9 Block 5 unmanned
joint project of the U.S. Defense Advanced attack drones and mobile control stations
Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va.,
BY John Keller
the Navy, and the Air Force to design an four mobile ground-control stations un-
advanced anti-ship missile that can launch WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio — Unmanned der terms of a $123.3 million contract.
from the Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet jet aerial vehicle (UAV) designers at Gen- Officials of the Air Force Life Cycle
fighter bomber, as well as from the Air eral Atomics in Poway, Calif., will pro- Management Center at Wright-Patter-
Force B-1B Lancer long-range strategic vide the U.S. Air Force with four new son Air Force Base, Ohio, are asking the
bomber. The missile travels at high subsonic MQ-9 Block 5 Reaper attack drones and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems
speeds, and likely will give way in the future
to expected new generations of hypersonic
missiles. Submarine-launched versions are
under consideration.
Add-on kits create high-

altitude flying torpedoes
for P-8A Poseidon
Airborne weapons experts at the Boeing Co.
are building add-on kits to create flying tor-
pedoes that can attack submerged enemy
submarines from long ranges and from high
altitudes. The Naval Sea Systems Command
in Washington announced a $9.3 million General Atomics will build four MQ-9 Block 5 unmanned combat aircraft, and four
ground-control stations, shown above.
1904MAE35-37.indd 36 4/3/19 4:46 PM

segment to provide these four armed at speeds to 240 knots at altitudes to order to the Boeing Co. Defense, Space &
Reaper UAVs and their ground-control 50,000 feet. The medium-endurance Security segment in St. Louis to design and
stations, which are variations of the UAV can carry payloads as heavy as build the High Altitude Anti-Submarine
General Atomics MQ-1 Predator UAV. 3,850 pounds, including 3,000 pounds Warfare Weapon Capability (HAAWC) Air
The latest version of the Reaper — of external stores like Hellfire missiles. Launch Accessory (ALA). The HAAWC ALA
the MQ-9 Block 5 — is designed for The Reaper can carry as many as four enables the Raytheon MK 54 lightweight tor-
surveillance and attack missions us- Hellfire missiles, two GBU-12 Paveway II pedo carried aboard the Navy Boeing P-8A
ing a suite of airborne sensors and the laser-guided bombs, or two 500-pound Poseidon long-range maritime patrol jet to
AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground missile. GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions glide through the air from altitudes as high
Ground crew monitor and control the (JDAMs). Twice as fast as Predator, the as 30,000 feet, essentially transforming the
UAV from its ground-control station, Reaper carries 500 percent more pay- torpedo into a glide weapon that the P-8A
including firing weapons. load and has nine times the horsepow- aircraft can release from high altitudes. As
General Atomics refers to the Reap- er, General Atomics officials say. the flying torpedo nears the water, it jetti-
er Block 5 as the Predator B, which has The Reaper has a fault-tolerant flight sons its wings and tail and takes on its orig-
been in production since 2013. Users control system, triple-redundant avi- inal role as a smart torpedo that can detect,
are the U.S. Air Force and the British onics system, and is powered by the track, and attack enemy submarines auton-
Royal Air Force. Other MQ-9 Reaper us- Honeywell TPE331-10 turboprop en- omously. After shedding its control surfaces,
ers are France, Italy, The Netherlands, gine, integrated with digital electron- the HAAWC ALA activates a parachute that
and Spain. ic engine control (DEEC) to improve en- lowers the torpedo into the water to begin its
Compared to the MQ-9 Reaper Block gine performance and fuel efficiency run toward the target. When launched from
1 models, the Reaper Block 5 unmanned at low altitudes. 30,000 feet the HAAWC-equipped MK 54
aircraft has increased electrical power, The Reaper cab carry electro-opti- torpedo will glide for seven to 10 minutes
secure communications, auto land, in- cal and infrared (EO/IR) sensors, Lynx before entering the water.
creased gross takeoff weight, weapons multi-mode radar, multi-mode mari-
growth, and streamlined payload in- time surveillance radar, electronic sup- Northrop Grumman joins
tegration capabilities. Pilots traveling port measures (ESM), laser designators, Raytheon BBN in tapping sea
with the Reaper use the mobile ground and a variety of weapons. life for next-generation ASW
control station to launch and land the The sophisticated drone has redun- Marine scientists at Northrop Grumman
aircraft, while U.S.-based pilots handle dant flight-control surfaces; can fly re- Corp. are joining Raytheon BBN Technologies
most of the flying and weapons delivery. motely piloted or autonomously; has a Corp. to investigate new ways of using sea
The Reaper has a high-capacity MIL-STD-1760 stores management sys- life to detect and track potentially hostile
starter generator and upgraded elec- tem; seven external payload stations; manned submarines and unmanned under-
trical system with a backup genera- C-band line-of-sight data link control; water vehicles (UUVs) over vast areas of the
tor that can support all flight-critical Ku-band beyond line-of-sight and sat- world’s oceans. Officials of the U.S. Defense
functions. The drone has three inde- ellite communications data link con- Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
pendent power sources to accommo- trol; more than 90 percent system oper- in Arlington, Va., announced a potential $5.1
date new communications such as dual ational availability; and can self-deploy million contract to the Northrop Grumman
ARC-210 VHF/UHF radios with wingtip or fly aboard C-130 utility aircraft. Mission Systems segment in Linthicum
antennas for simultaneous communi- On this contract General Atom- Heights, Md., for the Persistent Aquatic
cations among multiple air-to-air and ics will do the work in Poway, Calif., Living Sensors (PALS) program. Northrop
air-to-ground parties; secure data links; and should be finished by Decem- Grumman joins Raytheon BBN Technologies
and an increased data transmission ber 2020.  in Cambridge, Mass., which won a potential
capacity. The Reaper Block 5 can car- $6.4 million contract for the PALS project last
ry heavier payloads or additional fuel. For more information contact General Atomics month. The DARPA PALS contract to Northrop
The turboprop-powered, multi-mis- Aeronautical Systems online at www.ga-asi. Grumman is for $3.2 million, and has options
sion Reaper armed drone can fly for com, or the Air Force Life Cycle Management to increase that to $5.1 million. 
more than 27 hours between refueling Center at www.wpafb.af.mil/aflcmc.
1904MAE35-37.indd 37 4/3/19 4:46 PM

O
ELECTRO
tc
watch
OPTICS
Navy to install laser weapons

in 2021 to defend destroyer Boeing, Lockheed Martin to build stealthy
from boats and UAVs IRST avionics for F-15C jet fighter
In the next two years, the Navy wants to
deploy laser weapons aboard a guided-mis- BY John Keller
sile destroyer as the service learns to inte- WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio — U.S. Air Force
grate directed energy weapon systems on air combat experts are asking elec-
warships, says the Navy’s director of surface tro-optics engineers at the Boeing Co.
warfare “We are going to burn the boats if and Lockheed Martin Corp. to design
you will and move forward with this tech- and build six additional infrared search
nology,” Rear Adm. Ron Boxall said during and track (IRST) sensors for the F-15C
the Booz, Allen, Hamilton and CSBA Directed Eagle jet fighter to enable the aircraft
Electro-optical designers from Boeing and
Energy Summit 2019. The service is target- to detect, track, and attack enemy air- Lockheed Martin are building stealthy
ing 2021 to install a High Energy Laser and craft in a stealthy way without mak- infrared search-and-track (IRST) systems for
Integrated Optical-dazzler with Surveillance ing its presence known. an F-15C jet fighter upgrade to enhance the
weapon system aboard a West Coast Arleigh Officials of the Air Force Life Cy- plane’s stealth characteristics
Burke-class Flight IIA destroyer, Boxall said. cle Management Center at Wright-Pat-
The 60-kilowatt HELIOS, much more power- terson Air Force Base, Ohio, have an- large jet fighter, designed in the 1970s,
ful than the 20-kilowatt laser weapon sys- nounced a potential $40 million order augments later-model Air Force F-22 jet
tem the Navy tested aboard afloat forward to the Boeing Co. Defense, Space & Se- fighters in the air interdiction and air
staging base USS Ponce five years ago, is curity segment in St. Louis to integrate superiority roles.
designed to counter small attack boats small six IRST Block II systems for the sin- The F-15C’s IRST Block II is based on
unmanned aerial vehicles. gle-seat F-15C jet fighter. the F-15K/SG aircraft’s infrared receiv-
The F-15C’s IRST is a long-wave infra- er, which was inspired by the IRST de-
Laser weapons could defeat red detection system that targets aircraft sign of the now-retired Navy F-14 Tom-
threats like drone swarms, in a radar-denied environment. The sys- cat jet fighter. IRST Block II will include
rockets and artillery tem, which Boeing is buying from the improvements to the infrared receiver
Why use laser weapons instead of bullets, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Con- and updated processors.
shells, or missiles? To begin with, lasers are trol segment in Orlando, Fla., uses infra- Even amid electronic attack or heavy
accurate and quick acting, since they are fast red search and track technology to de- RF and infrared countermeasures, IRST
as light and mostly unaffected by gravity? tect and provide weapon-quality track provides autonomous, tracking data
This could make weapons ideal for swatting solutions on potentially hostile aircraft. that increases pilot reaction time, and
down small, speedy targets, such as incom- For the F-15C, Lockheed Martin is enhances survivability by enabling
ing rockets and artillery shells. Laser precision providing the company’s Legion Pod first-look, first-shoot capability, Lock-
also could be handy for disabling ground or sensor system, which consists of a pas- heed Martin officials say.
sea vehicles without killing their occupants. sive longwave infrared receiver, a pro- Infrared sensors like the IRST de-
Of course, a soundless, invisible and recoilless cessor, inertial measurement unit, and tect the heat from an aircraft’s engine
weapon is also pretty stealthy — if you can environmental control unit. The infra- exhaust or even the heat generated by
get close enough to use it. Most importantly, red receiver, processor, and inertial the friction of an aircraft as it passes
lasers could be very cheap. Contemporary measurement unit fit inside the sen- through the atmosphere. Unlike radar,
missile-defense systems, such as Israel’s Iron sor pod, which attaches to a weapons infrared sensors do not emit electron-
Dome or the U.S. GMD antiballistic missile station underneath the aircraft. ic signals, and do not give away their
system, are much more expensive than the The Boeing F-15C jet fighter is a presence to adversaries.
missiles they are designed to shoot down, twin-engine all-weather tactical air- This ability can enable F-15C pilots to
craft designed for air supremacy. The make positive identification of enemy
1904MAE38-40.indd 38 4/3/19 4:46 PM

aircraft at long ranges, and enable them On this contract Boeing and Lock- making them untenable were they to face
to fire their air-to-air missiles at their heed Martin will do the work in Orlan- mass attacks. The same problem exists at
maximum ranges. do, Fla., and in St. Louis, and should be the tactical level when considering how to
Data from the IRST system can stand finished by October 2022.  counter the future threat of weaponized
alone or fuse with other on-board sen- drone swarms: basically large flocks of small,
sor data situational awareness. Lock- For more information contact Boeing Defense, expendable drones designed to overwhelm
heed Martin also is building IRST sys- Space & Security online at www.boeing.com/ enemy defenses. For systems hooked up to
tems for the Air Force F-16 jet fighter company/about-bds, www.lockheedmartin.com, a power generator, the ammunition supply
and for the Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hor- or Naval Air Systems Command at www.navair. could be virtually unlimited.
net jet fighter-bomber. navy.mil.
Infrared search and track
(IRST) gives jet fighter
JASR Systems eyes chip-scale lidar for 3-D aircraft stealthy vision
Look on the nose of many modern jet
mapping, navigation, and communications fighter aircraft such as the Eurofighter
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio — Research- Typhoon and you’ll spot a large bulbous
ers at JASR Systems in Solana Beach, protrusion coming from just near the
Calif., are developing chip-scale, light- cockpit. While it has a rather unassuming
weight, and affordable light detection appearance, this aperture forms an import-
and ranging (lidar) sensors for mili- ant role in the fighter’s detection and fire
tary 3-D mapping, foliage-penetrating control functionality, acting like a powerful
electro-optical sensors, navigation, thermal camera to spot distant enemy tar-
and long-range communications. The U.S. Air Force is working with JASR gets and using that data to neutralize the
Officials of the U.S. Air Force Re- Systems to develop chip-scale, threat. The beauty of infrared search and
search Laboratory at Wright-Patter- lightweight, and affordable light track technology (IRST) technology is it is
son Air Force Base, Ohio, have an-
detection and ranging (lidar) sensors for completely passive and does not highlight
military 3-D mapping, foliage-penetrating
nounced an $8.2 million contract the location of the aircraft, unlike when a
electro-optical sensors, navigation, and
to JASR to develop chip-scale opti- long-range communications. pilot decides to use the on-board radar,
cal phased arrays and lidar systems which can give away its position as radio
that use technology from the Modu- technologies for an integrated pho- frequency energy bursts out. IRST can also
lar Optical Aperture Building Blocks tonic device able to generate, ampli- work in all weather conditions as it uses
(MOABB) project of the U.S. Defense fy, transmit, and receive free-space the infrared rather than the visible part of
Advanced Research Projects Agency optical radiation over a wide angle. the electromagnetic spectrum. So import-
(DARPA) in Arlington, Va. Companies involved in the DAR- ant is this stealthy capability, particularly as
The DARPA MOABB project, be- PA MOABB sensors project are Lock- China and Russia develop their own stealth
gun in late 2015, developed en- heed Martin Coherent Technologies aircraft with advanced detection capabili-
abling technologies for affordable in Louisville, Colo.; TREX Enterpris- ties, that the US is retrofitting many of its
chip-scale lidar sensors using free- es Corp. in San Diego; Analog Pho- advanced fighter aircraft – including the
space optical technology with ul- tonics LLC in Hingham, Mass.; and navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the air
tra-low size, weight, and cost with Teledyne Scientific & Imaging LLC force’s F-15 Eagle – with an IRST capabil-
much faster beam scanning speeds in Thousand Oaks, Calif. ity. It is hoped that with these new “eyes”
than are typically available today. With MOABB, DARPA researchers Western fighter jets will be able to sense
The MOABB project aimed at de- aimed at building planar, millime- adversary aircraft first and kill them before
veloping and demonstrating enabling ter-scale transmit/receive units with being seen themselves. 
1904MAE38-40.indd 39 4/3/19 4:46 PM

ELECT RO
O
watch
c
OPTICS
a high fill factor aperture, non-me- terahertz range and wide operating bulky mechanical gimbals to steer
chanical beam steering, and integrat- bandwidths enable high-speed data the telescope and the back-end op-
ed amplification. transmission and 3-D imaging with tics like lasers and detectors.
Among the project’s goals was to sub-millimeter range resolution. Instead, the MOABB project sought
fabricate a coherent 10-centimeter Applications for these features to capitalize on developments in inte-
transmit/receive array with distrib- span the space from 3-D mapping, grated photonics that offer the poten-
uted gain built with wafer-scale pro- foliage penetrating lidar, navigation, tial for high-speed, non-mechanical
cessing, and demonstrate the coher- and long-range communications. beam-steering. Researchers believe
ent array in a packaged lidar system While free-space optical systems that efficient sources, detectors, am-
capable of 3-D imaging from as far offer compelling capabilities, they plifiers, and low-loss waveguides can
away as 100 meters. are too big, heavy, and expensive for be fabricated on one planar platform
Free-space optical systems have many applications. Above a 10-centi- for high-power, large scale apertures.
tremendous potential for sensing, illu- meter aperture, their size and weight On this contract JASR will do the
mination, and communications, DAR- are dominated by the bulky lenses, work in Solana Beach, Calif., and
PA scientists say. The micron-scale mirrors, stabilized mechanical com- should be finished by November
wavelength allows for 0.001-degree ponents, and large volume of emp- 2020. 
angular resolution and antenna gain ty space of the telescope or imag-
of more than 100 decibels from a mod- ing system. For more information contact JASR Systems
est 10-centimeter aperture. On the other hand, aperture small- online at www.jasr.systems, or the Air Force Re-
The frequency in the hundreds of er than 10 centimeters still require search Laboratory at www.wpafb.af.mil/afrl.
Navy orders infrared-guided RAM missile systems to protect surface ships

WASHINGTON — Shipboard missile-defense A supersonic, lightweight, quick-re- in the Phalanx close-in weapon system
experts at the Raytheon Co. will pro- action, fire-and-forget weapon, the with an 11-round launcher.
vide the U.S. Navy and U.S. allies with RAM missile system is designed to at- The Phalanx system’s infrared sen-
the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) tack enemy helicopters, aircraft, and sor suite and internal combat manage-
Block 2 to protect ships from aircraft, surface craft. It uses passive RF and ment system reduces its dependence
missiles, and small surface vessels un- infrared guidance for engaging sever- on the ship’s combat system and en-
der terms of a $91.1 million order. al threats simultaneously. ables a fast reaction.
RAM is a ship self-defense weapon RAM Block 2 has a large rocket mo- The RAM is an international coop-
designed to protect ships of all sizes, tor, advanced control section, and an erative program between the U.S. and
ranging from 500-ton fast attack craft enhanced RF receiver able to detect Germany. Raytheon shares develop-
to 95,000-ton aircraft carriers. quiet threat emitters. It is more ma- ment, production and maintenance
neuverable and longer range than its with the German companies MBDA
predecessors. Missile Systems in Schrobenhausen,
The MK 44 guided missile round Germany; Diehl BGT Defence (DBD) in
pack and the MK 49 guided missile Überlingen, Germany; and RAM-Sys-
launching system together hold 21 mis- tem GmbH (RAMSYS) in Ottobrunn,
siles. Existing shipboard sensors can Germany. 
provide the system with target and
pointing information. For more information contact Raytheon Missile
The Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) Block 2, The MK 44 missile also part of the Systems online at www.raytheon.com, or Na-
shown above, homes-in on its targets with SeaRAM anti-ship missile defense sys- val Sea Systems Command at www.navsea.
infrared sensors. tem, replacing the M601A1 Gatling gun navy.mil.
1904MAE38-40.indd 40 4/3/19 4:46 PM

PRODUCT
applic at ions
MILITARY AVIONICS
Harris tapped to build AN/ALQ-214 EW avionics

for Navy F/A-18 jet fighter bombers RF AND MICROWAVE
Electronic warfare (EW) experts at Harris Corp. form an electronic shield around the aircraft, Navy asks Thales to provide
will provide the U.S. Navy with 78 sophisticated Harris officials say. power amplifiers for AN/USC-
EW systems designed to protect Navy combat The RF countermeasure system aboard 61(C) ship communications
aircraft from incoming radar-guided missiles. the Navy’s F/A-18 jet fighter-bombers RF and microwave experts at the Thales Group
Officials of the Naval Air Systems engages incoming missiles autonomously will continue supplying power amplifier compo-
Command at Patuxent River Naval Air with a series of measures designed to pro- nents for HF radio communications aboard U.S.
Station, Md., announced a $168.8 mil- tect the aircraft from detection. Navy surface warships and submarines under
lion order to the Harris Electronic Systems The AN/ALQ-214(V)4 a smaller and terms of $30.9 million contract.
segment in Clifton, N.J., for 78 lot 16 AN/ lighter version of its predecessors, and has an Officials of the Space and Naval Warfare
Systems Command (SPAWAR) in San Diego
are asking Thales Defense and Security Inc. in
Clarksburg, Md., to continue building and deliv-
ering High Frequency Distribution Amplifier
Group (HF-DAG) system components and engi-
neering services.
The HF-DAG replacement program is
designed as a substantial technology upgrade
to the existing HF communications systems
deployed on U.S. Navy ships. The HF-DAG
ALQ-214 A(V)4/5 EW jammers for Navy open-architecture design that is ready for inte- contract calls for Thales to provide 1000-Watt
F/A-18C/D and F/A-18E/F Hornet and Super gration on several different kinds of aircraft. power amplifiers and flexible power manage-
Hornet carrier-based fighter-bombers. The system is designed to counter radar- ment units (FPMUs).
The AN/ALQ-214(V)4/5 is an elec- guided anti-aircraft missiles with electronic The HF-DAG supports automated communi-
tronic jammer component of the integrated countermeasures (ECM) techniques that cations in a wide band of frequency spectra that
defensive electronic counter measures sys- deny, disrupt, delay, and degrade the enemy supports transmit and receive communications
tem (IDECM) avionics, which comes to the missile launch and engagement sequence. modes like duplex/simplex voice, continuous-wave
Navy from a joint venture of Harris and BAE The system identifies, ranks, and counters (CW), teletype, digital exchange, amplitude mod-
Systems. It protects Navy fighter-bombers incoming missiles, and displays engagements ulation (AM) and Link 11 HF networking.
from radar-guided surface-to-air and air-to- to the flight crew for situational awareness. The HF-DAG communications group sup-
air missiles by jamming the enemy missile On this contract Harris will do the work ports the Navy’s AN/USC-61(C) Digital Modular
guidance systems. in Clifton, N.J.; as well as in San Jose, San Radio (DMR) communications suite from the
The ALQ-214 component of the IDECM Diego, Rancho Cordova, and Mountain View, General Dynamics Corp. Mission Systems seg-
EW system has been delivered to the Navy Calif., and should be finished by May 2022. ment in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Electromet Corp.
as well as to the Royal Australian Air Force For more information contact Harris in Hagerstown, Md., provides electronic enclo-
for contemporary versions of the Boeing F/A- Electronic Systems online at www.harris. sures for the Navy’s shipboard DMR communi-
18 fighter-bomber. The system blends sensi- com/es, or Naval Air Systems Command cations suites.
tive receivers and active countermeasures to at www.navair.navy.mil. The Navy awarded this contract to Thales
sole-source because the company’s broadband
1904MAE41-43.indd 41 4/3/19 4:46 PM

PRODUCT
applic at ions
HF components are the only ones that interface England, and should be finished by January 2024, data across shipboard electronics and networks.
with the AN/USC-61(C) DMR shipboard commu- For more information contact Thales Defense NTCDL provides a real-time exchange of
nications system, Navy officials say. and Security online at www.thalesdsi.com, or voice, data, imagery, and full-motion video from
SPAWAR is awarding this contract on behalf SPAWAR at www.public.navy.mil. aircraft, surface warships, submarines, and war-
of the Navy Program Executive Officer for fighters on land. It helps the Navy network oper-
Command, Control, Communications, Computers, ations using currently fielded common data link
and Intelligence (PEO C4I), Communication RUGGED COMPUTERS (CDL) equipment, as well as next-generation
Program Office (PMW/A 170) in San Diego. Rugged computer servers from Systel manned and unmanned systems.
The HF-DAG supports AN/USC-61(C) mar- chosen for shipboard networking Initial NTCDL systems will go aboard Navy
itime radios to enable Navy surface warships Naval shipboard electronics enclosures specialist aircraft carriers and large-deck amphibious
and submarines to communicate over high fre- Falstrom Company in Passaic, N.J., needed rug- assault ships. NTCDL is a modular, scalable
quency (HF), ultra-high frequency (UHF) line of ged high-density computer servers for the U.S. system designed to increase link capacity and
sight, UHF satellite communications (SATCOM), Navy’s Network Tactical Common Data Link embrace waveform evolution.
and very high frequency (VHF) radio bands. (NTCDL). They found their solution from Systel The technology uses an open-systems architec-
The AN/USC-61(C) DMR is a shipboard soft- Inc. in Sugar Land, Texas. ture with non-proprietary interfaces, and is repro-
ware-defined radio (SDR) that has become Systel will support NTCDL in partnership with grammable to adapt to new and evolving mission
standard for the U.S. military. The compact, Falstrom, which will design, build, qualify, and needs. BAE Systems is building NTCDL technology
multi-channel DMR provides several different deliver below deck electronic rack assemblies to at its facilities in Wayne, N.J., and Greenlawn, N.Y.
waveforms and multi-level information security the BAE Systems Electronic Systems segment in BAE Systems is working with partner Ball
for voice and data communications. Nashua, N.H., the program’s prime contractor. Aerospace to advance the two companies’ joint
The radio includes Embedded type 1 encryp- Multi Link CDL Systems development. Ball is
tion; embedded red/black baseband switching building the Ku-band phased array antenna suite
and routing; co-site performance; reduced man- for BAE Systems on the NTCDL project.
power requirements; single point of control for These multi-beam planar phased array anten-
HF/VHF/UHF/SATCOM radio communications; Falstrom specializes in custom rugged enclo- nas from Ball Aerospace are based on silicon ger-
and built-in test (BIT). sures and electronic assemblies for naval shipboard manium (SiGe) technologies on one circuit board,
Software-defined radio waveforms are com- radar, conventional and nuclear power panels, avi- which results in a low-profile antenna.
puter programs that enable SDR-enable radios onics test equipment, and computer enclosures. The antennas initially will be installed on
to operate on different frequency bands with Systel is supporting NTCDL with high-den- naval aircraft carriers to enable the ships to com-
different encryption and cyber security func- sity 1U and 3U embedded computing servers for municate with a range of intelligence, surveil-
tions. The AN/USC-61(C) operates on Navy sur- high-speed communications and position, navi- lance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms. Ball
face ships, submarines, and other military plat- gation, and timing (PNT) services. will do the NTCDL work in Westminster, Colo.
forms using frequencies from 2 MHz to 2 GHz. Systel’s rugged servers feature several cen- For more information contact Systel online
General Dynamics has certified the DMR to tral processing units and graphics processing at www.systelusa.com, BAE Systems Electronic
pass secure voice and data at multiple inde- units for high-performance parallel processing, Systems at www.baesystems.com, or Ball
pendent levels of security (MILS) over HF, VHF, high-density secure data storage, and high- Aerospace at www.ball.com/aerospace.
UHF, and SATCOM channels, and to withstand speed optical fiber data networking.
the effects of electromagnetic interference and Two years ago BAE Systems won an $87.7
other harsh operating conditions. million Navy contract to develop NTCDL tech- SENSORS
The DMR also is certified by the Joint nology that enables Navy surface warships to Northrop Grumman to install
Interoperability Test Command (JITC) to be transmit and receive real-time intelligence, sur- EW and electro-optical missile-
compliant with the U.S. government’s MIL-STD- veillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) data from defense on P-8A jets
188-181B/182A/183A requirements for UHF several sources simultaneously. Military avionics experts at Northrop Grumman
SATCOM. General Dynamics builds the AN/USC- The system also enables the Navy to Corp. will provide electronic warfare (EW) and
61(C) using open-architecture standards. exchange command and control information missile-defense subsystems for the U.S. Navy
On this five-year HF-DAG contract, Thales will across disparate networks. The NTCDL helps P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol jet under terms
do the work in Clarksburg, Md.; and West Sussex, the Navy share large quantities of critical ISR of a $27.3 million contract.
42
1904MAE41-43.indd 42 4/3/19 4:46 PM

PRODUCT
applic at ions
designed to provide missile-warning capability to sensors and communications to provide beyond-

protect large military aircraft from infrared-guided, the-fence surveillance for Marine Corps installa-
heat-seeking missiles — particularly those from tions. The system typically is deployed in the Middle
shoulder-fired launchers like the U.S.-made Stinger East and other locations for perimeter security.
Block 2 and Russian-made SA-14 missiles. Each G-BOSS tower can operate inde-
The LAIRCM is a derivative of the AN/AAQ-24 pendently and has a 107-foot or 80-foot tower;
Nemesis Directional IR Countermeasure (DIRCM) a multi-spectral electro-optic/infrared sensor
system. It jams the incoming missile’s seeker with a suite composed of a FLIR Systems Star SAFIRE
IR laser energy beam, and operates autonomously IIIFP camera with a laser pointer and range
Officials of the Naval Air Warfare Center without intervention from the aircraft crew. finder; a ThermoVision 3000 camera with a
Aircraft Division in Lakehurst, N.J., are asking On this contract Northrop Grumman will do the global Positioning System (GPS); a man-por-
the Northrop Grumman Mission Systems seg- work in Rolling Meadows, Ill., and should be fin- table surveillance and target acquisition radar
ment in Rolling Meadows, Ill., to integrate the ished by February 2021. For more information con- (MSTAR); and a Ground Control Station (GCS)
AN/AAQ-24 large aircraft infrared countermea- tact Northrop Grumman Mission Systems with optional Remote Ground Station (RGS).
sures system (LAIRCM) and the ALQ-213 elec- online at www.northropgrumman.com, or the G-BOSS can integrate signals from unmanned
tronic warfare management system on P-8A Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division- aerial vehicles (UAVs) using the VideoScout
production aircraft lots 9 and 10. Lakehurst at www.navair.navy.mil/lakehurst. video management system and from the tactical
These aircraft will be for the Navy, as well as remote sensor suite unattended ground sensors.
for the governments of Australia and the United G-BOSS typically is deployed at Marine Corps
Kingdom. CATEGORY PLEASE forward operating bases, command outposts,
The ALQ-213, built by Terma North America Navy chooses sensors from Safran battle positions, and entry control points.
Inc. in Arlington, Va., is a low-power electronic Optics 1 for perimeter security Safran Optics 1 specializes in laser rangefind-
warfare (EW) management unit that uses no U.S. Navy surveillance researchers needed an ers, markers, visual augmentation systems, pre-
forced air cooling, has a dual-core PowerPC electro-optical and infrared sensor for U.S. Marine cision north finding and inertial navigation sys-
microprocessor and a large field programma- corps perimeter security. They found their solution tems, targeting solutions, and custom systems.
ble gate array (FPGA). The unit also has a Wind from Safran Optics 1 Inc. in Bedford, N.H. Optics 1 produces the PASEO advanced pan-
River VxWorks operating system. It offers a non- Officials of the Naval Surface Warfare Center oramic sight for armored personnel carriers and
ITAR controller for a military aircraft survivability Crane Division in Crane, Ind., announced a main battle tanks. It is for fire-on-the-move capa-
equipment (ASE) suite, which provides automatic potential $12 million five-year contract to Optics bilities for vehicle gunner and commander stations,
threat reaction and decision support algorithms 1 in March to build, repair, and support Ground- and can perform forward artillery observation.
and on-board training for P-8A aircraft crews. Based Operational Surveillance System (G-BOSS) The company also produces the Airborne
The Terma ALQ-213(V) has an expansion slot Light Optical Camera (GBLOC). Reconnaissance Targeting Integrated System
for drop-in of one special purpose circuit cards. (ARTIS) 410 multispectral ultra-long-range
The expansion slot provides a fast PCI express observation and precision-targeting system with
interface to the dual-core CPU and can be sup- high-definition sensors and advanced embedded
ported by a dedicated external connector, with computing. It works at standoff distances during
minimal impact to the unit design. the day and night, and is designed to identify
The electronic warfare management unit typi- targets quickly in four spectral wavebands: color
cally integrates several aircraft survivability equip- CMOS, near-infrared (NIR), short-wave infrared
ment sensors and effectors via one or more MIL- (SWIR), and mid-wave infrared (MWIR).
STD-1553B data buses and discrete and serial Optics 1 engineers will build a tripod On this indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity
interfaces. The electronic warfare management mounted electro-optical and infrared sensor that contract, Optics 1 will do the work in Bedford,
unit can integrate cockpit multi-function display provides daylight and night-vision imagery for N.H., and should be finished by March 2024.
and control units or provide graphical human detecting, classifying, and identifying targets as For more information contact Safran Optics 1
interaction via Terma’s advanced threat display. part of the Marine Corps G-BOSS sensor suite. online at www.optics1.com, or the Naval Surface
The Northrop Grumman AN/AAQ-24(V) G-BOSS is a self-erecting, trailer-mounted Warfare Center-Crane at www.navsea.navy.mil/
LAIRCM electro-optical missile warning sensor is tower that provides a stable, elevated platform for Home/Warfare-Centers/NSWC-Crane. 
1904MAE41-43.indd 43 4/3/19 4:46 PM

To submit new products for consideration,
new products
contact John Keller at jkeller@pennwell.com.
INTERCONNECT PRODUCTS Express embedded computing modules for com-

Coaxial cables for distributed munications, surveillance and security, industrial
indoor antenna systems control, and medical imaging. The COM Express-
introduced by Pasternack bDV7 has as much as 128 gigabytes of non-ECC/
Pasternack Enterprises Inc. in Irvine, Calif., is ECC DDR4 memory and Intel Atom C3000 pro- digital radar, wideband receivers, wireless commu-
introducing a line of low-PIM coaxial cables for cessors in Basic Type 7 form factor, and the COM nications, and software-defined radio (SDR). The
distributed antenna systems in indoor wireless Express-bCL6 module has the 8th generation Intel module brings A/D converter and D/A converter
applications, wireless infrastructure, multi-carrier Xeon E or Intel Core processors in Basic Type 6 functionality on one card. The FMC172 is based
communication systems, WISP networks, small form factor. Both optionally can be equipped with on a high-performance A/D converter from Texas
Instruments and D/A converters from E2V. It offers
LVDS interfaces, delivering as much throughput as
6.4 gigasamples per second A/D conversion on one
channel, or two channels at 3.2 gigasamples per
second. It also offers as much as 6 gigasamples
per second D/A conversion. The FMC is suitable
for advanced Digital RF Memory (DRFM) systems.
When paired with Abaco’s FPGA carrier cards like
cell installations, and PIM testing. Pasternack’s new four memory sockets enabling a maximum mem- the VP889 or VP869, the FMC172 can help sys-
series of low-PIM coaxial cable assemblies consists ory expansion of 128 gigabytes. Kontron customers tems designers solve difficult challenges when
of 18 standard configurations with PIM levels of benefit immediately from the availability of the 32 designing modern DSP systems. The FMC172
less than -160 dBc. This product line is made with gigabytes of SO-DIMMs. The COM Express-bDV7 allows flexible control of clock source, sampling
lightweight, flexible UL910 plenum-rated SPP-250- embedded computing module is based on proces- frequency, and calibration through I2C communi-
LLPL RF coaxial cable which can operate in tem- sors from the Intel Atom C3000 product family cation. The A/D converter has individual calibration
peratures from -55 to 125 degrees Celsius. They and offers scalable computing power and network circuits for fine-tuning of gain, offset, and phase.
come with 4.3-10, 7/16 DIN, 4.1/9.5 mini-DIN, and options for energy-efficient entry-level server plat- For more information contact Abaco Systems
Type-N connectors, which also include right-angle forms. It offers server-level computing power with online at www.abaco.com.
connector options for distributed antenna systems as many as 16 processor cores. The COM Express-
applications. These high-quality cables deliver low bCL6 is based on the 8th generation Intel Core or
insertion loss and voltage standing wave ratio Intel Xeon E processor family with mobile chipset EMBEDDED COMPUTING
(VSWR), are 100 percent RF and PIM tested, and (CM246/QM370 PCH), and is available in various Small-form-factor embedded
come with the PIM test results marked on the processor versions, including six-core processor computing for artificial intelligence
cables. Pasternack’s new low-PIM coaxial cable models. For more information contact Kontron (AI) offered by Aitech
assemblies are in stock and ready for immediate online at www.kontron.com. Aitech Defense Systems Inc. in Chatsworth,
shipment with no minimum order quantity. More Calif., is working together with Concurrent Real-
information is online at www.pasternack.com. Time Inc. in Pompano Beach, Fla. to integrate
DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING the RedHawk Linux real-time operating system
FMC mezzanine card for EW, (RTOS) with two of Aitech’s NVIDIA Jetson TX2-
COMPUTER BOARDS radar, and communications based small-form-factor embedded computing
COM Express modules for introduced by Abaco systems — the military-grade A176 Cyclone
communications and surveillance Abaco Systems in Huntsville, Ala., is introducing and the industrial-focused A177 Twister. Typical
introduced by Kontron the FMC172 wideband low-latency FPGA mez- uses include high-data-throughput and process-
Kontron in Augsburg, Germany, is introducing the zanine card (FMC) for advanced embedded coming like image and data manipulation, digital fil-
COM Express-bDV7 and COM Express-bCL6 COM puting applications in electronic warfare (EW), ters, image and frame object edge detection,
44
1904MAE44-48.indd 44 4/3/19 4:46 PM

image recognition, and data analysis in military interface users may capitalize on software compati- and power (SWaP) optimization. EnsembleSeries
and industrial applications. Using the Jetson bility with the previous device in new lightning-pro- HDS6603B blades offer optional BuiltSECURE
TX2 and the advanced development environ- tected designs, says Anthony Murray, director of technologies to counter nation-state reverse
ment of RedHawk Linux, the two units enable marketing communications at Holt Integrated engineering with systems security engineering
deep learning capabilities in a growing num- Circuits. Other device variants include digital-only (SSE) that enables turnkey or private and per-
options for use with external line receivers and line sonalized security solutions to be configured.
driver. These devices are for higher rated levels For more information contact Mercury Systems
of lightning protection or isolation. For example, online at www.mrcy.com.
HI-35933 enables galvanic isolation utilizing exter-
nal Holt line receivers (HI-8460) and lightning pro-
tection on the transmitter using an external Holt RUGGED COMPUTERS
lightning-protected line driver, HI-8597. For more Rugged computer for high
ber of artificial intelligence (AI) environments. information contact Holt Integrated Circuits shock and vibration introduced
RedHawk offers open-source Linux technology, online at www.holtic.com. by Crystal Group
advanced graphics user interface (GUI) debug- Rugged computer specialist Crystal Group Inc.
ging and analysis tools, and multi-core comput- in Hiawatha, Iowa, is introducing the RE1529
ing architecture support for high performance BOARD PRODUCTS rugged embedded computer for aerospace and
embedded computing (HPEC) systems. For more 6U OpenVPX blade servers defense applications that must operate in harsh
information contact Aitech online at https://rug- for artificial intelligence (AI) environmental conditions. Engineered with com-
ged.com/gpgpu-products, or Concurrent Real introduced by Mercury mercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies, the
Time at www.concurrent-rt.com. Mercury Systems Inc. in Andover, Mass., is intro- RE1529 is designed and tested for low size,
ducing the EnsembleSeries HDS6603B blade weight, and power consumption (SWaP) aircraft
servers in a rugged 6U OpenVPX package for applications. The rugged computer includes Intel
AVIONICS rugged defense applications and upgrades that chipsets and processors, and is stabilized in a
Rugged ARINC 429 avionics involve sensor fusion, deep learning, and artifi- compact, rugged enclosure to provide compute
interface lightning protection cial intelligence (AI). Powered by dual Intel Xeon power over a long operational life. The RE1529 is
offered by Holt E5 processors using “Broadwell” microarchitec- manufactured with lightweight composites and
Holt Integrated Circuits in Mission Viejo, Calif., ture, the HDS6603B blade server has the cool- delivered with Xeon D multi-core processors, as
is introducing the HI-35930 ARINC 429 avionics much as 128 gigabytes of ECC DDR4 RAM, and
databus interface chip, which provides a drop-in has nine internal 7- and 9-millimeter SATA sol-
for existing HI-3593 designs that call for light- id-state drive (SSD) bays. The system measures
ning protection. Dual line receivers meet the light- 6 by 15.4 by 9.6 inches, and weighs 7.5 pounds,
ning requirements of specification RTCA/DO160G and provides a server class architecture that also
Section 22 Level 3 pin injection test waveforms accommodates input/output and third-party card
without the need for any external components. ing, packaging and interconnect technologies requirements. This product has been designed
Aside from the addition of lightning protection, found in earlier generations of Mercury Xeon E5
the device is identical to HI-3593, featuring a SPI blades. These open-systems technologies have
host interface, integrated line driver, and on-board a technology readiness level of nine (TRL-9).
DC-DC converter power supply for single-supply Intel’s Broadwell architecture reduces fabrication
3.3-volt operation. ARINC 429 avionics databus geometry to increase clock speed and core count
options, while lowering the power consumed.
With as many as 28 cores from dual 2.2 GHz, to survive extreme shock and vibration, as well
QPI-enabled devices, each HDS6603B blade as other environmental conditions to meet or
delivers 1.61 teraFLOPs of general-purpose pro- exceed military requirements. It is manufactured
cessing power. Mercury’s blade servers offer in the U.S., and comes with a 5-year warranty. For
long life-cycles, high-performance, environmen- more information contact Crystal Group online
tal resiliency, interoperability, and size, weight, at www.crystalrugged.com.
1904MAE44-48.indd 45 4/3/19 4:46 PM

new products
PROCESSOR BOARDS EMBEDDED POWER
FPGA-based XMC data converter Vicor Power introduces VITA

for RF and microwave tasks 62 power supplies for military
introduced by Pentek VPX embedded computing
Pentek Inc. in Upper Saddle River, N.J., is intro- Vicor Power Systems in Andover, Mass., is intro-
ducing the model 71810 data converter Switched ducing a line of VITA 62-compliant power supplies
Mezzanine Card (XMC) for demanding RF and I/O signal status and control interface. The model designed for 3U Open VPX embedded computing
microwave tasks like modulation-and-demodula- 71810 can be populated with Kintex UltraScale systems. The embedded computing power supplies
tion, encoding-and-decoding, encryption-and-de- FPGAs, ranging from the entry-level KU035 (with achieve high-efficiency and high-power density in
cryption, and channelization of the signals 1,700 DSP slices) to the high-performance KU115 a rugged, conduction-cooled chassis. The initial
between transmission and reception. The XMC (with 5,520 DSP slices). The model 71810 option- products operate from a nominal 28- or 270-volt
is based on the Xilinx Kintex Ultrascale field-pro- ally can be configured with a P14 PMC connector DC input, with predefined output voltages ranging
grammable gate array (FPGA) and has LVDS digi- with 24 pairs of LVDS connections to the FPGA for from 3.3 to 12 volts, delivering as much as 600
tal I/O. The model 71810 routes 38 pairs of LVDS custom I/O to the carrier board or backplane. An
connections from the FPGA to an 80-pin con- additional option for a P16 XMC connector with
nector on the front panel. When mounted on a an 8X gigabit link to the FPGA supports serial
compatible single board computer or other XMC protocols. For more information contact Pentek
carrier, the model 71810 provides a customizable online at www.pentek.com.
PRODUCT & LITERATURE SHOWCASE
Networked AV Technology
For C4ISR, Simulation, Communications
Any content distributed anywhere • Fully scalable for any size deployment
Encrypted transmission • Peer-to-peer architecture for 24/7 reliability
The solution . . .
Advancing the state of-the-art
RGB www.rgb.com/zio
46
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Watts of power. Customers requiring different output voltages or power levels can
request a customized power supply to meet their own specifications. This family of
products has been tested to meet MIL-461F and MIL-704F. In addition, the 28-volt
input version also meets MIL-1275D, as well as VITA 62 VPX. For more information
SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES
contact Vicor Power online at www.vicorpower.com. Phone: 1-800-869-6882 / International Callers: +1 512-982-4277
E-mail: MAEM@kmpsgroup.com
Web: www.mae-subscribe.com
EMBEDDED COMPUTING
GROUP PUBLISHER Alan Bergstein
Embedded server for harsh-environment 603 891-9447 ⁄ alanb@pennwell.com

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF John Keller
applications introduced by VersaLogic 603 891-9117 ⁄ jkeller@pennwell.com
VersaLogic Corp. in Tualatin, Ore., is introducing the Grizzly embedded computing ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jamie Whitney
603 891-9135 ⁄ jamiew@pennwell.com
server for use in aerospace, defense, and other harsh-environment applications. The
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR WESTERN BUREAU J. R. Wilson
VersaLogic Grizzly comes in a 110 by 155 by 48-millimeter package, and features an 702 434-3903 ⁄ jrwilson@pennwell.com
Intel 16-core processor, high speed 10-Gigabit Ethernet channels, and operation in ART DIRECTOR Meg Fuschetti
PRODUCTION MANAGER Sheila Ward

temperatures from -40 to 85 degrees Celsius. High-performance processing and data
SENIOR ILLUSTRATOR Chris Hipp
collection is moving out of the server rack and out to the edge, even in non-friendly
AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Debbie Bouley
environments, company officials say. Grizzly is for applications ranging from smart- 603 891-9372 ⁄ debbieb@pennwell.com
AD SERVICES MANAGER Glenda Van Duyne
grid and smart-city applications, to transportation, security, and defense. Designed
918 831-9473 ⁄ glendav@pennwell.com
MARKETING MANAGER Adrienne Adler
603 891-9420 ⁄ aadler@pennwell.com
www.endeavorbusinessmedia.com
AS 9100D / ISO 9001:2015 CERTIFIED EDITORIAL OFFICES
Endeavor Business Media, LLC
PHALANX II: Military & Aerospace Electronics

61 Spit Brook Road, Suite 501, Nashua, NH 03060
THE ULTIMATE NAS

603 891-0123 ⁄ www.milaero.com
SALES OFFICES
Supports AES-256 and FIPS140-2 encryption EASTERN US & EASTERN CANADA & UK
Keith Gregory, Sales Manager
508 1/2 Ocean Park Ave., Bradley Beach, NJ 07720
732-897-9550 / Cell 917-993-3741
keithg@pennwell.com
WESTERN CANADA & WEST OF MISSISSIPPI
Jay Mendelson, Sales Manager
4957 Chiles Drive, San Jose, CA 95136
408 221-2828 ⁄ jaym@pennwell.com
REPRINTS Jessica Stremmel
717 505-9701 x2205 ⁄ Jessica.stremmel@theygsgroup.com
DIRECTOR LIST RENTAL Kelli Berry
918 831-9782 ⁄ kellib@pennwell.com
For assistance with marketing strategy or ad creation,
please contact Marketing Solutions
Utilizing two removable SSDs, the Phalanx II is a rugged Kaci Wheeler
Small Form Factor (SSF) Network Attached Storage (NAS) 918 832-9377 ⁄ kaciw@pennwell.com
file server designed for manned and unmanned airborne,
CORPORATE OFFICERS
undersea and ground mobile applications. CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Chris Ferrell
CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER Scott Bieda

w w w . p h e n x i n t . c o m CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Patrick Raines
CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER Eric Kammerzelt
PhoInt_MAE_1802 1 1/23/18 8:53 AM
1904MAE44-48.indd 47 4/3/19 4:46 PM

new products
6 GHz. Wireless and 5G network infrastructures converters and a companion differential ampli-
require coaxial jumpers that can deliver premium fier for applications that must operate in high
electrical performance and robust environmen- temperatures and electromagnetic environ-
tal capabilities to withstand the elements. Molex
2.2-5 RF cable jumpers are factory fabricated and
provide a IP68 NEMA rating when mated, pro-
tecting the connector system from dust and water
ingress. Molex offers custom assemblies inte-
and tested to MIL-STD-202H for high impact and grating 2.2-5 form factor connectors in a range
vibration, the Grizzly is a 16-core embedded com- of mating options for design flexibility, ease of
puter with two SFP+ interface connectors to sup- installation, and optimal electrical performance. ments. These devices are designed for applica-
port high-speed 10 Gigabit Ethernet. They accept The IP68 2.2-5 system features an air dielectric tions like high-precision data acquisition, elec-
plug-in adaptors for copper connections, short- tric vehicle battery management, motor control,
reach fiber, and long-reach fiber connections. The and switch-mode power supplies that demand
Grizzly also includes standard 1-Gigabit Ethernet high-speed and high-resolution analog-to-dig-
ports, USB 3.0, digital I/O, and SATA 3 ports. ital conversion. The MCP331x1(D)-xx family
Two mini-PCI Express sockets support plug-in includes a one megasample-per-second AEC-
on-board expansion devices, such as GPS mod- Q100-qualified 16-bit SAR for automotive and
ules. For more information contact VersaLogic industrial applications. The MCP6D11 differen-
online at www.versalogic.com. tial amplifier provides a low-distortion interface.
interface enabling superior bandwidth and low The MCP331x1(D)-xx family ranges in resolution
insertion loss in 5G networks and any applica- from 12-, 14-, and 16-bit, with speed options
CONNECTORS tion with critical signal capacities and space. For ranging from 500 kilosamples per second to 1
2.2-5 form factor RF connector more information contact Molex online at www. megasample per second. These devices have a
for critical signal capacities molex.com. fixed low analog supply voltage (AVDD) of 1.8
introduced by Molex volts and 1.6 milliamps typical operation. These
Molex Inc. in Lisle, Ill., is introducing the compact devices support a 1.7-to-5.5-volt digital I/O inter-
2.2-5 RF connector system and cable assemblies HIGH-TEMPERATURE ELECTRONICS face voltage (DVIO) range to eliminate the need
for high-frequency and low passive intermodula- A/D converters for high-temperature for using external voltage level shifters. The
tion (PIM). Molex developed the 2.25 form factor industrial applications introduced MCP331x1(D)-xx high-temperature family con-
together with the 2.2-5 consortium by adapting by Microchip tains single-ended and differential input voltage
and miniaturizing the 4.3-10 form factor. Molex Microchip Technology Inc. in Chandler, Ariz., is measurement options. For more information con-
2.2-5 RF connectors are 53 percent smaller than introducing the MCP331x1(D)-xx family of 12 tact a Microchip Technology online at www.
4.3-10 connectors, and capable of frequencies to successive approximation register (SAR) A/D microchip.com. 
A DV E R T I S E RS I N D E X
ADVERTISERPAGE ADVERTISERPAGE
Airborn Inc............................................................................................................. 32 Master Bond Inc.................................................................................................... 20
Annapolis Micro Systems, Inc........................................................................... 27 Mercury Systems.................................................................................................. 31
Broadcom Corp...................................................................................................... 23 Milpower Source................................................................................................... 33
Cobham Semiconductor Solutions..................................................................... 5 Pasternack Enterprises.......................................................................3, 13, 25, C3
Crane Aerospace & Electronics........................................................................... 1
Pentek......................................................................................................................C2
Data Device Corporation..................................................................................... 15
Phoenix International.......................................................................................... 47
Dawn VME................................................................................................................ 7
Pico Electronics Inc............................................................................................... 21
ECS............................................................................................................................ 17
Elma Electronic Inc.............................................................................................. 19 Radiall AEP Inc...................................................................................................... 16
General Micro Systems........................................................................................C4 RGB Spectrum....................................................................................................... 46
Holt Integrated Circuits....................................................................................... 16 Smarter Shows Ltd............................................................................................... 29
Huber & Suhner.................................................................................................... 11 VectorNav�� 9
48
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Largest In-Stock Selection of
Waveguide
Components
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Pasternack’s RF Engineering team has assembled the largest selection of in-stock and ready to ship waveguide
components covering RF, microwave and millimeter-wave bands up to 110 GHz. With 20 different waveguide categories
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APRIL 2019

1904MAE_c1-c4.indd 1 4/3/19 4:47 PM

The combination of Pentek’s new Quartz™

• Powerful Zynq Ultrascale+ FPGA with built-in

Pentek, Inc., One Park Way, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458

Pentek_MAE_1902.indd 1 1/18/19 10:10 AM

Artificial intelligence (AI) in

www.militaryaerospace.com MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICS APRIL 2019 1

1904MAE01.indd 1 4/3/19 4:47 PM

Good times continue for the U.S. defense

2 APRIL 2019 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICS www.militaryaerospace.com

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4 A P R I L 2 0 1 9 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICSwww.militaryaerospace.com

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IMU / AHRS | GNSS/INS | GPS-COMPASS

AUVSI XPONENTIAL Sea-Air-Space

Visit VectorNav: Chicago, IL

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These displays must maintain contrast ratios better than 1000

Phase variation [ppm]

Lamberts for white. Monochrome brightness must be better -1000

than 3,000-foot Lamberts and RGB color OLED better than

More information is online at https://www.fbo.gov/spg/USAF/AFMC/AFRL-

1904MAE04-11.indd 11 4/4/19 9:00 AM

Artificial intelligence (AI)

12 APRIL 2019 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICS www.militaryaerospace.com

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We’re RF On Demand, with over one million RF and microwave

and act on their own in a hunter/killer

History of autonomous vehicles

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if there is a catastrophic accident, the 55

“The industry is proceeding cautious-

www.militaryaerospace.com MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICS A P R I L 2 0 1 9 15

DataDev_MAE_1904 1 3/26/19 10:49 AM

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Rapidly evolving technology and military applications,” he says.

QUICKFUSIO™ MULTIPIN AEROSPACE CONNECTOR

n Single-chip monolithic design

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The Textron Systems Shadow Tactical

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Trust Elma and our

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The role of commercial AI

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TRANSFORMERS & INDUCTORS Surface Mount & Thru Hole

VISIT OUR EXCITING NEW WEBSITE: www.picoelectronics.com

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Certiﬁed and qualiﬁed to Classes E, H and K of MIL-PRF-38534

For more information visit broadcom.com/hermetics

Military power electronics One design approach Vicor takes to

seeks to increase voltage ing traditional brick packaging with the

and efficiency are two to three times smaller than the

24 APRIL 2019 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICS www.militaryaerospace.com

4 A P R I L 2 0 1 9 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICSwww.militaryaerospace.com

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