RASOR is deigned to support connectivity between military waveforms and commercial satellites.(Image: L3Harris)
L3Harris Technologies has successfully completed a Critical Design Review (CDR) for a US Air Force (USAF) Global Lightning development programme that validated the company’s RASOR Modular Open System Approach (MOSA) solution for waveform conversions.
The work is being conducted under Defense Experiment Using Commercial Space Internet (DEUCSI) which is a programme working to support of USAF’s Hybrid Satellite Communications (SATCOM) concept.
USAF awarded the company an initial US$81 million contract last year for this exercise which aims to develop fixed and mobile ground and airborne terminals capable of connecting both commercial and traditional military waveforms to multiple SATCOM constellations.
Adam Milner, senior manager of space networks at L3Harris, said: “We plan on conducting integrated hardware testing within the next year to support USAF flight tests currently scheduled to begin at the end of 2025. This milestone brings the Air Force one step closer to bringing true Hybrid SATCOM capabilities and redundancy to dozens of platforms.”
The RASOR chassis, known as Rapidly Adaptable Ruggedized Enclosure (RARE), solution can scale from three to 12 slots with customised modules, which include L3Harris-proprietary technology, as well as third-party solutions.
The individual modules can provide a wide breadth of cross-domain capabilities with multi-level security, from resilient line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight communications to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, command and control, assured positioning, navigation and timing and electronic warfare.
The airborne three-domain, the two ground-based and the ¼ ATR OpenVPX-based cross-domain systems were engineered to provide real-time security across multi-domain operations.
DARPA’s Mission-Integrated Network Control (MINC) programme was set up to develop an autonomous tactical network and enable critical data flow in contested environments.
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The Joint Counter Radio-Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare (JCREW) counter-improvised explosive device (C-IED) and Drone Restricted Access Using Known Electromagnetic Warfare (DRAKE) counter-UAS (CUAS) systems are mounted and dismounted RF jammers.
Adarga’s Vantage information analysis tool is in service with the UK MoD and individual UK forces. It builds on the company’s Knowledge Platform which processes, organises and analyses open source material, as well as information held by the user’s military, security and intelligence services.
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