JTRS takes to the air

The first airborne demonstration of the Airborne Maritime/Fixed Station Joint Tactical Radio System (AMF JTRS) has been tested onboard the AH-64D Block III Apache helicopter.

Data and video was successfully transmitted to ground-based radios from an airborne platform for the first time thanks to a joint tactical radio internet-protocol (IP) communications network, it was announced on 25 January.

The Lockheed Martin AMF JTRS team, with support from Boeing, demonstrated the capability at Boeing’s Mesa, Arizona facility. The AMF JTRS is a new capability designed to connect joint forces in theatre.

Mark Norris, vice president for Joint Tactical Network Solutions with Lockheed Martin’s IS&GS-Defense, said the tests underscored the critical role that AMF JTRS will play by providing IP networking.

They also demonstrate ‘the ability to dynamically use multiple waveforms as mission needs require and the ability to cross band and interconnect legacy systems’, Morris added.

During the tests an AMF JTRS small airborne joint tactical radio, enabled with the wideband networking waveform, was integrated onto the Apache. Lockheed Martin said the radio then transmitted live streaming video and real-time situation awareness data from the aircraft’s onboard infrared camera to multiple ground-based radios.

The flight complements on-going laboratory-based testing to validate AMF JTRS capabilities in an operationally-relevant environment, according to Lockheed Martin.

The team involved with this project, including BAE Systems, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon, plans to perform a ‘live fly’ exercise with multiple aircraft and ground nodes in 2011.

AMF JTRS will be integrated into airborne, shipboard, and fixed-station platforms.

In development for more than a decade, the JTRS effort consists of five programmes of record: Airborne, Maritime, and Fixed Site; Ground Mobile Radio; Handheld, Manpack, and Small Form Fit; Multifunctional Information Distribution System; and Network Enterprise Domain.

By Shephard staff