To Arm US Forces with simultaneous voice, data, and video communications, the airborne & maritime/fixed Station Joint Tactical radio System (AMF JTRS) forms a mobile, ad-hoc network. This secure (NSA Type 1), software-programmable, multiband/ multimode network is expected to be integrated into airborne, shipboard, and fixed-station platforms.
Recently, for example, a Joint Tactical Radio Internet-Protocol (IP) communications network transmitted data and video from its first airborne platform to ground-based radios. This test was conducted by a Lockheed martin airborne & Maritime/fixed Station Joint Tactical radio System (AMF JTRS) team with support from Boeing.
During the demonstration at Boeing's Mesa, AZ facility, Lockheed martin's team integrated an AMF JTRS Small Airborne Joint Tactical Radio enabled with the Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW) onto an aH-64D Apache (Block III architecture) helicopter (see photo). Using IP-based communications, ground and aerial nodes were linked in a dynamic, joint-tactical, mobile ad-hoc network. AMF JTRS then transmitted live streaming video and real-time situation- awareness data from the apache's on-board infrared camera to multiple ground-based radios.
The radio network includes multiple configurations, which provide twochannel Small airborne Joint Tactical Radio (for airborne) and four-channel Maritime/Fixed Station Joint Tactical Radio (for shipboard and fixed-station platforms). over the program's lifetime, an expected 28 waveforms (new and legacy) will be incorporated into the AMF JTRS network.
The Apache flight results complement ongoing, lab-based testing to validate AMF JTRS hardware and software capability in an operationally relevant environment. This year, Lockheed Martin's AMF JTRS team plans to perform an extensive "live fly" exercise with multiple aircraft and ground nodes. The Lockheed AMF JTRS team includes Bae Systems, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon.