Lockheed Inches Closer to Developing Army’s Cyber/Jamming Pod

The US Army has moved Lockheed Martin’s pod which will aid in sensing electronic spectrum while providing jamming capabilities, to build and evaluation phase.

The Consortium Management Group (CMG)/ Consortium for Command, Control and Communications in Cyberspace (C5) awarded the company a Project Agreement worth $75 million to move into the second phase of development for the “Air Large” component of its Multi-Function Electronic Warfare (MFEW) family of systems program.

“Lockheed Martin’s partnership with the U.S. Army has resulted in the creation of an MFEW-AL system that provides extensive spectrum convergence capabilities for battlefield commanders. MFEW-AL leverages three years of Lockheed Martin’s internal research and development investment in an open architecture system that can be easily configured for a variety of airborne and ground platforms, such as a wing-mounted pod for Group 4 unmanned aerial systems,” the company said in a statement today.

“Our internal research & development programs have resulted in first-of-its-kind converged technologies that are at the forefront of realizing our customers’ urgent need and vision for combined cyber and electronic warfare (EW) capability and dominance,” said Deon Viergutz, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s Spectrum Convergence division.

The MFEW-AL system conforms to the DoD C4ISR/EW Modular Open Suite of Standards (CMOSS) open system standards to enable rapid cyber/EW technique development and deployment; interoperability of hardware and software across airborne and ground platforms; prompt insertion of new hardware technology; and reduction of total ownership costs.

As a result, MFEW-AL systems will be able to rapidly adapt to a continuously evolving threat that optimizes support for warfighters, the company said.

The new pod is expected to be fitted on MQ-1C Grey Eagle drone. Smaller MFEW variants will go on RQ-7 Shadow, Future Tactical UAS, and other small-sized drones.