Boeing Begins Production of Joint Tactical Radio System Ground Mobile Radios Engineering Models

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has begun initial production of Engineering Design Models (EDMs) of its software-defined Joint Tactical Radio System Ground Mobile Radios (JTRS GMR), meeting an important milestone in the plan approved by the program's Joint Program Executive Office (JPEO).

The engineering models will undergo simultaneous field and system regression testing throughout 2008. As part of the plan, Boeing also will test and deliver incremental software releases supporting the JPEO and Future Combat Systems program. The EDM radio systems then will begin formal government certification and field testing in late 2008.

"Battlefield commanders need secure, real-time communications systems to improve situational awareness," said Ralph Moslener, Boeing JTRS GMR program director. "The radio's ability to connect multiple nodes across a self healing, multi-channel network allows commanders to obtain data, images and video from multiple sources and provide it to troops on the move to make decisions quickly."

More than 100 pre-EDM JTRS GMR radios already are operating in test environments across the United States. Continuous program field testing also has provided an opportunity to assess the Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW), the backbone of the radio's Internet-like capabilities.

The JTRS GMR system contains the infrastructure necessary to establish and maintain network operations. The system addresses the need for flexibility, allowing troops to enter or exit the network easily and configure the four-channel GMR with multiple simultaneous waveform combinations.

"Multiple legacy radios would be needed to deliver the same throughput capability of just one WNW channel on the GMR system, significantly increasing capacity to deliver critical information to the warfighter," added Moslener.

In addition to the ongoing EDM work, Boeing, the government and industry officials kicked off the Capstone Critical Design Review (CCDR) Dec. 17 to review and validate the JTRS GMR radio system design.

The CCDR is the culmination and integration of 30 individual hardware and software design reviews. These reviews are scheduled to conclude in the second quarter of 2008. The assessment caps a year of major program achievements, including the completion of several Preliminary Design Reviews (PDR), the Capstone PDR and individual CDRs for hardware and software elements. Boeing also has made multiple deliveries of the JTRS operating environment and waveform software to the JPEO information repository.

The JTRS GMR system, a key enabler of network-centric communications, offers a software-programmable radio system that provides secure, reliable, multi-channel voice, data, imagery and video communications for mobile military users. This system delivers transformational networked communications on-the-move at the tactical edge to support information sharing and combat readiness between service branches. It puts the full power of the Global Information Grid into the hands of the warfighter and takes network situational awareness beyond the Tactical Operations Center.