Rockwell Collins, Boeing Collaborate On Army Aviation Interoperability

Cedar Rapids, IA -- Rockwell Collins and Boeing are working together in support of the U. S. Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD) Manned/Unmanned Common Architecture Program (MCAP). This collaborative effort will lead the U. S. Army Aviation into the future with increased interoperability between manned and unmanned aviation systems and reduced life cycle cost through use of open industry standards.

According to Army project manager Dale Johnson, "MCAP is developing a common mission processing architecture for the emerging fleet of manned and unmanned Army aircraft. Commonality is a key aspect to achieving robust interoperability in future data intensive networked combat environments. We believe what we are doing as a project team is a proper model for others in the avionics development community to follow."

Phase II of MCAP, led by Boeing, is developing an open system, scalable mission avionics architecture for application on Army manned rotorcraft. The AH-64D Apache is the selected test bed vehicle. Phase III of MCAP, led by Rockwell Collins, is developing the mission avionics architecture for application on Army unmanned airborne vehicles (UAVs). Together, the companies working toward an interoperability demonstration between the AH-64 Apache helicopter and the Shadow 200 tactical UAV in support of the Army's concept of operations between manned and unmanned platforms. This demonstration will take place in late summer 2005.

Working together under the AATD MCAP program, the two companies are ensuring interoperability between U. S. Army manned and unmanned air vehicles through the selection of common interface standards. Growth plans include the joint development of common software components that can be reused across both manned and unmanned Army Aviation platforms.

Source: Rockwell Collins