Air Force looks to DRS ICAS to supply secure intelligence situational awareness data receivers
NEWPORT NEWS, Va., 7 Aug. 2014. U.S. Air Force combat aircraft experts needed tactical RF and microwave receivers to enable air crews to receive situational awareness information in a secure environment. They found their solution from DRS ICAS LLC in Dayton, Ohio.
Officials of the Air Combat Command Acquisition Management and Integration Center in Newport News, Va., announced a potential $85.2 million contract to DRS ICAS on Monday for as many as 600 Air Force Tactical Receive System-Ruggedized Concord Intelligence Broadcast Receivers.
The DRS Concord Intelligence Broadcast Receiver-2 (IBR-2) is a tactical receiver that enables users to receive near real-time threat, survivor, and Blue Force Tracker data, as well as critical situational awareness information.
The Concord IBR-2 supports the National Security Agency (NSA) Cryptographic Modernization Program for algorithm changes. The Block 2 ENTR card embeds a Harris Sierra II application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and associated circuitry as its primary cryptographic device. It is upgradeable to handle future algorithm upgrades and the transition to Common Integrated Broadcast (CIB), DRS officials say.
Related: UAV command, control & communications
The Concord IBR-2 supports simultaneous user operations among as many as 24 users. The unit helps air crews receive direct access to a Tactical Receive Segment (TRS) via a TCP/IP connection. Users can be Multifunction Advanced Tactical Terminal (MATT) style or TRS users in any combination, company officials say.
The Air Force Global Cyberspace Integration Center has designated the DRS Concord IBR as ruggedized AF/TRS-R (Ruggedized). DRS has been supplying the IBR to the Air Force since 2003. was awarded its first Concord IBR production contract by the U.S. Army, designated as R-2650A(C)/U, in September 2003.
Essentially, the DRS IBR-2 fuses multi-source intelligence data into one operational picture for real-time situational awareness.
On this contract DRS will do the work in Dayton, Ohio, and Johnstown, Pa., and should finish the initial delivery order by August 2016. For more information contact DRS online at www.drs.com, or the Air Combat Command Acquisition Management and Integration Center at www.acc.af.mil.
John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
