General Dynamics wins $16.3 million contract for mission computers on Navy EA-18G EW jets

PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md., 19 Aug. 2014. U.S. Navy avionics experts are asking the General Dynamics Corp. Advanced Information Systems segment in Minneapolis to build 60 avionics computers for EA-18G Growler carrier-based electronic warfare (EW) combat jets.

Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., announced a $16.3 million contract Monday to General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems for full-rate production of 60 lot 38 Type 3 Advanced Mission Computers.

Of the 60 mission computers, 48 are for U.S. Navy EA-18G Growler aircraft and 12 are for Australian Growler aircraft. The Type 3 Advanced Mission Computer (AMC) also is part of the avionics suite of the Navy's Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighter. The contract was awarded to General Dynamics sole-source.

The AMC is a rugged embedded computer that provides general-purpose input/output, video, voice, and graphics processing for the Navy jets, and is able to process the high-speed data flows from modern military avionics and sensor technology. The flight computer communicates with aircraft systems over several databuses, including MIL-STD-1553, fibre optic Fibre Channel, and Local PCI. The flight computer's 6U VME architecture may be tailored with PMC mezzanine modules.

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The AMC provides situational awareness and combat systems control for the Growler and Super Hornet jets.avionics in the F/A-18E/F fighter-bomber, and for the EA-18G electronic warfare jet. The AMC consists of a ruggedized mission and display-processing system that relies on a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) open-systems architecture.

Single-board computers and other modules in the AMC fit in an industry standard 6U VME backplane, and the I/O configuration may be tailored with PMC mezzanine card (PMC) modules. An Ethernet interface supports software development and system maintenance.

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The AMC's core system software (CSS) is a real-time operating system with embedded system software, application program interface, and diagnostic software set for the AMC. The computer's I/O includes MIL-STD-1553 drivers, Fibre Channel drivers, VMEbus drivers, and discrete and serial I/O drivers.

On this contract General Dynamics will do the work in Bloomington, Minn., and should be finished by August 2016. For more information contact General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems online at www.gd-ais.com, or Naval Air Systems Command at www.navair.navy.mil.