Northrop Grumman to upgrade SATCOM aboard E-6B contingency airborne command post for nuclear war

Nov. 17, 2013
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md., 17 Nov. 2013. Northrop Grumman Satellite communications (SATCOM) experts will design advanced satellite communications capability for the U.S. Navy E-6B Mercury strategic airborne command post and communications relay aircraft under terms of an $18.5 million contract announced this week.

PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md., 17 Nov. 2013. Northrop Grumman Satellite communications (SATCOM) experts will design advanced satellite communications capability for the U.S. Navy E-6B Mercury strategic airborne command post and communications relay aircraft under terms of an $18.5 million contract announced this week.

Engineers at the Northrop Grumman Corp. Information Systems segment in San Diego will build and install the Multi-Role Tactical Common Data Link Ku Line-of-Sight and Ka satellite communications systems for the E6-B for the contract awarded this past week by the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md.

The Multi-Role Tactical Common Data Link (MR-TCDL) includes two Ku line-of-sight channels and one Ka satellite communications channel. Other equipment includes power conditioning, cooling, electrical and network distribution.

The system also has equipment that interfaces Block II B kits into the existing E6-B avionics architecture. The job includes software changes to existing software necessary to accommodate the new data flows and data interfaces.

The Boeing E-6 Mercury is an airborne command post and communications relay aircraft that conveyed instructions from the National Command Authority to Navy nuclear ballistic missile submarines, as well as to land-based atomic missiles and nuclear-armed bombers.

The E-6B provides command and control of U.S. nuclear forces should ground-based control become inoperable. The plane is based on the four-engine Boeing 707 passenger jetliner.

The E-6B has a battlestaff area and new flight deck systems based on modern Boeing 737 aircraft. The E-6 flew in 1987, and the first E-6B was accepted in December 1997. The last production E-6B was delivered to the Navy in late 2006.

On the current contract Northrop Grumman will do the work in Greenville, Texas; Patuxent River NAS, Md.; and San Diego, and should be finished by November 2015.

For more information contact Northrop Grumman Technical Services online at www.northropgrumman.com, or Naval Air Systems Command at www.navair.navy.mil.

About the Author

John Keller | Editor-in-Chief

John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.

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