Data Link Solutions nets $32.6 million contract for MIDS on Ship Modernization equipment

SAN DIEGO, 17 Dec. 2014.Military communications experts at Data Link Solutions LLC in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, will build shipboard electronics for a major data communications system upgrade that will enhance the ability of Navy surface warships to exchange text and imagery data with aircraft and ground forces.

Officials of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) announced a $32.6 million contract to Data Link Solutions Monday for the Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS) on Ship (MOS) Modernization (MOS MOD) program lot-4 follow-on production.

The contract calls for Data Link Solutions to build as many as 12 MOS units for shipboard applications. The company won a $25 million contract last February for the MOS Modernization program (MOS MOD), which has been held up for a year due to Pentagon budget cutbacks and congressional sequestration. Data Link Solutions is a joint venture of Rockwell Collins and BAE Systems.

The contract also includes MOS MOD spare parts, and includes options that could increase the cumulative value of the contract to $38.6 million, Navy officials say.

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The MOS MOD program seeks to alleviate obsolescence and supportability issues of the MIDS shipboard system, which receives and transmits text and imagery to and from military aircraft and ground forces to share the tactical picture in near-real time.

The goal of the MOS MOD contract is to replace old MIDS on Ship components such as the system's high-power amplifier (HPA), MIDS low-volume terminal (LVT), power supplies, software, and related components, Navy officials say.

The project also will prepare the MIDS on Ship system to accept future enhancements such as enhanced throughput (ET), concurrent multi-netting (CMN), and concurrent contention receive (CCR). MIDS is the NATO term for the Link 16 military tactical data exchange network. It represents an upgrade to the old Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS).

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MOS is designed to equip surface ships with the Link 16 capabilities of the JTIDS Class 2H system, and provides gives interoperability with all Link 16 systems, with the added capability of 1,000 Watts of RF output power, Data Link Solutions officials say.

Operating in the 969 to 1206 MHz band, the MIDS terminal provides time division multiple access (TDMA) signal transmission and reception, monitors radio frequency emission, and mitigates interference to those systems in the event of an “out of specification” Link 16 equipment condition.

The core MIDS On Ship system consists of three main line replaceable units: the MIDS terminal, the remote power supply and the high-power amplifier group.

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Link 16 helps military forces exchange text messages and imagery data, and provides two channels of digital voice -- one running at 2.4 kilobits per second, and the other at 16 kilobits per second.

The MOS MOD contract asks Data Link Solutions engineers to provide new hardware and software for a MOS MOD system that supports legacy MIDS JTRS and MIDS LVT-4 terminals for use on Navy surface warships. Company engineers also will build qualified and certified MOS MOD system hardware and spares, as well as provide logistics support.

On this contract Data Link Solutions will do the work in Wayne, N.J., and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and should be finished by December 2017. For more information contact Data Link Solutions online at www.datalinksolutions.net, or SPAWAR at www.spawar.navy.mil/.