Exelis to provide SINCGARS aviation radios to link helicopters with infantry units
FORT WAYNE, Ind., 3 Feb. 2014. Exelis in Fort Wayne, Ind., won a $10.9 million contract from the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency at Fort Belvoir, Va., to provide ARC-201D aviation radios for U.S. Army UH-60M Black Hawk and CH-47F Chinook helicopters, Exelis announced last week.
The ARC-201D is the primary Army aviation voice communications radio, and can communicate with the Army's Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS). SINCGARS capability enables Black Hawk and Chinook helicopter crews to communicate with infantry on the ground.
The ARC-201D provides voice and data communications with networking and anti-jamming capabilities. It operates on 2,320 channels on frequencies ranging from 30 to 88 MHz.
The integration of communications security (COMSEC) and the data rate adapter combines three line replaceable units (LRUs) into one and reduces overall weight of the aircraft, Exelis experts say.
The radio also has improved error correction and remote control enable the radio to assume several roles supporting future digital battlefield requirements.
The AN/ARC-201 is backwards compatible with TACFIRE and 16K data modes to enable helicopters to exchange voice and data with artillery units. The RT provides improved noisy channel avoidance for enhanced frequency hopping (FH) synchronization.
On this contract Exelis will do the work in Fort Wayne, Ind. For more information contact Exelis online at www.exelisinc.com, or the Defense Logistics Agency at www.dla.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.
