Sikorsky RAIDER X MOSA-driven digital backbone passes demos prior to Army FARA trials
NewsJuly 24, 2023
STRATFORD, Conn. Sikorsky (a Lockheed Martin company) completed four verification demonstrations of its RAIDER X system -- its entry in the competition for the U.S. Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) -- with third-party integrators validating its modular open systems approach (MOSA), in preparation for the first Army-led event verifying the technology.
According to the Sikorsky announcement of the RAIDER X trials, the company's system enabled the external integrators to independently link with and use the system, cut the effort to introduce these capabilities by almost 75%, and increase software development productivity by 50% compared to traditional methods.
Sikorsky documents say that RAIDER X is designed and built from the ground up to meet the Army's exacting MOSA requirements and standards using a model-based systems engineering (MBSE) approach, in line with nose-to-tail standards for the weapon system components, interfaces, and network infrastructure. MOSA performance is assessed through technical performance measures evaluating the modeled architecture and by running the systems through program demonstration events.
Kirk Avery, mission systems Senior Fellow at Sikorsky, said of the company's verification demonstrations: “We don’t expect or want the exercises to run perfectly. We want to find areas to improve and increase efficiency. We want to demonstrate for the Army that MOSA is foundational in everything we do – in every decision, every trade – and it’s inherent in our architecture. We’re continuously evolving our solution so we can provide the Army what they need for their solutions and warfighter missions.”
Sikorsky and fellow FARA finalist Bell Textron will be called upon later in 2023 to demonstrate that their designs meet the Army’s MOSA standards.
