
March 2023

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The McHale Report, by militaryembedded.com Editorial Director John McHale, covers technology and procurement trends in the defense and aerospace electronics community.
View our archive of recent and past issues of the McHale Report e-mail newsletter.

Kontron

PODCAST

Space electronics trends, supply chain challenges, MOSA, and more

Rebranded after being bought by Veritas Capital from CAES, Frontgrade Technologies is now a stand-alone company focused on the space market - military and commercial. In this podcast, Frontgrade President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Elias discusses how the acquisition and rebranding impacts the company and its clientele. We also discuss how space platforms are adopting (MOSA), engineering recruitment challenges, and more.

TOP STORY

MOSA support for U.S. Army ground combat vehicles to be provided by L3Harris

L3Harris Technologies has reached an agreement with the U.S. Army to collaborate on the implementation of the Army's Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) for the service's ground combat vehicles, the company announced in a statement.

TOP STORY

F-35 pilot helmet microdisplay completes full performance validation

A microdisplay used in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's helmet-mounted display system has completed its full performance validation, manufacturer Kopin Corporation announced in a statement.

EDITOR'S PERSPECTIVE

MOSA savings metrics needed

While most leaders in the U. S. Department of Defense (DoD) understand the basic value of open architectures, they need to see metrics on already-realized cost and scheduled savings, said David Tremper, Director, Acquisition Integration and Interoperability, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense in his keynote address at the MOSA [Modular Open Systems Approach] Virtual Summit held February 22 and hosted by myself and Military Embedded Systems.

Simplify the sensor chain with direct RF up to 18 GHz

Electronic warfare, radar and ELINT applications demand direct RF solutions to deliver low-latency, fast data processing solutions for critical real-time decision-making. Mercury’s DRF3182 3U OpenVPX board offers fast direct RF wideband data capture at the edge with heterogenous FPGA processing, explosive 51.2 GSPS A/D & D/A speeds, Ku band frequencies from 2-18 GHz and six 100 GigE interfaces with an aggregate throughput of 75 GB/sec.
Download Datasheet»

MARKET RESEARCH

LEO satellites market to grow by $7.1 billion by 2027: report

The global low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite market is expected to grow by $7.1 billion from 2022 to 2027, according to a new report from Technavio.

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

MOSA systems: The benefits of deploying a datacentric architecture

A Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) – the method recommended by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) for the implementation of open systems – uses a decoupled system architecture that enables components to be incrementally added, removed, or replaced throughout the life cycle of a platform, providing opportunities for enhanced competition and innovation.

TOP STORY

Herley becomes part of CAES, adding RF capability

Officials at CAES announced that Herley -previously under Ultra - has joined CAES to grow the company’s footprint in the RF market. The combination enables CAES to add capabilities in missile flight instrumentation, customized RF solutions for microwave assemblies, and tactical radio frequency.

GUEST BLOG

Defense industry embraces the benefits of standardized power supplies

As 2023 marches on, we are seeing a growing trend within the aerospace and defense electronics industry toward technology standardization, in particular regarding power-delivery networks. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and prime defense contractors are incentivized to push standardized, modular power systems thanks to their inherent reusability, ability to scale across multiple platforms, and the clear benefits of shorter development time and faster time to revenue.

Annapolis Micro Systems

MARKET RESEARCH

Radar for military market will reach $62.66 billion in 2023, report says

The global market for military radar will grow from $57.91 billion in 2022 to $62.66 billion in 2023, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.2%, according to a new report from The Business Research Company, "Military Radars Global Market Report 2023."

TOP STORY

Data-processing ground system framework contract for U.S. Space Force won by SciTec

SciTec Inc. has won a $45.8 million contract from the U.S. Space Force for continued development of a ground system framework responsible for collecting and processing data gathered by satellites for missile warning, missile defense, battlespace awareness, and technical intelligence, the company announced in a statement.

INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE

Optimizing 100G VPX

At the 2018 Embedded Tech Trends conference, results were presented from early simulations that conclusively established 100 Gigabit Ethernet could be successfully implemented on VPX using existing and newly announced copper connectors. At that time, many in the industry thought that optical interconnects and fiber would be required to support 100 GbE speeds.

TOP STORY

Hypersonic vehicle to be provided to DoD by Hypersonix

Sensor experiments recently deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) during late 2022 may lead to greater understanding of the Earth’s ionosphere that will in turn enable more accurate predictive modeling and lead to increased resilience in the navigation and communications realms.

Mercury Systems

GUEST BLOG

Army Project Convergence 2023 exercises canceled, and UFOs take a high-speed turn

As I was putting together my notes about all the Army’s Project Convergence Exercises, I got a notice that the planned PC-23 exercises had been cancelled and rescheduled for 2024. That’s a great disappointment, so let's drown our sorrows in a vintage bottle of data from the three previous exercises: PC-20, PC-21, and PC-22.

GUEST BLOG

Why Ukraine needs battle tanks

A year ago, sending NATO battle tanks to a non-NATO nation fighting a war against Russia would've been unthinkable. Kyiv’s long campaign for support from western nations seemed to fall on deaf ears, even though many experts agreed that the need was there. Now, however, Germany, Denmark, and other European nations are sending Leopard 1 A5 and Leopard 2 A6 tanks to Ukraine; Britain has sent a squadron of Challenger 2s; and the U.S. is sending a battalion of 31 M1A2 Abrams tanks.

TOP STORY

JADC2 network enhancement contract for U.S. Air Force won by Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman has won a contract to provide network, communications, and processing services as part of the Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) initiative to connect sensors and platforms across all domains for the U.S. Air Force, the company announced in a statement.

TOP STORY

Cyber contract with Air Force nets Owl Cyber $35 million extension

Secure-systems provider Owl Cyber Defense Solutions has won an increase totaling $35 million to a previously awarded contract with the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) to produce and install secure collaborative technology software and hardware for the Air Force.

USVC

SPONSORED WHITE PAPER

Enabling the Migration to Software-Defined Platforms for Critical Infrastructure

Wind River

There is a growing need across multiple sectors for devices to be able to support the greater intelligence required to transition from automated to autonomous systems. This is driving technical requirements for open standards–based software-defined architectures to enable consolidation of multiple applications, including those at different levels of criticality and using multiple operating systems, onto common computing platforms.

SPONSORED WHITE PAPER

Real-Time Defense Systems Response Will Require PCIe 5.0

Mercury Systems

Today’s modern defense systems exploit massive volumes of data to provide warfighters with more accurate, complete intel. This paper examines the critically important interconnect technology and ecosystem built around Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) standards and specifically, how the emerging PCIe 5.0 protocol benefits a new generation of rugged, deployable application platforms.

Control Data Chaos at the Edge with Next-Gen Processing Solutions

Sponsored by: Mercury Systems
Date: March 30, 2:00 p.m. ET
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