Rockwell Collins, a commercial and military aviation systems company, recently was awarded a long-term contract with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to supply the department with the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS).
MUOS are airborne radios and ancillaries for ground installations and ships as well as fixed and rotary-wing aircraft.
“This is the next big step in arming warfighters with next-generation communications capabilities including those available through MUOS, which brings greater overall capacity and signal quality for high reliability when it’s needed most,” said Troy Brunk, Rockwell Collins vice president and general manager of Communication, Navigation and Electronic Warfare Solutions.
The contract is a five-year agreement through the U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command that begins with a base award of $82.6 million in 2018 and includes four optional years. It consists of the indefinite-delivery of sixth-generation ARC-210 RT-2036(C) radios and fifth-generation ARC-210 radios and ancillaries, as well as associated data and services.
The ARC-210 utilizes the MUOS network to provide military forces with voice, video and mission data globally over a secure high-speed Internet Protocol-based system. It features beyond-line-of-sight connectivity capabilities, mobile ad hoc networking, and software-defined radio architecture.
More than 45,000 ARC-210 radios are in use worldwide on more than 180 platforms.