Lockheed Martin officials said flight tests of the firm’s Sikorsky HH-60W Combat Rescue Helicopter have determined the aircraft’s new tactical mission kit operates as designed, ensuring seamless transitioning to evaluation.
“This tactical mission kit leverages the knowledge we’ve gained from developing open architecture systems that are easily transportable across multiple aircraft and missions, ultimately leading to reduced lifecycle costs for any program,” Scott Breen,
Mission Systems program director, said. “The tactical mission kit is another example of our commitment to open systems that reduce pilot and crew mission management workload while increasing situational awareness in high task load environments.”
The kit fosters high-end mission processing for situational awareness, defensive systems, data links, and onboard mission planning, noting the technology is aligned with the Department of Defense Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Technical Standard.
The developers said that greater growth and adaptability for easy sensor, data link, threat warning, and countermeasure system changes serves as another attractive aspect of the kit. The software runs on two fully redundant common mission processors featuring powerful multi-core processing and the ability to drive multiple displays in a small, lightweight package.
The design and implementation of the tactical mission kit and its open architecture are based upon the same approach and reuse seen on current and future programs such as C-130T, A-10, German P-3C, MH-60R/S, HH-60W, and Future Vertical Lift.