Exceptional RoI for US Army
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) is working with the US Army to develop a Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) for the GRAY EAGLE Extended Range (GE-ER) UAS. Incorporating MOSA on GE-ER Increment 2 spans the entire system, including aircraft and C2 software suite. The implementation of MOSA will provide multiple new standards for C2, Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE), Open Mission Systems (OMS), Universal Armament Interface (UAI), and will further segregate the flight/mission systems’ hardware and software.
“MOSA implementation on GE-ER Inc 2 supports rapid integration of best-of-breed capabilities,” said GA-ASI VP of Army Programs, Don Cattell. “We share the Army’s vision for MOSA and want to help them create a system that makes interfacing from all platforms and users as easy as possible.”
MOSA for GE-ER Inc 2 offers an exceptional return on investment for the Army. On the aircraft, MOSA will enable rapid integration of advanced payloads and communications equipment, along with AI and machine learning capabilities. This will reduce sensor-to-shooter timelines, while simultaneously reducing the datalink bandwidth requirements in a contested environment, thus increasing range and resilience.
The ‘edge processing’ capability will maximise aircraft utility, providing – in near real time – threat detection, identification, location and reporting capabilities. Furthermore, the software components are being designed to be portable to other manned and unmanned aircraft the Army is developing, enhancing capability while reducing costs.
For the C2 suite on the ground, MOSA implementation will separate the human-machine interface (HMI) from the software business logic, and will decrease the time associated with interfacing with evolving communication capability in joint and multi-national environments. This will allow the Army to tailor the HMI for each platform, minimising regression testing, a capability the Army has never had before.