CONCURRENT Computer has allied with Lockheed Martin to produce rugged versions of its PowerMAXION real-time computer for military applications.
Lockheed Martin plans to use the PowerMAXION in systems for sensor fusion, situational awareness, route replanning and battle management. An early application will be the US Army's Rotorcraft Pilot's Associate, flight testing of which is to begin in March, in a McDonnell Douglas AH-64 Apache helicopter.
Under the agreement, Lockheed Martin Federal Systems, based in Owega, New York, will manufacture rugged military versions of the PowerMAXION. Concurrent says that this compact format is the key to airborne use of the multi-processor computer. The Ft Lauderdale, Florida-based company says that it is also working with Lockheed Martin to repackage the PowerMAXION on to SEM-E electronics modules similar to those used in the avionics of the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 fighter and the Boeing/Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche helicopter.
The PowerMAXION has a Motorola PowerPC 604e microprocessor and could be offered to meet emerging requirements for commercial off-the-shelf processors to replace military-aircraft mission-computers.
Source: Flight International
