[Satellite TODAY Insider 10-15-10] Northrop Grumman is flight-testing computing hardware and communications infrastructure that allow the U.S. Air Force’s B-2 stealth bomber to send and receive battlefield information by satellite at rates more than 100 times faster than current capabilities, the company announced Oct 14.
     Northrop Grumman, the Air Force’s prime contractor for the B-2 Spirit, has been conducting the tests on B-2 aircraft stationed at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., since September. The flight-test program is part of the Air Force’s Increment 1 B-2 extremely high frequency (EHF) satellite communications program.
     The EHF Increment 1 solution includes: an integrated processing unit developed by Lockheed Martin that will replace up to a dozen current standalone avionics computers on the B-2; a disk drive unit developed by Honeywell Defense and Space Electronic Systems that will enable transfer of EHF data onto and off of the B-2; and a fiber-optic cable network that will support high-speed data transfers within the aircraft.
     Ron Naylor, Northrop Grumman’s director of the EHF Increment 1 development program, said the flight test program has demonstrated that the computer upgrade system has reached a maturity level that allows the company and its military partners to conduct test sorties beyond previous testing areas. “It also adds momentum to our efforts to give the B-2 the high-speed data handling infrastructure it will need for critical communications and weapons delivery upgrades in the future. Collaborating with the Air Force will allow us to increase the tempo and frequency of B-2 sorties from Edwards, which will also help the company speed the rate at which new capabilities for the B-2 can be made available for the warfighter”
    The EHF Increment 2 program will involve installation of a new communications terminal and new antennas that will allow the B-2 to transmit and receive information securely via satellite. Increment 3 will integrate the B-2 into the U.S. Department of Defense‘s Global Information Grid, a worldwide network of information systems that collects, stores, manages and disseminates information on demand to warfighters.

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