Artist rendering of the Silent CROW podded system mounted on a Gray Eagle UAS. Credit: Lockheed Martin.

The US Army has awarded a prototype project agreement to Lockheed Martin for a cyber/electronic warfare (EW) podded system.

Under the contract, the company will design, develop and test the EW podded system in support of the US Army’s Multi-Function Electronic Warfare (MFEW) Air Large component programme.

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The agreement has been awarded through another transaction agreement with Consortium Management Group (CMG).

The $18m has been awarded on behalf of Consortium for Command, Control and Communications in Cyberspace (C5).

Lockheed Martin spectrum convergence vice-president Deon Viergutz said: “Lockheed Martin’s deep roots in cyberspace allow us to anticipate future threats while actively solving today’s most complex cyber problems.

“According to Lockheed Martin, its Silent CROW open architecture system will allow pod systems to be easily configured for several airborne and ground platforms.”

“We’re prioritising the army’s critical needs by partnering with them and investing in new technologies that are scalable and affordable.”

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In 2017, the US Army issued a request for proposal to procure an MFEW system to be mounted through a wing pylon pod on a Class IV unmanned aircraft system (UAS).

The MFEW Air Large pod will be mounted on an MQ-1C Gray Eagle UAS with no significant modifications required to the aircraft.

According to Lockheed Martin, its Silent CROW open architecture system will allow pod systems to be easily configured for several airborne and ground platforms.

Lockheed Martin declined to comment on specific applications of the Silent CROW system.

However, the architecture has been designed to respond tomost requirements of battlefield commanders such as cyber, intelligence, electronic warfare, information operations and reliable communications.

So far, Silent CROW has been put through extensive internal research, development and testing. It is expected to allow US soldiers to use electronic support, electronic attack and cyber techniques to disrupt, deny, degrade, deceive and destroy an enemy’s electronic systems.

Intelligence, EW and Sensors spokesperson Brandon Pollachek told Army Technology: “The Silent CROW system successfully demonstrated recently and provides a number of Electronic Warfare (EW) capabilities that can meet MFEW-AL requirements.  Based on the success of the Silent CROW system, the Army is currently evaluating options to accelerate the program and potentially bring these capabilities to the Army faster, possibly as early as Q4-2019.”

–Additional reporting by Talal Husseini.

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