PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. – U.S. Navy combat aircraft avionics experts needed ruggedized data transfer units for a variety of F/A-18 jet fighter-bombers and EA-18G electronic attack aircraft. They found their solution from Mercury Mission Systems LLC in Torrance, Calif.
Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., announced an $17.8 million order to Mercury on Wednesday for 48 1553 data transfer units and 121 high-definition video recorders for the F/A-18C, D, E, and F aircraft.
Mercury Mission Systems (formerly Physical Optics Corp.) will provide the data transfer units and video recorders for retrofit on F/A-18C-F aircraft in support of the Automatic Real-Time, Reconfigurable Interface Generalization Hardware (ARRGH) Multiprotocol Data Recorder project.
Mercury won similar contracts in 2022 worth $54.1 million for data transfer units and avionics data recorders, as part of the ARRGH Multiprotocol Data Recorder project. Last December the company won a $16.8 million order for the same kinds of subsystems.
Mercury predecessor Physical Optics developed a new multiprotocol data recorder and data storage system as part of the ARRGH Multiprotocol Data Recorder project. Mercury acquired Physical Optics in late 2020.
The phase-one ARRGH design is based on integrating hybrid transcoding hardware, RAID-based mass storage, and intelligent transcoding heuristic software, Navy officials say.
This 40-Watt, 11-pound design offers seamless on-the-fly rerouting and data translation of input signals to and from the data recorder irrespective of interfaces involved.
A plug-and-play self-sealing environmentally protected removable memory unit (RMU) enables rapid upgrades to avert obsolescence by capitalizing on commercial solid-state memories. The prototype includes shell adapters to ensure form-factor compliance with a variety of current data recorders, including the RM-6000f on F/A-18.
The ARRGH provides 1 terabyte of removable memory, sustained write speeds of 550 megabits per second (2700 megabits per second burst) and has a built-in self-test.
The second phase of the ARRGH project produced a fully functional ground-tested prototype and a flight-test-ready prototype, as well as defined a platform integration roadmap, got started on device certification.
On this contract, Mercury will do the work in Torrance, Calif., and should be finished by March 2026. For more information contact Mercury Mission Systems online at www.mrcy.com/products/data-storage-and-transfer, or Naval Air Systems Command at www.navair.navy.mil.
