AAI Corporation, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, and L-3 Communication Systems-West today announced the achievement of a vital situational awareness architecture to support the U.S. Army's Datalink for Manned/Unmanned Systems (DMS) — bringing together reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition (RSTA) information across multiple airborne assets.

AAI and L-3 Communication Systems-West's integrated aerial situational awareness system combines AAI's combat-proven One System® Remote Video Terminal (OSRVT) command-and-control architecture with certified communications components from L-3. The installation-ready system can be provided as a partially integrated mobile mission package or a fully integrated cockpit solution.

The U.S. Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate, or AATD, recently demonstrated the DMS at Fort Eustis, Va., for which AAI and L-3 delivered a fully integrated aerial situational awareness platform based on this system for the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter.

Operating on a dedicated onboard computer and transceiver subsystem integrated into the existing cockpit displays and interfaces, the AAI and L-3 system received unmanned aircraft video across multiple radio frequency bands, transmitted video and telemetry data to ground-based OSRVT terminals, and shared aircraft sensor video between the Kiowa and a similarly equipped Boeing Apache® helicopter. The demonstration came about through the work of a team comprising AAI, L-3 and customers AATD and Program Manager (PM) Kiowa Helicopter (OH-58).

"Our customers successfully demonstrated the force protection possible when we seamlessly move situational awareness information between the manned and unmanned assets in the battle space," says Vice President of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Steven Reid of AAI. "This valuable exercise further highlights the benefit of unmanned systems as a vital provider of RSTA capabilities."

"The trend towards smaller, lighter and networked information acquisition and communication systems brings new capability to the warfighter," says Vice President of Advanced Development Lori Eckles of L-3 Communication Systems-West. "These include enhanced air-ground coordination, shared situational awareness and reduced sensor-to-shooter times. L-3 Communication Systems-West is proud to be teamed with AAI, AATD and PM Kiowa Helicopter on this ground-breaking demonstration."