The Army’s ever-increasing reliance on networked capabilities requires a mounted computing capability that enables overmatch. The need for a computing platform that is flexible, reliable and secure is of the utmost importance when facing the multitude of scenarios in combat. Over the course of two decades, Leonardo DRS has fielded over 300,000 mounted platform computers and displays. The Mounted Family of Computer Systems (MFoCS II) represents the continued design evolution of an innovative mission-critical platform computer, built with enough capabilities to anticipate the Soldiers’ future needs. These tactical computers provide mission-critical reliability to the Warfighter across the operational spectrum of climates and conditions. The hardware uses the latest commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies and is battle-proven. MFOCS II computers and displays will support the U.S. Army Mounted Mission Command (MMC) requirements now and into the future.
MFoCS II protects, connects and enables mission command and expeditionary command post-performance. New cybersecurity capabilities underpin the tactical computer’s embedded security architecture. This security architecture provides the mission-critical computer cyber-hardened protection at its core. Integrating voice, data, and video, combined with an upgraded next-generation Xeon processor unit, along with 32GB of RAM, enables the manipulation of modern warfighting applications. This system can run using a virtual machine architecture, supporting multiple operating systems and applications. All of the rugged displays (10”, 12”, 15” and 17”) are sunlight-readable and multi-touch enabled, vital for intuitive operation and carrying out missions safely. These systems can provide the commander with “single pane of glass” situational awareness. An integrated operating environment will also enable improved and more rapid situational understanding.
The improved MFoCS II system easily integrates with other sensors, systems and applications on ground vehicle platforms. It provides the Army with an upgraded bay to add mission functionality such as Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing (A-PNT) or electronic warfare (EW). The machine also has additional storage capacity to support supplementary map data or edge analytics. The improved MFoCS II system facilitates the utilization of many force-multiplying functions like connecting multiple types of radios, remotely controlling them from the commander’s display unit, radio cross-banding, threat detection sensor integration, camera integration, vehicle bus integration, power sub-system control, among many other functions. This provides leaders all of the necessary information, at the right time, to make the right decision when mission success depends on it.
Modernization objectives like these are priorities for Leonardo DRS because they are priorities for the U.S. Army and the Department of Defense (DOD). What started as a single-purpose computer, has now become a modular, scalable, multi-purpose mission-command system that can host multiple existing and future capabilities. This improved and evolutionary family of mission-critical computers, tablets and rugged displays is already in production to offer an advanced C5 capability today while enabling future capability enhancements required by modernization. This new powerful mounted computing platform offers a size, weight, and power (SWaP) reducing, best-value Mounted Computing Environment (MCE) solution with battle-proven reliability. MFoCS II addresses modernization requirements while innovatively bridging the gap to the next generation, called Mounted Mission Command (MMC).
While the DOD continues to communicate the importance of preparing for malicious attacks, the industry must be committed to making these technologies resilient, to keep the machines prepared and safeguarded ensuring Soldier safety, which in turn, ensures civilian safety. As the U.S. Army presses forward with modernization efforts, a combination of new and legacy, MFoCS platforms will remain in the fleet – all of them with mission-critical network requirements. This system of computers and displays represents the most advanced generation of trusted COTS-based mission computing solutions ever engineered for tactical platform use. Systems need to be able to be relied upon in the face of any environmental extreme: heat, cold, shock and vibration, rain, humidity, and cyber. As future Army technologies mature, sensor analytics, artificial intelligence and vehicle autonomy continue to move to the forefront of where the evolution of our machinery and mission-critical systems are headed. Edge-AssuredTM CyberSecurity on MFoCS II provides the foundation for this protection, by fortifying and securing down to the hardware level, automatically.
As warfare continues to evolve, with an increasing role of Cyber in shaping the outcomes of conflict across the globe, it is a universal imperative that in the world of defense, we prepare the Soldier for every possible scenario. The future of platform mission computing capabilities is MFOCS II – proven mission-critical solutions to enable Multi-Domain Operations (MDO).
