Army-Industry Collaboration is the Key to Modernization

Army Modernization Thrives with Industry Partnerships 

Modernization is one of four essential lines of focus as the U.S. Army drives forward with the multiyear Army of 2030 initiative to maintain warfighting readiness and enable itself to deter, compete and win over any adversary on tomorrow’s joint all-domain battlefield.

Collaboration between Army commands and industrial partners – like Honeywell – is essential as the Army positions for mission success, now and for the decades ahead.

Along with the other services, the Army has evolved its procurement model in recent years. Gone are the days where the Army set specifications and companies like Honeywell submitted a bid. They have been replaced by a more collaborative approach in which the Army issues performance and essential requirement parameters, then turns the industrial partners loose to come up with the best possible solutions.  

This new procurement framework is ideal for a company like Honeywell, with a long history of innovation and a strong and growing expertise in products, services and software solutions that align perfectly with the Army’s modernization goals. It gives us the opportunity to unleash our world-class engineering teams and manufacturing capabilities to meet the needs of the Army, the warfighter and the American taxpayer.

Modernization Through Industry Partnerships

As a proven partner with one foot in defense and space and the other in the commercial sector, Honeywell is uniquely qualified to support Army modernization by adapting commercial solutions to meet the specific needs of America’s fighting forces.

Satellite communications is a prime example. Introduced in 2021, our JetWave MCX Satcom meets the Army’s needs for secure, high-speed and resilient beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) communications. JetWave MCX proved itself earlier this year during the Northern Edge joint military training exercise in Alaska, where it was used to test new technologies to provide warfighters with secure wideband anti-jam capabilities and enable tactical communications in contested environments.

On the navigation front, we developed the first Embedded Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System (EGI) solution – EGI with M-Code in support of a Department of Defense mandate to protect the accuracy, integrity and availability of GPS signals from enemy jamming. As the only ready-now solution that meets mandate requirements, the Honeywell EGI-M upgrade is flexible and adaptable to any current Honeywell EGI system.

Honeywell advanced air mobility capabilities are helping create a future of more capable unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for both military and civilian applications. Our unique strengths in electric power systems, hybrid-electric propulsion , compact fly-by-wire systems, detect-and-avoid radar and electromechanical actuators will make the next generation of tactical and logistical UAS platforms more effective.

Innovation Drives Improved Performance

A pair of Honeywell T55 turboshaft engines have powered every CH-47 Chinook flight since the first one more than six decades ago. The engine has come a long way since then and the newest variant, called the T55-714C, is ready to take the venerable Chinook on more high, hot and heavy missions in the years ahead. The new version is 20% more powerful than the current production engine, but it uses 8% less fuel, which extends the CH-47’s operating range.

The Army and Honeywell broke new ground with the world’s premier main battle tank, the M1 Abrams, powered by the Honeywell AGT1500 gas turbine engine. Almost 50 years later, the Abrams and its Honeywell AGT1500 engine are still going strong. The tank and its engine have gone through dozens of upgrades over the years. The latest Abrams M1A2 SEPv3 is safer for crewmembers, more survivable and even more lethal than previous versions. The U.S. is sending 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine and approved the sale of 366 tanks to Poland over a multi-year period.

With Army modernization as the watchword, Honeywell sees enormous value in forming more collaborative partnerships across the Army procurement value chain. Together, industrial companies can support the Army and the other services in meeting and solving their biggest technological challenges.

Throughout our long history of partnership with the services and other members of the defense industrial community, Honeywell has seen first-hand how a more collaborative approach can accelerate the development timeline and provide better solutions so warfighters can win now and win in the future.