Honeywell Takes JetWave MCX to Its Limits in Northern Edge

More than 150 aircraft take to the Alaskan skies in May for one of the largest U.S. military joint biennial training exercises. They are being joined by Honeywell’s unique Boeing 757-200 flying testbed, which is there to show military leaders the extraordinary capabilities of the JetWave MCX satellite communications system and to test the military’s latest anti-jam technology.

“It’s pretty rare for a civilian company to take part in a military exercise like Northern Edge,” said Tom Konicki, Honeywell’s Director of Business Development for military SATCOM programs. “However, the military wanted to experience the company’s JetWave MCX SATCOM system coupled with the anti-jam tech in a real-world environment. We’re extremely excited to show them how JetWave MCX improves connectivity and mission effectiveness for the modern warfighter.”

JetWave MCX meets the needs of military operators for secure, high-speed, and resilient beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) communications. JetWave MCX is network agnostic and can operate equally well on military or commercial Ka-band SATCOM networks, Inmarsat, SES, and other Ka networks.  Plus, MCX is fully certified to operate on the Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) network.

Using advanced broadband capabilities, JetWave MCX hardware and Honeywell software enable military commanders to connect – and stay connected – to battlefield assets through every phase of operations. JetWave MCX is an extension of Honeywell’s proven line of Ka-band high-speed SATCOM systems, which are flying on thousands of commercial, business and government aircraft.

JetWave MCX is Pushing the Envelope in Alaska

During Northern Edge, DoD is testing its new Protected Tactical Waveform (PTW) technology being developed for the U.S. Air Force by L3Harris. Test flights are showing how L3Harris’s PTW modem works with JetWave MCX to provide warfighters with secure wideband anti-jam capabilities and enable tactical communications in denied, degraded, or contested environments.

“These test flights are letting the warfighters see how the L3Harris modem and Honeywell JetWave MCX work together to communicate through jamming environments and provide seamless satellite communications,” Konicki said. “We performed both laboratory and flight tests at Eglin AFB, Florida, in April, but Northern Edge is our first opportunity to show the warfighter our progress on this development effort under real-world flying conditions.

“They are challenging us to push the envelope and test the system’s limits in a live jamming environment,” he added. “This is a great opportunity to see where we stand and what we need to do to make improvements going forward. It’s very exciting for all of us at Honeywell to be involved in this program, which will take the military’s ability to securely communicate in jamming environments to a whole new level.”

The Honeywell SATCOM team expects to fly two sorties a day for a two-week period beginning May 8.

Keeping PACE with the Military’s Needs

Honeywell also is demonstrating how it can support the military’s PACE approach to seamless communications. PACE – which stands for Primary, Alternate, Contingency and Emergency – mitigates risk and switches to alternative networks when the aircraft cannot access its intended communications network.

“Our SATCOM systems embody the JADC2, ABMS, and PACE concepts by demonstrating how a military aircraft can access the best-available SATCOM network throughout its mission profile,” Konicki said. “For example, if an enemy takes out the primary SATCOM network, Honeywell’ MCX enables the ability to quickly move to the alternate network, and so on down the line, so the aircraft remains connected to ensure mission success.”

More than 3,000 U.S. service members, five ships and more than 150 aircraft are taking part in Northern Edge 2023. They are joined by service members from the United Kingdom and Australian for the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command exercise, which officially began May 8.

Northern Edge provides an opportunity for joint, multinational, and multi-domain operations that provide realistic warfighter training and improve joint operability.