Lockheed Martin will demonstrate the MONAX communications system at Tinker AFB, Okla., in mid-June as part of the Defense Department’s annual Joint User Interoperability Communications Exercise, according to Paul Butterfoss, a Lockheed system engineer for MONAX. A line-of-sight wireless system, MONAX allows commanders or combat communications airmen to access voice, imagery, and e-mail services and to utilize secure applications on commercial-off-the-shelf smartphones in a deployed environment or on the flight line. It can connect hundreds of users to a single ground or airborne MONAX base station with a range that reaches up to 3,000 square kilometers, Butterfoss told the Daily Report. Lockheed conducted a similar demonstration earlier this year with the 3rd Combat Communications Group at Tinker. The Army also has expressed interest in the wireless system, said Butterfoss.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.