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 rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.
