Our products in combat

Changing today's battlefield environment – one that relies heavily on technology and the sharing of information via the Internet – could potentially be the difference between life and death for American soldiers and coalition forces.

Information superiority ultimately provides our service men and women greater awareness of our own forces, the enemy and the battlefield. It also enables our armed forces to gain power from access and speed.

At Rockwell Collins, our employees are working hard to support the U.S. Defense Department's (DoD) growing need for connectivity between the services by developing inter-related networks and architectures spanning all domains – air, ground, sea and space.

This issue of Horizons features the first in a series of articles that takes a closer look at the products created from these developments and how they are being used today in combat situations.

Soldiers typically don't need to explain what their job entails or how their work relates to various military operations currently under way around the world.

They might be stationed in a military base abroad where they are working to protect their country; they might be serving on a military base in their homeland; or they might be helping to ensure the safety of citizens on different continents.

But for the civilians who spend their days developing and manufacturing military-specific software and hardware, explaining how the work that's being done in a cubicle thousands of miles away from the front lines is much more difficult.

"In our line of work, it's easy to say, 'we've finished off CAAS (Common Avionics Architecture System) version 3.1, now let's move on to the next CAAS SOA (Special Operations Aviation) project,' " said James "J.R." Russo, technical project manager for Army programs at Rockwell Collins. "But when one of our customers comes back and recognizes our team, it instills a sense of ownership and pride in the products we produce."

Such was the case recently during a visit by Maj. Kevin Cochie of the U.S. Army to Rockwell Collins employees in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was a chance for the men and women who have spent countless hours working to provide critical software for special operations helicopters to feel like soldiers for a day.

"You will never hear on the news about the missions soldiers are carrying out because it's special operations," said Russo. "But when an operator takes time to carry a flag during his mission and recognize our equipment for helping to achieve an overall goal … it brings it all closer to home."

An Army Special Operations Avionics program manager, Maj. Cochie paid tribute recently to the CAAS SOA team at Rockwell Collins when he presented them with an American flag flown during his most recent trip to support Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF).

"I wanted the team to have the flag to show them that they are a very important part of the global war on terror," said Cochie. "They didn't need to fly a helicopter or carry a rifle to contribute to this fight. They have brilliant minds that created an incredible piece of software that is enabling us to deliver direct blows to the enemy."

Loaded in the cockpit of an MH-47G Chinook, the Rockwell Collins CAAS system was recently deployed with the 160th SOA Regiment (Airborne) in support of OEF where it achieved great success.

"We weren't sure if there would be any issues with our equipment since it was our first deployment," said Rockwell Collins Field Service Engineer Monty Egan, who was embedded with the 160th SOA Regiment (Airborne). "But when we arrived, the crew began flying immediately without any major issues. That says a lot about the reliability of our products."

According to DuWayne Jilek, principal program manager for Scout, Attack and Special Mission Programs at Rockwell Collins, CAAS is just one example of our company's ongoing efforts to produce and support customers with an open architecture system.

In fact, the Army's Special Operations Forces (SOF) are at the forefront of bringing a common, open architecture avionics system – which means it can be easily upgraded and maintained without major changes to system components – into the DoD for rotary-wing platforms.

"Having CAAS employed on SOF helicopters provides pilots with a significant level of enhanced situational awareness and mission management," said Jilek. "Common hardware components also will provide the SOF with lower lifecycle, technology insertion and supportability costs."

In addition, the CAAS avionics components are especially important for these forces, since most of their work is done during tough environmental conditions.

"Oftentimes, these soldiers are flying 300 to 700 feet above ground and at 20 to 220 knots in hours of limited visibility. That's how they got the name, 'Night Stalkers,' " said Russo. "Our system tells them when to climb to clear ridge so they can continue to hide below eyesight or radar sight, which enhances their ability to continue ruling the night."

To help ensure the right enhancements are being made to our CAAS SOA system, Jilek and Russo work closely with Maj. Cochie.

"Our crews face very demanding mission profiles, the harshest terrain in the world, and an asymmetric enemy ready to kill them, so we often have to go head-to-head on programmatic issues," said Cochie. "But at the end of the day, everyone on both sides knows these requirements are critical to mission success. It's very much a give and take relationship, which is why I believe we have been so successful."

Fulfilling those requirements is what motivates each member of the CAAS SOA team.

"If we can make these soldiers 1 or 2 percent safer while they are sneaking around in the rocks or sand, we're doing our job right," said Russo. "There is a tremendous level of seriousness when we look at what this customer is doing with our equipment.

"Not everybody in the world can make these guys as successful as they are," he continued. "And right now, it just happens to be Rockwell Collins that's providing the products they demand."

It's these efforts to make our equipment better that has made a noticeable difference to those flying these helicopters.
"Pilots who once flew the legacy integrated avionics systems (IAS) and cockpit management systems (CMS) and now fly the CAAS system would never go back, and I understand why," said Maj. Cochie. "There are some brilliant minds working for this company, and that coupled with the no fail attitude makes my job very pleasant."