Thales Communications Supports Airborne Communications Relay Flight Testing with the MMAR: Our Multichannel Multiband Airborne Radio (MMAR) was part of a successful demonstration in July to the U.S. Government by Northrop Grumman of their BAT Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The event was conducted at Camp Roberts, California.

AN/PRC-148 JEM Facilitates Demonstration of High-Performance Narrowband Relay Communications System: The Boeing Company and its subsidiary Insitu Inc. announced in July that they successfully demonstrated a high- performance Narrowband Relay communications system aboard a ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Two AN/PRC-148-compatible radios were used in this relay.

For more information, visit Boeing Mediaroom.

Thales Sends MMAR to JEFX-10: The U.S. Air Force's Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment 2010 (JEFX 10-3) was held April 13-23, 2010, at Nevada Test and Training Range, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. Thales Communications supplied the MMAR to Ultra Electronics in support of their Tactical Communications Suite for Unmanned Aerial Systems under a contract from USAF ESC.
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Multichannel, Multiband Airborne Radio (MMAR)

The MMAR packages two radios into an airborne-qualified Air Transport Radio (ATR)-style enclosure specifically targeted at airborne VHF/UHF communications/relay payload applications. It supports dual independent radios or retransmission with crossbanding configurations. With integrated co-site filtering, the MMAR is uniquely suited to reduce interference from other emitters on the platform, and, with integrated IP/VoIP capability, it is able to easily integrate into airborne network topologies.

The MMAR core radio functionality is based upon the battle proven AN/PRC- 148 Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Enhanced Multiband Inter/Intra Team Radio (MBITR), or JEM, a software-defined handheld radio system designed for the U.S. Department of Defense to meet critical air, ground, and maritime missions. The MMAR leverages the JTRS Software Communications Architecture (SCA) to allow for new and evolving JTRS waveforms. The MMAR’s broadband operation, multiple modulation schemes, and INFOSEC and ECCM capabilities allow it to interoperate with a variety of VHF and UHF handheld, manpack, and airborne communications equipment. The rugged design of the MMAR meets the environmental extremes of Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) platforms. The broadband and multiple modulation techniques provide tactical communications interoperability. The flexible payload packaging, small size and weight, and low power provide excellent support to a range of operations that include Aerostat, High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE), Extended Range/Multi-Purpose (ER/MP), and other Tactical missions.

MMAR Data Sheet

Lightweight Multiband Airborne Radio (LMAR)

The Lightweight Multiband Airborne Radio (LMAR) is a repackaged AN/PRC-148 MBITR with the proper power conditioning and filtering for airborne applications. The LMAR was developed primarily for Unattended Airborne Vehicle (UAV) applications.

Thales Communications is providing a unique version of the LMAR to the UK’s Ministry of Defence Watchkeeper program. The Watchkeeper system provides enhanced capability that will enable commanders to detect and track targets for many hours without the need to deploy troops into potentially sensitive or dangerous areas. Watchkeeper flew for the first time in the UK on April 14, 2010, taking off from dedicated facilities at Parc Aberporth in West Wales for a 20-minute flight. For more information on the maiden flight, click here.

LMAR Data Sheet