{"id":64611,"date":"2023-07-10T13:17:52","date_gmt":"2023-07-10T13:17:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/native\/uncategorized\/raider-x-digital-backbone-drives-mosa-success-for-the-army\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:53:09","slug":"raider-x-digital-backbone-drives-mosa-success-for-the-army","status":"publish","type":"native","link":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/native\/sikorsky-lockheed-martin\/raider-x-digital-backbone-drives-mosa-success-for-the-army\/","title":{"rendered":"RAIDER X Digital Backbone Drives MOSA Success for the Army"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This year, the U.S. Army plans to hold the first of two Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) verification demonstrations as part of its competition for the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA). As one of two companies vying for FARA, Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, is demonstrating success, having already completed four verification demonstrations with third-party integrators validating its MOSA in preparation for the first Army led event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results? Sikorsky\u2019s MOSA has enabled third parties to independently integrate capability into the system, cut the effort to introduce these capabilities by almost 75 percent and increase software development productivity by 50 percent, compared to traditional methods. These efforts will save the Army time, money and complexity in an effort to outpace threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FARA finalists must demonstrate that their designs meet the Army\u2019s MOSA standards. Much like the way apps can be easily installed or updated on smart phones, MOSA enables the government to rapidly integrate system capability and component upgrades in a vendor-neutral way to meet new and evolving threats. This also streamlines maintenance and sustainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMOSA is about ensuring the Army efficiently evolves with the pace of change for technology and battlefield dynamics,\u201d said Kirk Avery, mission systems Senior Fellow at Sikorsky. \u201cMOSA enables service members to perform their missions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RAIDER X is Built on MOSA<\/b><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Sikorsky is offering RAIDER X\u00ae<\/a> for the Army\u2019s FARA program. RAIDER X is designed and built from the ground up to meet the Army\u2019s exacting MOSA requirements and standards utilizing a Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RAIDER X aligns with nose-to-tail standards for the Weapon System components, interfaces and network infrastructure. These standards comprise hundreds of system requirements that are met through a comprehensive model-based architecture description and associated architecture analysis. MOSA performance is assessed through technical performance measures evaluating the modeled architecture and program demonstration events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Army is not physically on an aircraft following every wire to every component to validate our adaptability,\u201d said Matt Oehler, Future Vertical Lift systems engineering director at Sikorsky. \u201cThat is why it\u2019s so important that the architecture standards are met. The Army must rely on the architecture\u2019s description within the system model to evaluate our solution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proving MOSA<\/b><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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During the Sikorsky-funded verification events, Army scenarios \u2013 based on MOSA-use cases \u2013 run the RAIDER X architecture through its paces. Both large defense contractors and small businesses introduce new capabilities and validate MOSA adaptability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The RAIDER X digital backbone is proving it can quickly and efficiently integrate with third-party hardware and software meeting the Army goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one recent exercise, Sikorsky and third-party integrators demonstrated the introduction of third-party avionics with the RAIDER X\u2019s digital backbone and third-party software to communicate with the new avionics. The helicopter crew was able to display and manage the sensor information in the cockpit seamlessly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sikorsky\u2019s other third-party verification efforts are proving just as successful, integrating lessons learned to greatly improving capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t expect or want the exercises to run perfectly,\u201d said Avery. \u201cWe want to find areas to improve and increase efficiency. We want to demonstrate for the Army that MOSA is foundational in everything we do \u2013 in every decision, every trade \u2013 and it\u2019s inherent in our architecture. \u201cWe\u2019re continuously evolving our solution so we can provide the Army what they need for their solutions and warfighter missions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leveraging Best Practices<\/b><\/h6>\n\n\n\n