An Alternative to Bulky Radios

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.