GROUND COMBAT SYSTEMS – COMMON VEHICLE ELECTRONICS ARCHITECTURE AND APPLICATION

Curtiss-Wright has developed an advanced, open system approach to Vehicle Electronics, based on our vast experience in providing military electronics to many programs for ground, sea, and air platforms. This experience has provided Curtiss-Wright with a unique understanding of key architectural concepts which provide for highly successful implementation of specific Vehicle Electronics suites to meet Ground Combat System program and platform requirements. This paper describes a Common Vehicle Electronics Architecture and key architectural concepts. The Network Centric Reference Architecture incorporates Open Systems approaches and leverages Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) components. Some key concepts discussed include Interoperability, Risk Mitigation, Upgradeability / Obsolescence Mitigation, Scalability, Space, Weight and Power, and Cost (SWaP-C) optimization, as well as enabling technologies. Correlation with the emerging VICTORY Architecture is shown in the Network Centric Reference Architecture. General descriptions of the building blocks are provided, and sample applications of the architecture are discussed.