Jane Edwards
Northrop Grumman, AT&T and SEMPRE have collaborated to demonstrate the capability of a digital platform to facilitate the sharing of classified military data between aircraft maintainers and subject matter experts to perform flightline maintenance and sustainment operations.
The digital platform, dubbed Flightline of the Future, uses commercial augmented reality headsets combined with private and commercial 5G networks to enable maintainers to securely access information and accelerate repairs and upgrades of assets on the flightline, according to a joint release published Tuesday.
During the demonstration, Northrop integrated its secure communications platform with a commercial AR headset, enabling aircraft maintainers to transmit large volumes of classified data between Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and the company’s facilities in California through 5G networks of AT&T and SEMPRE.
“We showcased how our commercial 5G wireless network combined with private networking services can transport and protect both Highly Classified information and Controlled Unclassified Information and provide the U.S. Department of Defense the networking foundation it needs for private mission use cases,” said Lance Spencer, client executive vice president for defense at AT&T.
“The speed, security, reliability and scalability benefits are precisely what the Department seeks in its modernization efforts,” Spencer added.
