New Satcom Offers Secure Connection for Multirole Aircraft.

* DUBAI, United Arab Emirates--The Pentagon is ramping up its pursuit of military communications technology at the tactical edge. A new satcom system could help the services achieve uninterrupted information distribution, according to Honeywell executives.

The capability, known as the Honeywell JetWave MCX, would enable Lockheed Martin's C-130 Hercules and other aircraft to send out information, even under the threat of cyberattack.

Honeywell is "actively pursuing" integration of the Jet-Wave MCX into the C-130, said Paul Page, technical sales director for the company.

The services now rely on aircraft like the C-130 for more than one mission, he explained, including special ops, surveillance and transport. This means fast access to data is more important than ever, he said.

"Multirole mission success depends on having the right information at the right place, to the right people at the right time," he said during the Dubai Airshow.

The comms technology supports the military's "two is one, one is none" concept, said Honeywell's Wes Cook, director for tech sales. When aircraft have only one network available, there is no backup system in case of communications attack or other failures, he explained.

"To be able to fight through different operations like contested environments, you've got to have tools in your toolkit that help you overcome those challenges," he said during a demonstration on Honeywell's Boeing 757 test platform.

Honeywell's solution for...