Raytheon has reached a major milestone in its ARC-231 radio program, fielding the 5,000th ARC-231 radio system. ARC-231 is part of the Fire Series multi-band, multi-mode radio product line.

In addition to being standard issue on all U.S. Army Aviation aircraft, it is also in use on several U.S. Air Force and international aircraft.

Recently, Raytheon was selected to modernize the ARC-231 program under the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) waveform, as well as modernizing the cryptographic system of the radio, which will extend the service life of the ARC-231 beyond 2030.

The contract was awarded through the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command on behalf of the end-user, U.S. Army Aviation.

"Raytheon has a great opportunity to provide readily available, high-performance, high-quality products at competitive prices," said David Patton, ARC-231 program manager for Raytheon Network Centric Systems.

"The upgrade applies 3G technologies similar to current cellphones as a way to reduce size, weight and power of radio communication terminals used by the warfighters."

To support MUOS, the ARC-231 radio system will be redesigned to provide full duplex RF communications and cryptographic modernization, while being fully backward interchangeable with the existing radio.

Raytheon will leverage common airborne and ground radio solutions to improve life-cycle costs and joint mission success due to the equipment's inherent interoperability.

"Raytheon's ARC-231 radio upgrade was chosen because of its ability to implement these new features with minimal impact to aircraft," Patton added.