Military Embedded Systems

The insertion of commercial products into military acquisitions is critical for the future strategic advantage of the U.S. and allied nations; the recent acquisition reforms put forward by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and Secretary Hegseth put this certainty front and center. The reasons are obvious: The continued conflict in Ukraine, the rapid increase in Chinese production capability, and technological advancement in artificial intelligence (AI).

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland. One company is trying to make it easier to build open systems by pulling many of its open-architecture products under a single umbrella.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland. Spectrum Control is showcasing a 16-channel wideband radio-frequency transceiver card at AOC 2025 that is intended to condense electronic warfare, radar, and signals-intelligence front ends into a single 3U module.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland. Mercury will highlight electronic warfare and radar processing technologies aligned with open-systems standards at the AOC International Symposium & Convention 2025, the company announced in a statement.

Military power systems are changing dramatically as defense platforms pack more capability into the same physical space. From artificial intelligence (AI)-driven threat detection and directed-energy weapons to swarms of autonomous drones and electric aircraft, today’s battlefield needs power in amounts that would have seemed improbable just a decade ago. At the same time, the battlefield itself is evolving: Military units are spreading across vast areas to avoid detection, which creates new challenges in getting energy to where it’s needed most. The question facing military power system designers is no longer just how to generate more power, but how to deliver it efficiently and rapidly to forces that are increasingly mobile and spread out.

This week’s product, the Annapolis Micro Systems WILDSTAR 3U OpenVPX Ethernet/PCIe/LVDS Switch (WP3H20), is a rugged 3U board that provides 6.4Tb/s switching between backplane slots of multiple channels of 100Gb Ethernet, Gen 4 PCIe and/or LVDS. The switch is VITA 65 compliant and aligns with C5ISR/EW Modular Open Suite of Standards (CMOSS) and the Sensor Open Systems Architecture, or SOSA, Technical Standard.

Six years have passed since the tri-service memo was issued by the Air Force, Army, and Navy leadership mandating the use of a modular open systems approach (MOSA) in all new programs and technology refreshes. Many in the defense community were already embracing MOSA strategies and leveraging open standards, but having the three services mandate it promised faster adoption. Update: It’s happening. MOSA is already the law and now defense secretary Pete Hegseth is dictating a MOSA approach as part of his efforts to reform and speed up the defense acquisition process.

A 2019 U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) memo mandated the use of a modular open systems approach (MOSA) in new programs and upgrades.

ARLINGTON, Virginia. Leonardo DRS signed a contract with Chaiseri Defense Systems to supply a battle management system (BMS) and associated integration support for the Royal Thai Army’s Stryker fleet, the company announced in a statement.

ORLANDO, Florida. EIZO Rugged Solutions is developing the Condor Thor 3U VPX series, a new line of rugged, single-board computers (SBCs) powered by the NVIDIA Jetson Thor platform and aligned with the Sensor Open Systems Architecture, or SOSA, Technical Standard, the company announced in a statement.