The US Army released a Request for White Papers (RfWP) to develop new CMFF prototypes. CMFF—C5ISR Modular Open Suite of Standards (CMOSS) Mounted Form Factor—is the Army’s effort to easily and rapidly equip ground vehicles and aviation platforms with capabilities like positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) and electronic warfare (EW), through capability cards plugged into a common chassis.
The chassis, already plumbed for power, networks, and radio frequency, allows Soldiers to “plug and play” capabilities right into the vehicle without the need to custom install and upgrade individual communication and computing systems. Technology can be implemented with the simple swap of a card.
“Keeping up with the changing battlefield means we need to be able to insert emergent capabilities quickly and easily at the unit level,” said Doug Burbey, Secure Signals Infrastructure (S2I) product manager for Project Manager, Mission Command, assigned to Program Executive Office, Command, Control, Communications – Tactical (PEO C3T). “CMFF implements a Modular Open Systems Approach [MOSA], which essentially means, as technology changes and improves, so can the Army.”
In this prototype effort, the key needs are to develop, procure and furnish the Army with the CMFF chassis, also known as Mounted Common Infrastructure (MCI), plus the smart display for user interface, hardware development, software development and Plug-In Cards with the following capabilities:
- Converging tactical communication waveforms
- Mission Command applications
- Assured Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (APNT)
- Force Protection capabilities
“We have been refining the CMOSS effort for several years, and are now moving forward into CMFF, which is the application of the standards into tangible cards and chassis,” said Col. Shermoan Daiyaan, project manager for Mission Command. “As new technologies and capabilities emerge, we won’t have to build entirely new systems. We can pace the threat by changing out cards and retaining the strength of the system we already have.”
The Army plans to award a contract using the Other Transaction Authority (OTA) with System of System/Lead Prototype Integrators to provide the complete CMFF system offerings. Industry partners who respond to the RfWP will have an opportunity to showcase their fully functional CMFF system at a technology demonstration later this summer.
“The power of the true concept is when you can take a chassis and put it in another vehicle and you can mix and match cards,” said Daiyaan, noting the importance of interoperability. “That’s when you’re following a standard. You’re matching a standard, and it just works.”
