Rockwell Collins' Government Systems sector is undergoing some subtle but fundamental changes, according to VP and general manager Bob Chiusano.

"What we're trying to do is not to lose sight of our channels to market," he says. "We're trying to get people to see us as a single enterprise that serves multiple markets."

There are several keys to the growth of Collins' government business, says Chiusano. One of them is to bring the company's full technological strength to bear on all sectors of the market.

"Our largest strength is the diversity of our technologies," he says. "We have worked on breaking down internal walls and our infrastructure for the last five years." Rockwell Collins has also focused on "lean electronics," bringing operational systems to the market at lower cost.

Another important factor is more liberal regulations on technology transfer. "I'm optimistic about current attitudes in the State and Commerce departments," says Chiusano. "They recognize that technology has changed and that technologies that the U.S. once dominated are no longer unique and specific. They recognize that the infrastructure cannot deal with the kind of focus that the current process requires. It gets bogged down in details of application, licensing and approval, and leaves us at a competitive disadvantage."

Increasingly, commercial and military solutions resemble each other. "The demarcation line is dissolving," says Chiusano. "The technology, the architecture and the solutions come from the same sources." High-rate datalink technology, for example, is coming to commercial markets via such programs as In Flight Network, Rockwell Collins' joint venture with News Corporation.

Rockwell Collins is nearing critical design review for the Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) upgrade for the U.S. Air Force's KC-135 tanker fleet, a 600-aircraft project that integrates contemporary commercial technology with the veteran tanker.

"It's a success story, a cross-Collins solution," says Chiusano. "It capitalizes on Pacer Crag," the program under which Rockwell Collins put glass cockpits into the KC-135, "and uses the Flight 2 architecture, which is being used for flight management systems across our military and commercial products."

The next major upgrade opportunity in the U.S. is the C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP), which will put modern avionics and displays into at least 500 and as many as 1,000 C-130s. Collins is teamed with Lockheed Martin. "We expect the award in early 2001," says Chiusano. "The customer has indicated that they'll select the company that brings in a cost-effective, commercial-type solution with low risk."

In Europe, Rockwell Collins "is reforming our thinking about our subsidiaries," says Chiusano. "We're basing our decisions on where we develop products on how to serve our customers best. The company's subsidiary in Toulouse, for example, has now expanded to 500 people, partly to support Airbus and partly to address other markets.

A new Rockwell Collins venture in the UK is a bid on the Ministry of Defence's High Frequency Modernization Program. The project itself is not technically challenging, but it is closely linked to Rockwell Collins' HF Messenger project. The latter is aimed at expanding the use of terrestrial HF signals for data communication.

"HF used to be seen as a voice-only channel," says Chiusano, "but with a state-of-the-art modem it can be an alternative to satcoms." HF signals propagate worldwide through the ionosphere, but the technology used to be marred by patchy reception and drop-outs. "The modem is the key," says Chiusano. With today's technology it is possible to develop a smart radio link which automatically establishes links, senses signal-to-noise ratios and selects the best frequencies. Progress has been fast. "We have modems running at 18.5 kB/second," says Chiusano. "A year ago, people thought that 9 kB/second was the limit."

HF Messenger has applications for maritime, airborne, land-mobile and ground-based users. Its importance to the UK MoD program is that the UK-under its smart procurement reforms-wants the contractor to operate the new HF ground stations. Rockwell's business plan is based on using the same stations and technology to service commercial markets-exactly the kind of integration that Chiusano expects to see.

By Bill Sweetman