White House Teams Vet VH-71 Capabilities

Teams of key White House and national-security players have been rotating through Lockheed Martin Systems Integration facilities, running through crisis scenarios to ensure the new VH-71 can support presidential communications requirements during a real crisis. The Lockheed Martin unit based in Owego, N.Y. is "missionizing" two AgustaWestland AW101 test vehicles to support the integration and verification of communications and other key capabilities, including self-defense. The somewhat innocuous term belies the complexity of the effort involved. For example, the final, Increment 2 configuration of the VH-71 will have 14 seats, each of which will have a telephone capable of secure and non-secure communications. Communications must be possible over the Inmarsat satellite network and voice-over-internet-protocol systems, among others, and must work at each seat position when every other phone is in use. Hence the scenario drills with the White House teams. For related news