The US Air Force has selected Tapestry Solutions to develop advanced mission planning software for airdrop missions tailored to the C-17 and C-130 military transport aircraft.
The contract is worth at $26 million and will be delivered over a four-year period.
Tapestry, a Boeing Company, will act as prime contractor and work with Jacobs Engineering and MORSE Corp to provide software development for Consolidated Airdrop Tool (CAT) versions 6.x through 8.x. The team will also perform software maintenance services on all fielded software versions.
CAT software is used to calculate and plot both conventional and precision airdrop solutions to accurately deliver supplies to warfighters in remote, austere environments.
The upgrades will include a new intuitive interface that will allow the user to quickly perform airdrop tasks and provide greater automated inflight planning capabilities.
The software works alongside the Army’s Joint Precision Airdrop System (JPADS) – a high-altitude, all-weather capable system that includes a GPS-based cargo parachute system. JPADS allows cargo to hit a single designated drop zone from multiple release points, allowing aircraft to safely avoid enemy ground fire.
During airdrop missions, crewmembers run JPADS-CAT software on laptops, gathering mission data needed to plan the route of flight and increase cargo airdrop accuracy. Among other functions, the software runs aircraft performance and weather algorithms to determine acceptable air release points.
Robin Wright, President and CEO, Tapestry Solutions said: “We’re pleased to leverage our mission planning expertise to enhance the computing speed, accuracy, efficiency and automation onboard the C-17and C-130 aircraft. The upgrades will reduce aircrew workload and prevent distractions from flight tasks, which will make our troops’ jobs easier and safer.”
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