Increment 3 Block 2 represents a major upgrade to the P-8A airframe and avionics, including new racks, radome, antennas, sensors and wiring. It introduces an updated combat systems suite with improved processing, higher security architecture, wide-band satellite communications, anti-submarine warfare signals intelligence and additional communications and acoustics systems.
At the centre of the upgrade is the Minotaur mission management system, a government-owned, open-architecture software suite that integrates data from multiple sensors. The system allows aircraft and other assets to share networked information, strengthening intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.
Labyrinth, the Minotaur cloud platform, enhances scalability by handling and correlating large volumes of data and enabling secure web-based access for external stakeholders. During a recent test flight, Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Zero connected to Labyrinth throughout the mission and generated thousands of relevant tracks.
“With P-8A connected to Labyrinth, our MPRA community is now able to exchange multi-domain, multi-sensor tracks between existing Minotaur-equipped platforms and the new I3B2 aircraft,” said Capt. Erik Thomas, PMA-290 program manager. “This connection allows the P-8A and the watch floor to share critical operational data, ensuring that all stakeholders are synchronized to deliver a decision-advantage.”
“This milestone was the result of a collaborative effort between PMA-290 and VX-20,” Thomas added. “Advancing the strategic goals outlined by the program office and demonstrating a commitment to rapid capability development we are directly supporting continuous development of a naval “family of systems” for maritime surveillance.”
