AUSA 2023: General Micro Systems demos manpackable tactical operations…

A prototype version of General Micro Systems' Extended Manpack X9 variant, being demonstrated at AUSA 2023, Washington, DC. (General Micro Systems)

General Micro Systems (GMS) are demonstrating a manpackable prototype of its X9 Spider OpenVPX Single Board system, which company officials say can replicate 50–75 % of the computing power within a tactical operations centre (TOC) or forward operating base (FOB).

The Extended Manpack X9 variant consists essentially of a single Spider tactical micro server, encased in a fan-based cooling container, that can be loaded into a standard US military backpack or rucksack, GMS chief technology officer Chris Ciufo said.

“Now you wouldn't use this for the typical Nett Warrior application, where you can get away with a Samsung Galaxy phone for battle management [and] resource tracking,” Ciufo told Janes during a 4 October interview ahead of the Association of United States Army (AUSA) 2023 annual conference.

“What you would do is you would use a system like that to replace a TOC or a FOB worth of equipment that you would normally set up inside a tent, and you would plug into your [satellite communications] or reach-back” capability, he explained.

“Assuming that the software that you want to run will run on something that is not a rack mount computer ... I see no reason that it's not at least 50% of the capability of the TOC and probably approaching more like 75% of it” can be run off the manpackable X9 prototype, Ciufo told Janes .