Mercury Introduces First Safety-Certifiable, SOSA-aligned Mission Computer for Aviation Platforms
- New ROCK3 mission computer delivers 20x performance improvement over existing PowerPC-based systems
- Open architecture design enables faster and more cost-effective deployment of new capabilities
- Product leverages experience from U.S. Army's Aviation Mission Common Server program
- System supports advanced applications for enhanced safety and survivability in aircraft operations
- None.
Insights
Mercury's new ROCK3 aviation mission computer represents a significant advancement in open architecture defense tech with strong competitive positioning.
Mercury Systems' introduction of the ROCK3 mission computer marks a notable technological leap for aviation computing platforms. As the first safety-certifiable, SOSA-aligned aviation mission computer, this product represents strategic positioning in the evolving defense technology landscape. The ROCK3 delivers up to 20 times the performance of legacy PowerPC-based aircraft computers through its Intel Core i7 processors, addressing critical capabilities gaps in military aviation.
The significance of this product extends beyond raw performance. Its open architecture design directly challenges the industry's traditional vendor lock-in model, potentially disrupting established market dynamics by enabling military customers to implement capabilities across multiple platforms more cost-effectively. This aligns with the Department of Defense's increasing emphasis on modular, interoperable systems.
Mercury's explicit mention of DAL-certification (Development Assurance Level) capabilities up to DAL-A indicates this system can support the most critical aviation functions with the highest safety requirements. This positions the ROCK3 for integration into mission-critical aircraft systems where safety certification is non-negotiable.
The technical specifications are impressive for an aviation computer of this class: 11th Gen Intel processors, support for avionics interfaces including MIL-STD-1553 and ARINC-429, and 32GB DDR4 memory with error-correcting code. Most importantly, the platform's connection to the Army's Aviation Mission Common Server program suggests potential pathways to significant defense program adoption.
The timing of this announcement at the Army Aviation Mission Solutions Summit, with demonstrations alongside key industry partners like Elbit Systems and Green Hills Software, indicates Mercury is actively pursuing program integration opportunities. This product addresses the military's growing need for advanced computing capabilities that support AI, data fusion, and enhanced situational awareness on aircraft platforms.
Company demonstrating multiple mission computing technologies at the Army Aviation Mission Solutions Summit 2025, May 14-16 in Nashville, Tenn.
ANDOVER, Mass., May 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY, www.mrcy.com), a technology company that delivers mission-critical processing power to the edge, today introduced the first safety-certifiable, SOSA-aligned aviation mission computer, which will allow government and commercial organizations to field and modernize aircraft that support next-generation applications such as those enabled by 5G communications and artificial intelligence.
Mercury’s new ROCK3 is a DAL-certifiable, 3U OpenVPX mission computer that features Intel Core i7 safety-certifiable processors and delivers up to 20 times the performance of PowerPC-based aircraft computers. ROCK3 is purpose-built to support advanced, safety-critical applications for military and urban mobility aircraft including mission management, sensor fusion and processing, and surveillance. ROCK3’s open architecture allows customers to break vendor lock and eliminate stovepiped systems to enable greater application interoperability and deploy new capabilities faster and more cost-effectively.
ROCK3 leverages lessons learned from Mercury’s participation in the U.S. Army’s Aviation Mission Common Server (AMCS) program, which was intended to develop a single mission computing architecture for the Army’s rotorcraft fleet that would allow them to store, process, and transport data and serve as application network nodes across the battlespace.
“With ROCK3, current and next-generation aircraft can increase safety and survivability by leveraging advanced sensors and data fusion applications to give pilots more accurate and timely information to make decisions, identify targets, and avoid hazards,” said Roya Montakhab, Mercury’s SVP of Integrated Processing Solutions. “ROCK3 represents a new path for aviation organizations to field more affordable, scalable, interoperable, and sustainable avionics solutions using open architectures.”
Mercury’s ROCK3 features:
- 11th Gen Intel® Core i7™ quad core processors with integrated GPU
- DO-254 and DO-178C artifacts, certifiable up to DAL-A
- Rugged, SWaP optimized
- Discrete, MIL-STD-1553, ARINC-429, RS-485, CAN avionics interfaces
- Certifiable RTOS, CAST-32A compliant
- 32GB DDR4 with ECC
- 64 MB FLASH
- 80GB M.2 SSD storage
Mercury will be demonstrating a number of next-generation mission computing applications alongside industry partners at the Army Aviation Mission Solutions Summit 2025, May 14-16 in Nashville, Tenn. Demonstrations will be shown at Mercury (booth 779), Parry Labs (booth 2322), Elbit Systems (booth 978), Green Hills Software (booth 2621), and GTRI (booth 2911).
Mercury Systems – Innovation that matters®
Mercury Systems is a technology company that delivers mission-critical processing power to the edge, making advanced technologies profoundly more accessible for today’s most challenging aerospace and defense missions. The Mercury Processing Platform allows customers to tap into innovative capabilities from silicon to system scale, turning data into decisions on timelines that matter. Mercury’s products and solutions are deployed in more than 300 programs and across 35 countries, enabling a broad range of applications in mission computing, sensor processing, command and control, and communications. Mercury is headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts, and has more than 20 locations worldwide. To learn more, visit mrcy.com. (Nasdaq: MRCY)
Forward-Looking Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including those relating to the Company's focus on enhanced execution of the Company's strategic plan. You can identify these statements by the words “may,” “will,” “could,” “should,” “would,” “plans,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “continue,” “estimate,” “project,” “intend,” “likely,” “forecast,” “probable,” “potential,” and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, continued funding of defense programs, the timing and amounts of such funding, general economic and business conditions, including unforeseen weakness in the Company’s markets, effects of any U.S. federal government shutdown or extended continuing resolution, effects of geopolitical unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, delays in or cost increases related to completing development, engineering and manufacturing programs, changes in customer order patterns, changes in product mix, continued success in technological advances and delivering technological innovations, changes in, or in the U.S. government’s interpretation of, federal export control or procurement rules and regulations, including tariffs, changes in, or in the interpretation or enforcement of, environmental rules and regulations, market acceptance of the Company's products, shortages in or delays in receiving components, supply chain delays or volatility for critical components, production delays or unanticipated expenses including due to quality issues or manufacturing execution issues, adherence to required manufacturing standards, capacity underutilization, increases in scrap or inventory write-offs, failure to achieve or maintain manufacturing quality certifications, such as AS9100, the impact of supply chain disruption, inflation and labor shortages, among other things, on program execution and the resulting effect on customer satisfaction, inability to fully realize the expected benefits from acquisitions, restructurings, and operational efficiency initiatives or delays in realizing such benefits, challenges in integrating acquired businesses and achieving anticipated synergies, effects of shareholder activism, increases in interest rates, changes to industrial security and cyber-security regulations and requirements and impacts from any cyber or insider threat events, changes in tax rates or tax regulations, such as the deductibility of internal research and development, changes to interest rate swaps or other cash flow hedging arrangements, changes to generally accepted accounting principles, difficulties in retaining key employees and customers, litigation, including the dispute arising with the former CEO over his resignation, unanticipated costs under fixed-price service and system integration engagements, and various other factors beyond our control. These risks and uncertainties also include such additional risk factors as are discussed in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 28, 2024 and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. The Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made.
INVESTOR CONTACT
Tyler Hojo
Vice President, Investor Relations
Tyler.Hojo@mrcy.com
MEDIA CONTACT
Turner Brinton
Senior Director, Corporate Communications
Turner.Brinton@mrcy.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0ff09fb6-764b-446f-8313-f3a16ad360bd
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