An electronic radio system multifunction slice (100) for a electronic radio system (400). The slice (100) includes an antenna interface (102), several multi-band transceivers (106-112), a processor (104), and an avionics interface (114). The antenna interface (102) couples to the antenna preconditioners of the aircraft. The processor (104) is coupled to the multi-band transceivers (106-112) and antenna interface (102), and controls the transceivers (106-112) and antenna interface (102) to provide signal and data processing for at least two independent radio function threads. The processor (104) is also coupled to the avionics interface (114), which connects to the avionics network of the aircraft. Each multifunction slice 100 provides a programmable multifunction radio.