Firms added to Army FCS mix

The lead systems integrator team for the Army's Future Combat System this week announced the addition of eight new partners for that initiative.

The Army's vision for FCS is to create an integrated battlespace, where networked information and communications systems provide a competitive edge to soldiers in the field and commanders in the control room.

The lead systems integrator team — Boeing Co.'s Space and Communications Group and Science Applications International Corp. — was awarded the $154 million contract in March, and has selected partners with "the best technologies and capabilities available," said Jerry McElwee, Boeing vice president and FCS lead systems integrator program manager.

The Army has partnered with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on FCS, and those agencies, working with the Boeing-SAIC team, awarded contracts to:

* BAE Systems, which will focus on communications technology and vehicle integration.

* General Dynamics Corp., for computer multifunction and vehicle integration areas.

* GM Defense, for work on vehicle integration.

* Honeywell Inc., to provide information management and vehicle integration technologies.

* Lockheed Martin Corp., which will focus on command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) for knowledge management and fusion.

* Northrop Grumman Corp., for sensor systems and sensor integration, as well as vehicle survivability.

* Raytheon Co., for modeling and simulation technology, and sensor systems expertise.

* United Defense LP, also for vehicle integration work.

Col. Bill Johnson, DARPA program manager, said the companies "bring a diversity of technologies to many areas of the FCS program" and that in addition to the eight new businesses on board, 55 other companies will be "on contract for work ranging from C4ISR to robotics to armored vehicles."