Future Combat System Team Selects Active Protection System Provider for Manned Ground Vehicles

Boeing Co, ST. LOUIS: Following an extensive evaluation process, Boeing and partner Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), operating as the Lead Systems Integrator for the U.S. Army's Future Combat System (FCS) program, today announced the selection of Raytheon Company's Network Centric Systems division in Plano, Texas, to develop Active Protection System (APS) technologies that will be applicable to current force and FCS manned ground vehicles. The FCS APS is a countermeasure capability that is designed to dramatically increase vehicle survivability against a full spectrum of threats. 
 
The LSI team will now begin discussions with BAE Systems, the FCS hit avoidance integrator, and Raytheon to formalize a contract for a three-phased activity leading to delivery of an effective, tested and producible APS capability. The potential value of the contract is $70 million. 
 
“We selected Raytheon as the APS provider for FCS based on their systems development abilities and innovative technical approach after a best-value evaluation process” said Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing vice president-general manager, and FCS program manager. “Our government partners played an active role in the entire process, from requirements to the final selection decision. 
 
“Raytheon has demonstrated that it has the right ideas, the right processes and the right systems engineering expertise to provide this very important capability to our nation's soldiers, and we are well-poised to proceed forward on this critical procurement,” Muilenburg said. 
 
The Active Protection contract will be executed in three inter-related phases. The base program, lasting from March 2006 to September 2011, is an engineering effort to develop a robust APS architecture in partnership with FCS hit avoidance integrator BAE Systems and the Army science and technology community. The second phase, or option, lasting from June 2006 through September 2009, is a risk-reduction effort to accelerate the short-range portion of the manned ground vehicle APS solution, making this system available to the current force. The third phase runs from January 2007 to September 2011 and will supply the complete APS solution, hardware and support for first incremental delivery of FCS manned ground vehicles. 
 
APS is a subset of a broader suite of capabilities referred to as “hit avoidance,” which, in the context of military ground combat vehicles, are technologies that provide the capability to defeat threats fired at the vehicles before they impact. It constitutes a portion of a layered survivability suite that provides collective vehicle protection against the broad range of threats vehicles will encounter. 
 
 
A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world's largest space and defense businesses. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $30.5 billion business. It provides network-centric system solutions to its global military, government, and commercial customers. It is a leading provider of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems; the world's largest military aircraft manufacturer; the world's largest satellite manufacturer and a leading provider of space-based communications; the primary systems integrator for U.S. missile defense; NASA's largest contractor; and a global leader in sustainment solutions and launch services. 
 
SAIC is the largest employee-owned research and engineering company in the United States, with more than 43,000 employees in over 150 cities worldwide. For the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2005, the company reported annual revenues of $7.2 billion. SAIC engineers and scientists solve complex technical problems in national security, homeland security, energy, the environment, space, telecommunications, health care and logistics.