Facing budgetary limits, rising costs, increased scrutiny, and difficulties with several major components including the JTRS radio/networking system, the U.S. Army's $120+ billion Future Combat System led by prime contractors Boeing and SAIC Corp. may be about to look abroad for assistance.

While FCS was not designed with several participating nations in mind, the Army's Security Assistance Command has been involved in FCS for the past several years to anticipate foreign military sales and government-to-government collaboration. In addition, several nations have expressed interest in buying specific FCS platforms once they are developed.

Kevork Juskalian, a Booz Allen Hamilton contractor in the PM UA-T office, tells National Defense magazine that the possibility of foreign military sales is "still on the drawing board."

With that said, several U.S. coalition partners, such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore and France, are in the process of developing their own future force and/or advanced infrantry programs that could be compatible with FCS technologies. The most significant step this year will be to sign technology-partnering agreements with the United Kingdom and Australia, said Juskalian. In addition, the U.S. Army and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency signed a general agreement with Singapore last year to conduct experiments and develop land warfare concepts and technology.

National Defense Mag.
07.06.2005