SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- BAE Systems has awarded a phased subcontract worth up to $70 million to Raytheon's Network Centric Systems business with headquarters in McKinney, Texas, to develop the “hard-kill” Active Protection Subsystem (APS) portion of the Hit Avoidance System for the U.S. Army’s Future Combat System (FCS) Manned Ground Vehicles (MGVs).

BAE Systems leads the hit avoidance integrated product team for FCS MGVs, and with support from MGV teammate General Dynamics, is responsible for integrating the Raytheon-developed hard-kill APS with soft-kill countermeasures, obscurants, and decision aid software into the overall MGV protection system. Boeing and partner Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), the Lead Systems Integrator for FCS, selected Raytheon earlier this month after an extensive evaluation process.

“BAE Systems is pleased to have a world-class product developer like Raytheon on the team to develop this critical element of FCS technology. We are looking forward to working with Raytheon on the development and integration of the active protection hard-kill subsystem into the overall vehicle suite of defensive capabilities. Raytheon brings a comprehensive systems engineering approach and innovative technology options to the APS development effort,” said Sam Cole, MGV program manager for BAE Systems.

“Soft-kill” electronic countermeasures such as jammers and decoys and “hard-kill” counter-munitions make up a portion of a layered hit avoidance suite that will enable full-spectrum survivability against rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rounds, top attack munitions and tank-fired kinetic energy (KE) rounds.

BAE Systems, as part of the FCS One Team, is teamed with General Dynamics to develop and field a family of transportable, deployable, lethal, and survivable Manned Ground Vehicles. The next generation of combat vehicles will provide the majority of the firepower in the FCS-equipped Brigade Combat Teams and will be critical nodes in the overarching network that allows future soldiers to effectively complete their missions. The two companies have formed integrated design teams to develop and demonstrate the family of eight manned ground vehicles featuring a common platform design with common components and subsystems, such as hit avoidance, with unique mission modules and all the variants linked together by networked battle command.

Under the FCS MGV contracts, BAE Systems has responsibility for five of the eight MGV variants: Non-Line-of-Sight Cannon (NLOS-C); Infantry Carrier Vehicle (ICV); Medical Vehicle (MV); Non-Line of Sight Mortar (NLOS-M), and FCS Recovery and Maintenance Vehicle (FRMV).

BAE Systems
27.04.2006