SubscribeDRS Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: DRS) announced today that it has received new orders valued at approximately $36 million to provide rugged Appliqué Computer Systems for the U.S. Army's Force XXI Battle Command, Brigade and Below (FBCB2) program.
Installed on M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tanks and M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, these systems will support both U.S. Army and Marine Corps operations.
The new orders were awarded to DRS by the U.S. Army’s Communications - Electronics Command (CECOM) in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. The design and manufacture of processor and keyboard units, as well as rugged removable hard disk drives, will be accomplished by the company’s DRS Tactical Systems unit in Palm Bay, Florida. Delivery of more than 3,600 Appliqué systems will begin in June 2005 and continue throughout the year. The orders are associated with a five-year, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract awarded to the company in June 2004.
Focused on the development of a digital battle command information system, the FBCB2 program is designed to provide commanders, leaders and soldiers, from brigade to individual soldier and across all the battlefield functional areas, with improved information for command and control and enhanced situational awareness. The system supports the Army’s overall battlefield visualization efforts and provides a seamless flow of battle command information based on its interoperability with external command and control and sensor systems.
"These awards support our position as a market leader in rugged computer systems for the Army’s dominance of the 21st century battle space," said Steven T. Schorer, president of DRS’s C4I Group. "The FBCB2 systems have proven to be crucial assets for our forces in Iraq as part of the Army’s network-centric communications infrastructure by providing improved interoperability and networked battlefield command information.
The systems reflect DRS’s strong track record for innovative design and highly reliable performance, as well as our reputation for product quality and timely delivery. Our success in supporting these next-generation, high-visibility, battlefield command information systems is the direct result of our commitment to provide best value systems and services."
Incorporating the latest developments in digital information processing and networking, the FBCB2 system provides improved combat support, real-time command and control capabilities, enhanced interoperability and situational awareness throughout the force structure at the soldier, weapons and platform levels, assuring that U.S. armed forces keep pace with advanced technology developments of the 21st century.
The system is intended to support lower-echelon battle command tactical mission requirements, such as real-time situational awareness, target identification and graphical combat area displays. The situational awareness component will collectively display the geographical location of all weapons, platforms, soldiers, command posts and other facilities and will be used in conjunction with the Army’s Tactical Internet (TI), a seamless Internet connection, for ease in communication. The TI interfaces with the Army Battle Command Systems (ABCS), collects information from both the operation center and the individual units and then disseminates it through FBCB2 computers for improved situational awareness.
DRS Technologies, headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, provides leading edge products and services to defense, government intelligence and commercial customers. Focused on defense technology, DRS develops and manufactures a broad range of mission critical systems. The company employs 5,800 people worldwide.
