Thu, Sep 04, 2003
Northrop Grumman
Corporation's Integrated Systems sector has been named an industry
partner on the U.S. Army's Future Combat System (FCS) program by
Boeing and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC),
the program's lead system integrators. The win marks a major
expansion of the sector's role as a provider of integrated systems
solutions for the Army.
Integrated Systems will develop and produce the FCS program's
Class IV unmanned aerial system (UAS) based on the RQ-8 Fire Scout
vertical takeoff and landing tactical unmanned aerial vehicle
(VTUAV). "This win is a validation of the robust and reliable
unmanned systems solutions that we've delivered to warfighters
across all services," said Scott J. Seymour, corporate vice
president and Integrated Systems sector president. "We're delighted
to be part of the team, and confident that our Class IV UAS
solution will become a vital and effective part of the Army's
Objective Force transformation."
The Class IV UAS will
be a key element of the tactical intelligence, surveillance,
reconnaissance and targeting architecture, providing real-time
imagery and data collection and dissemination at the brigade
level.
Integrated Systems will base its Class IV UAS solution on the
highly successful RQ-8 Fire Scout VTUAV system currently in test
and evaluation for the U.S. Navy. The system has been in
development and low-rate initial production since 2000.
Fire Scout has successfully flown more than 75 test flights
since May 2002 demonstrating its ability to take off, fly, navigate
and land autonomously, and collect imagery from its onboard sensor
payload. The company has planned additional flight tests later this
year to demonstrate other sensors and forward firing weapons
targeting.
The company's Baltimore-based Electronic Systems sector has been
selected by the Boeing-SAIC team to serve as the aerial sensor
integrator for FCS. In this capacity, Electronic Systems will have
responsibility for integrating the surveillance, reconnaissance and
target acquisition systems on the FCS unmanned aerial platform.
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