GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC
E-101A testbed aircraft due for delivery as Northrop Grumman unveils BMC2 team line-up
Boeing has received a $126 million USAir Force contract to supply a 767-400ER for modification into a testbed for the E-10A Multi-sensor Command and Control aircraft (MC2A). The "green" 767 will be delivered to E-10A weapon system integration (WSI) prime contractor Northrop Grumman in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in December 2005. The modified aircraft is scheduled to fly in 2008.
A Northrop Grumman/Boeing/ Raytheon team was awarded the WSI contract in May. The $215 million contract covers pre-system development and demonstration of the E-10A Increment 1, which will combine cruise-missile defence and airborne ground surveillance and targeting capability in a single platform. The USAF plans to buy four Increment 1 aircraft for delivery by 2012.
Increment 1 combines an active-array ground moving-target indicator radar, developed by Northrop Grumman/Raytheon under the multi-platform radar technology insertion programme (MP-RTIP), with a battle management, command and control (BMC2) system.
Competing teams led by Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are expected to receive seven-month study contracts next month, with the winner to receive the $400 million BMC2 development contract in April next year.
WSI prime contractor and MP-RTIP co-developer Northrop Grumman has teamed with Alphatech, Cisco Systems, General Dynamics, Harris, L-3 Comcept, L-3 Communications, Oracle and Zel Technologies to bid for the BMC2 contract. Lockheed Martin is teamed with Raytheon and SAIC.
When it issued the BMC2 request for proposals in June, in a bid to reduce costs, the USAF deferred requirements for fusing intelligence data, automatically generating potential courses of action, automatically assigning aircraft and weapons to targets, and assessing battle damage to later increments of the MC2A.
Source: Flight International
