The two companies eliminated from the UK's Watchkeeper intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) programme are discussing joining the two remaining teams, led by Northrop Grumman and Thales UK.
BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin were knocked out of the contest this month. The two shortlisted candidates will receive £9 million ($15 million) systems integration assurance phase contracts, lasting around a year. Watchkeeper, potentially worth over £800 million, is intended to provide ISTAR at battle group, brigade and divisional level and will comprise unmanned air vehicles and a system for distributing and exploiting intelligence. The UK targets 2006 for initial operational capability.
Lockheed Martin UK says: "We are exploring a number of options with regard to our future participation in the Watchkeeper programme, but the precise details and scope of our involvement are yet to be determined. "The company adds that it has held "constructive talks" with the successful bidders.
BAE is discussing joining the Northrop Grumman team, offering its "extensive UK modelling and simulation environment". It adds: "Northrop Grumman clearly has lots of smart modelling capability, but they don't have the in-depth UK domain knowledge."
Watchkeeper will be complemented by the Joint Service UAV Experimentation Programme, to assess the wider operational use of UAVs across the three services.
Source: Flight International
