Budget cuts and technical doubts blamed for rebaselining
The US Air Force has curtailed requirements by 40% for the battle management suite aboard the future Northrop Grumman E-10A Multi-sensor Command and Control Aircraft (MC2A). Budget cuts and technical uncertainty are blamed for scaling back the $345 million development effort for the Battle Management Command and Control (BMC2) suite, one of two core subsystems aboard the future E-10A, which is based on the Boeing 767-400ER, says Paul Meyer, vice-president of advanced capabilities development for Northrop Grumman.
As the last remaining E-10A component yet to be awarded, BMC2's 10-year development phase is to launch later this year after a planned contract selection in August. Teams led by Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman submitted proposals last month. BMC2's underlying purpose is to bring decision-makers closer to the fight so time-critical targets can be attacked faster. The air force wants to reduce the decision cycle from 20-30min today to less than 9min aboard the E-10A.
The first sign of trouble came early this year, when the air force reshuffled the BMC2's priorities to underscore cruise missile defence. The restructuring was attached to a roughly 18% budget cut of about $75 million. But the changes had a larger impact on the technologies that the bidding teams were willing to include in their proposals.
Meyer says the air force shifted several capabilities, such as advanced control of unmanned air vehicles, a fuzed moving target indicator "picture" collected from off-board sensors and links to future transformational communications systems, such as the airborne/maritime component of the Joint Tactical Radio System.
But the rebaselining maintains capabilities that would be useful for supporting cruise missile defence and surface surveillance and reconnaissance. Early technical goals also include some control of off-board sensors and platforms and an ability to rapidly execute changes to an air tasking order. Combat identification technologies also remain a key requirement for BMC2, says Meyer.
The E-10A also includes an active phased-array radar for tracking moving ground targets, a spin-off of the Northrop Grumman/Raytheon Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program.
For BMC2, Northrop Grumman has proposed a modular configuration using 25 crew members. Its offensive targeting cell would be made up of a group of "hunters," who detect and classify targets; "deciders", who authorise strike actions and "killers", who select and assign the appropriate weapon to strike the target.
STEPHEN TRIMBLE / WASHINGTON DC
Source: Flight International
