Lockheed Martin to Develop Future Combat Systems Centralized Controller Device

Released on Monday, May 07, 2007

Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has been awarded a contract for system design and development of the Future Combat Systems Centralized Controller Device (CCD) for unmanned air and ground vehicles.

The contract was awarded by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) [NYSE: SAI], who is teamed with The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] as the Lead Systems Integrator. The winning Lockheed Martin team includes partners iRobot and Honeywell. The potential value for this development contract is in excess of $35 million through 2014.

The Centralized Controller Device will consolidate what traditionally would be numerous disparate controllers into a single integrated system, simplifying logistics and empowering the soldier. Primarily, it will control the FCS Class I unmanned aerial vehicles, Multifunction Utility/Logistics and Equipment (MULE) and Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV), unattended ground sensors, ground vehicle functions and their respective payloads, while also enabling superior situational awareness, training logistics and medical functions. Overall, it will enable soldiers to control nearly 750 systems per brigade.

"The warfighter will benefit tremendously from this new capability as a result of simplified operation and significantly improved situational awareness," said Rick Edwards, vice president � Tactical Missiles at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "We look forward to fielding the CCD as soon as possible."

"We are very pleased with the Army's decision to entrust us with another critical element of FCS," said Steve Sims, senior program manager - Combat Maneuver Systems at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "The two recent demonstrations of an early controller prototype have successfully shown how the common controller can facilitate the effectiveness of the warfighter. The demonstrations enabled us to understand the challenges of the FCS Centralized Controller, while being able to offer successful solutions which meet the Army's requirements.

"iRobot will bring significant expertise of robotic controller design leveraging their interface experience with the FCS SUGV platform. Honeywell's knowledge of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles will be indispensable in developing the interface with UAVs."