Future Combat Systems (FCS) technology acceleration good to Arizona

July 25, 2008 by Dagpotter · Comment
Filed under: Arizona, Boeing, DARPA, Department of Defense, Restructuring, SBIR, SMDC, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, development program 

This article describes the economic effect of the Army decision to begin pushing components of the multi-system Future Combat System (FCS) out-the-door faster. Due to this decision several hundred million dollars are flowing to Arizona companies earlier then originally planned by the Army. The two systems with the most effect are the non-line of sight missile system that uses a box launcher with integrated fire control and several unmanned systems. The Army benefits two ways by this type of decision; first, they get needed technology upgrades into the field earlier; and secondly they get testing under real world conditions.

Picture by Derek Farr

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Army awards iRobot FCS contract

April 21, 2008 by Dagpotter · Comment
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, U.S. Army, development program, iRobot 

Among the many parts of the Future Combat System (FCS) is a variety of ground and air unmanned vehicles. iRobot won a $60 M contract from the Army to provide parts of these systems. See the press release here. FCS will have a variety of vehicles, weapon systems, C4I systems and some unmanned systems to provide reconnaissance and intelligence collection. The Army has had success in Iraq and Afghanistan with small systems providing tactical intelligence to units, so this incorporation in FCS is a continued evolution of that effort.

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