Future Combat Systems advances - Alog News - Brief Article

Army Logistician, Sept-Oct, 2003

The Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program has been approved by the Defense Acquisition Board for transition to the second phase of the development process, system development and demonstration (SDD). The FCS is the centerpiece of Army Transformation.

In the $14.92 billion SDD process, the Army and the Lead Systems Integrator, a Boeing Company and Science Applications International Corporation team, will award contracts to subcontractors to begin designing FCS elements. The FCS development process will follow the new Department of Defense model of spiral development, which will permit developers to insert new technology as the systems develop.

The FCS, which the Army characterizes as a "networked system of systems," eventually will replace the M1 Abrams tank and the M2/3 Bradley fighting vehicles with 18 manned and unmanned ground and air vehicles and an array of sensors connected by an advanced communications network. The ground vehicles will weigh between 18 and 22 tons so they can be moved on C-130 transports.

FCS prototypes should be ready for testing by 2007, with fielding of production versions of the FCS to follow in 2008 or 2009.