DRS to provide rugged tablet computers with trusted computing for battlefield command and control
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. – U.S. military command and control experts needed rugged computers to upgrade military vehicles and command posts. They found their solution from Leonardo DRS Land Electronics business unit in Melbourne, Fla.
Leonardo DRS officials today announced their company's first production delivery order for the next-generation of U.S. Army mission command computing systems called the Mounted Family of Computer Systems (MFoCS) II.
The initial delivery order $132.1 million came from the Defense Information Technology Contracting Office of the Defense Information Systems Agency at Scott Air Force Base, Ill. The original $841.5 million contract for the program was awarded to Leonardo DRS last May.
This delivery contract calls for Leonardo DRS to provide the Army with dismountable rugged tablet computers, vehicle-mount rugged computers, docking stations, keyboards, cables, and several sizes of ruggedized sunlight-readable multi-touch-screen displays.
The MFoCS II family of systems will support fielding and upgrades of the Army's Joint Battle Command-Platform (JBC-P) and features systems upgrades, cyber security improvements, and multi-touch displays.
MFoCS II also has performance enhancements of its computing server as the Army continues to improve the JBC-P systems for tactical situational awareness, global blue force tracking, and in-transit visibility logistics tracking.
A critical component of the MFoCS II system is the cyber-hardening technology inside the hardware called Edge-Assured that ensures that commanders are operating protected and trusted computing systems.
MFoCS II also retains components from the first-generation MFoCS, including a dismountable tablet, an expandable rugged computer, and 12-, 15-, and 17-inch sunlight-readable rugged displays with multi-touch functionality.
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MFoCS integrates Force XXI Battle Command Brigade-and-Below and Joint Battle Command-Platform (JBC-P) capabilities into a common computing system. The MFoCS II program primarily is in response to U.S. Army battlefield computing requirements.
MFoCS supports situational awareness, command and control, and maneuver capability with next-generation rugged computers and displays that several different configurable levels. Systems include ruggedized tablet computers, processors, keyboards, removable solid-state disks, displays, and cabling.
JBC-P consists of ultra-rugged computers, software, and Suite B encryption security that enables warfighters to send and receive friendly force position location.
It JBC-P essentially is a follow-on to, or advanced component of, the Army's Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2) program, and will be interoperable with the current FBCB2 Blue Force Tracking (BFT) system.
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The FBCB2 provides battlefield situational awareness to enable fast, well-informed decisions. The JBC-P is expected to enhance FBCB2 performance, and reduce the risk of fratricide.
For the remainder of this decade and into the 2020s, MFoCS is designed to push the leading edge of technology from inception to retirement in combat computing, whether in compliance with the Army's VICTORY (Vehicular Integration for C4ISR/EW Interoperability) initiative, security, or ruggedization.
The Army awarded the original MFoCS contract to DRS in 2013 in a potential $455 million deal. The contract called for DRS to build a variety of vehicle-mounted command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) equipment.
The foundational element of the MFoCS program is the rugged tablet that warfighters can mount in combat vehicles, as well as disconnect the tablets and continue using them while operating on foot. This enables warfighters in vehicles to share what they are seeing on their screens with warfighters operating on foot.
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Battlefield commanders can work on a tablet in a combat vehicle, and then take the computer into a command post and dock it.
Under this delivery contract, Leonardo DRS will provide the Army with dismountable tablets, processor units, docking stations, keyboard units, interconnecting cables, and several sizes of ruggedized sunlight-readable multi-touch-screen display units.
For more information contact Leonardo DRS Land Electronics online at www.leonardodrs.com.
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