U.S. Army awards Combat Identification contract to BAE SYSTEMS-THALES Team

GREENLAWN, New York -- BAE Systems and Thales have been contracted by the U.S. Army to provide combat identification solutions for ground combat and combat support vehicles to minimize the risk of fratricide.

BAE Systems and Thales have been contracted by the U.S. Army to provide combat identification solutions for ground combat and combat support vehicles to minimize the risk of fratricide, commonly referred to as "friendly fire."

Under a $3.3 million contract from the U.S. Army Communications and Electronics Life Cycle Management Center, the companies will study how millimeter-wave combat identification systems can address issues related to affordability, information security, and platform integration. The contract was awarded as part of the Joint Cooperative Target Identification-Ground program, an effort to develop a low-cost target identification capability for the Army and Marine Corps.

"BAE Systems and Thales are working together to develop a systems approach that combines Thales's expertise in combat identification equipment and BAE Systems' expertise in platform integration and network-centric combat identification capabilities," said Paul Markwardt, vice president of identification and surveillance for BAE Systems in Greenlawn, New York. BAE Systems is the lead in the partnership with Thales that began in 2006.

"Thales is proud to support this effort with its Combat ID technology and integration experience proven on a range of platforms and coalition exercises" said Merry Michaux, director of Thales's Communication Navigation Identification business line in Paris, France.

The contract covers the program's risk-reduction phase, focusing on ground-to-ground combat identification between platforms. The program specifies a NATO-standard all-weather, millimeter-wave interrogate-and-respond system for use on U.S. fighting vehicles to signal the presence of friendly. The system must be day-and-night capable and not affected by camouflage or battlefield obscurants.