The U.S. Air Force has awarded the Lockheed Martin Battle Management Command Control (BMC2) team a $4 million contract to continue the competition for the E-10A BMC2 program. The contract award marks the beginning of the pre-System Design and Development (pre-SDD) phase of the competition that will culminate in a final award early next year for the projected $420 million program.

The Lockheed Martin BMC2 team will work in concert with the Weapons Systems Integrator (WSI) team and the Air Force to refine requirements for the overall E-10A system. The team will also advance the Lockheed Martin team's system design and architecture for BMC2, define engineering processes and demonstrate early prototypes of the solution to validate the team's approach.

BMC2 is the cornerstone of the E-10A Multi-Sensor Command and Control Aircraft, the Air Force's next-generation collaborative intelligence and battle management capability. BMC2 will optimize the employment of the Multi- Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) -- the E-10A's on-board sensor -- as well as off-board sensors across the battlespace. The system will fuse that comprehensive intelligence data with an integrated mission execution capability, dramatically reducing the battlefield decision cycle.

"The Air Force's vision for the BMC2 system is truly revolutionary, and we've assembled a team with unmatched expertise in command and control (C2), intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), and communications to make that vision a reality," said Mike Schoultz, Lockheed Martin's vice president of E-10A BMC2. "In addition to our technical expertise, we're well- versed in the concept of operations that will be fundamental to the success of this program. The operational processes and tempo -- from data collection to real-time action -- will drive this system, and a realistic and effective concept of operations is the top priority for our approach."

As leader of the BMC2 team, Lockheed Martin is responsible for systems architecture, systems engineering and integration, program management and the BMC2 and information management subsystems. Raytheon will perform the communications, ISR, sensor, and UAV control systems integration; and SAIC supports the modeling and simulation effort. The team also draws on focused domain expertise from L-3 Communications, Alphatech, Inc., and ZelTech.

"Our team will collaborate very closely with the WSI and the Air Force to ensure the development of a fully-integrated, affordable E-10A solution," said Schoultz. "We bring a specialty in open architectures and systems integration, both of which are critical to making BMC2 the enabler for the E- 10A weapons system. We're focused on helping to make this system -- and this government-industry team -- a seamless, integrated enterprise."

The pre-SDD phase lasts approximately six months and ends with the final proposal for the SDD phase of the contract. In April, the Air Force is slated to select one contractor for the $420 million SDD award.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin employs about 125,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2002 sales of $26.6 billion.

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin