Raytheon targets Air Force intel integration system

Raytheon Co., Lexington Mass, has put together a team of other defense, IT and communications heavyweights to pursue the next iteration of the Air Force's distributed common ground system, worth an estimated $161 million.

The team, announced today, includes BAE Systems Plc, Farnborough, U.K.; General Dynamics Corp., Fall Church, Va.; Goodrich Corp., Charlotte N.C.; L-3 Communications Corp., New York; Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md.; and Science Applications International Corp., San Diego.

The program, known as DCGS Block 10.2 Multi-INT Core, will integrate multiple intelligence systems into a single Air Force-wide that will process and deliver surveillance and reconnaissance data to users around the globe.

The Air Force is calling for an enterprise-wide architecture that makes use of Web technologies and open standard information delivery services. The RFP also stipulates a modular architecture that will lower life-cycle costs for software, said Michael LaRouche, director of defense information, surveillance and reconnaissance systems for the Lockheed Martin's management and data systems unit.

The team's competitive advantage is its experience supporting the system, said John Nannen, vice president of remote systems for Raytheon's intelligence and information systems business unit. The companies on Raytheon's team have 300 people working on the system, he said.

Another advantage will be the experience that Lockheed Martin brings to developing information systems for the Air Force, LaRouche said.

The request for proposal was released on Jan. 31. Bids are due in mid-March, with an award expected in mid-April, LaRouche said. The winning team will build a prototype over the next 12 months, and a full-scale deployment, if funded, would follow in the 2004-05 time frame would follow.