General Dynamics team gets Army infrastructure work

A team led by General Dynamics Corp. is negotiating with the U.S. Army to provide the service with integrated computer systems for its future combat systems program, the company announced July 17.

The potential estimated value of the program, which is expected to run through 2009, is $215 million. A company spokesman said that the team had been selected for the contract, but details are being worked out.

Under the program, the team will build integrated computer systems that will provide computer processing; networking; and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance used by all future combat systems.

General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems Inc. of Arlington, Va., leads the team and will provide overall program management with Rockwell Collins of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, sharing about 50 percent of the program work.

The Future Combat Systems is a family of advanced, networked air- and ground-based systems for the Army's Objective Force. It will include manned and unmanned platforms for providing improved intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; battle command; and real-time sensor-to-shooter links.

The award was made by the Army Lead Systems Integrator team of Boeing Corp. of Chicago and Science Applications International Corp., of San Diego.

General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems Inc. is a unit of General Dynamics Corp. of Falls Church, Va. The company has more than 57,000 employees and annual sales of $15 billion. Rockwell Collins has 14,500 employees and annual sales of $2.4 billion, according to Hoover's Online of Austin, Texas.