General Dynamics wins $231M Marine ops centers deal

General Dynamics Corp. won a $231 million contract modification from the Marine Corps for 165 mobile command and control systems called Combat Operations Centers.

The Falls Church, Va., company will deliver the systems from July 2007 to mid-2009 for regiment and battalion Marine Corps units in Iraq. General Dynamics C4 Systems business unit, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., will produce the combat operations centers.

The combat operations centers let commanders digitally collect and disseminate tactical information needed for an accurate picture of the battlefield situation and quick decision-making during battles. They consist of a network of workstations with large screen displays that support standard tactical data systems and other mission-related software.

The systems integrate nonsecure and secret voice and data communications, voice over IP capabilities and networked servers. They also integrate tents, trailers, radios, power generation and other tactical hardware for deploying command and control operations via air, ground or sea.

The Marine Corps has ordered more than 260 Combat Operation Centers from General Dynamics since the company won the original program contract in 2002.

General Dynamics, which has about 81,100 employees and had annual revenue of $21.2 billion in 2005, ranks No. 4 on Washington Technology's 2006 Top 100 list of the largest federal IT contractors., ranked according to their IT revenue.