SAIC gets urban warfare research work

Science Applications International Corp. will assist the Army in developing technology that will allow troops to see inside buildings during urban military operations under a $5.2 million contract, the Defense Department announced Feb. 19.

Under the contract, SAIC will help the Army develop and test technology for the concept known as VisiBuilding.

VisiBuilding is a project by the Strategic Technology Office in the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency. In urban warfare, warfighters no longer have the advantages of traditional surveillance and reconnaissance methods after enemy forces retreat indoors. The goal is to find ways to help troops determine building layouts, find unusual quantities of materials inside structures and locate people in buildings. To accomplish this requires using signal, sensor and modeling technologies, according to DARPA.

SAIC will perform the work in San Diego, where the company is based, and should have the work completed by Aug. 15, 2009.

The Army received 70 bids for the work, DOD said. The contracting authority is Communications and Electronics Command Acquisition Center at Fort Monmouth, N.J.

SAIC ranks No. 5 on Washington Technology's 2007 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.