Washington: Leading American defence companies Lockheed Martin and General Dynamic Mission Systems have been awarded contracts by the US Army to kick off the first phase of a major electronic warfare program, the Terrestrial Layer System-Echelons Above Brigade (TLS-EAB), the program office announced.
TLS-EAB will give Army formations larger than brigades new, longer-range electronic warfare systems, an important capability as it seeks to both develop new long-range fires systems and to modernize a long-neglected electronic warfare toolset. The final design is expected to be truck-mounted, with an eye towards serving as a long-range sensing and jamming platform that will help Army leaders fight across the far distances of the Pacific.
Lockheed and General Dynamics will share a $15 million other transaction agreements contract for the first phase of the program, which will last 11 months. Under that first phase, the companies will participate in a competitive developmental process, according to the press release from Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors, which manages the program. That will include “concept design, system design review and a software architecture demonstration.”
The TLS-EAB platform will improve the service’s information superiority, targeting and long-range fires capabilities on the battlefield, a critical piece for joint all-domain operations, according to the PEO IEW&S website.
“The Terrestrial Layer System Echelons Above Brigade is planned as an extended-range, terrestrial sensing, collection, and electromagnetic attack system(s) providing integrated Signals Intelligence, Electronic Warfare (EW) and Cyber capabilities for situational awareness, situational understanding, indications & warnings, command post protection operations, and support the delivery of lethal and non-lethal effects in a holistic, synchronized manner for large-scale combat operations,” said Ken Strayer, Project Manager.
This award is the first of five phases, according to an Army spokesperson. The second phase will be prototype build, test and integration; the third phase will examine production readiness and operational assessment; the fourth phase will see the Army equip and transition to a follow-on program; and the final phase will be the design and development of future material solutions. The total value of the OTA across the five phases is about $163 million, the release states.
