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BAE SYSTEMS And Northrop Grumman To Provide Vehicle Intercom System For US Army's Brigade Combat Team

02 Mar 2001

Ref: 029/2001

A team comprising BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman has won a $4.5 million contract from the US Army’s Communications & Electronics Command (CECOM) to equip the Army’s new Brigade Combat Team with a digital vehicle intercom system.

This initial contract award for more than 350 vehicle intercom systems (VIS) will support the first brigade of the Brigade Combat Team (BCT). Further awards are anticipated to support the planned fielding of additional brigades.

BAE Systems’ Avionics Communications & Defence Infrastructure Division, based in Blackburn, UK, and Northrop Grumman’s Electronic Sensors & Systems Sector (ES3), based in Baltimore, US, have together supplied in excess of 14,000 VIS systems since they were originally adopted by the US Army in 1993 as the AN/VIC-3. This includes the supply of the VIS systems to 14 other countries.

The digital AN/VIC-3 vehicle intercom system provides clear, noise-free communications between crew members inside combat vehicles and - externally - over as many as six combat net radios. Its comprehensive features include the capability to distribute data, voice-operated switching for hands-free operation, a redundant architecture to mitigate battle damage, active noise reduction and a built-in-test capability.

BAE Systems’ business manager, Nick Heyes, said: “This year, we will further expand the capability of the current VIS system with enhancements in the areas of data capacity and Ethernet connectivity. These developments - coupled with our new command vehicle variant, which provides access to more users - will form the basis for a multi-vehicle command village capability, while still utilising the existing VIS cabling and ‘real estate’ within the vehicle.”

Notes to Editors

The BCT concept is of a new, medium force with the strategic mobility of light detachments combined with the lethality and survivability of heavy units. It meets US strategic deployment requirements and enables one medium-sized brigade (some 3,500 soldiers) to be in place in four days, with a second and third brigade, completing a division, on the fifth day. At the core of meeting this requirement is the use of an off-the-shelf medium vehicle weighing less than 20 tons capable of being air transportable in C-130 aircraft.

On 16 November 2000, the US Army announced it had selected the GM GDLS Defense Group, a joint venture between General Motors and General Dynamics Land Systems, to equip its new BCTs with the GM LAV 111 eight-wheeled armoured vehicle. The US Army contract calls for up to six BCTs with 2,131 vehicles starting in 2001. The initial delivery requirement is for 366 vehicles, with the potential production extending until 2008.

VIS - known as ROVIS when supplied directly from BAE Systems - represents a major advance in digital intercommunications and is the world’s most widely fielded multi-station vehicle intercom system. It features a universal radio interface to a wide range of military radios, including the VRC12, SINCGARS, Jaguar, Panther, PR4G, SEM193 and Raven series.