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Air Command Systems International awarded NATO contracts

20 June 2001

Air Command Systems International (ACSI), a joint venture equally owned by Raytheon Company and Thomson-CSF, has been awarded four additional NATO Air Command and Control Level of Capability 1 (ACCS LOC1) contracts for work associated with validation sites in Belgium, France, Germany and Italy. The combined value of these contracts is approximately $125 million.

The contracts were issued by the four nations as a follow-on to the approximately $500 million contract award to ACSI in July 1999 by the NATO Air Command and Control Management Agency (NACMA). This overall program will provide NATO with a fully interoperable, common air operations command and control system to support all offensive and defensive air operations, as well as military air traffic control, command and control resource management, and airspace management for NATO countries in Europe.

The ACCS LOC1 is a replacement for the existing NATO air command and control system -- the NATO Air Defense Ground Environment -- installed in the 1970s. It will also provide centralized command and decentralized execution capability through a combination of an in-place static backbone and a deployable ACCS component called a DAC.

The implementation of ACCS will take place in several increments, known as levels of operational capability (LOC). The first increment is LOC1.

The ACCS LOC1 program covers the development of the core software and its testing at the system test and validation facility under the NACMA contract, the development of the national adaptation software and the validation of the LOC1 system at four operational sites under the four national contracts recently awarded. Subsequent replication at other operational sites is expected in the coming years.

Under two of the contracts for France and Italy, ACSI will develop two sites, which include a Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC), an Air Control Center (ACC), a Recognized Air Picture Production Center (RPC) and a Sensor Fusion Post (SFP). Under the Belgium contract, ACSI will develop a site which includes an ACC, an RPC and a SFP. Under the German contract, ACSI will develop a Combined Air Operations Center.

Air Command Systems International is headquartered in Paris, France. ACSI was formed in December 1996 for the pursuit and execution of the NATO ACCS LOC1 program. It is responsible for program management, system engineering, hardware procurement, subcontracts management, integration and test, quality and logistics support. Major subcontractors to the prime ACSI include Raytheon, Thomson-CSF, Alenia Marconi Systems, British Aerospace, and Dornier.