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BAE SYSTEMS-led team starts indirect fire precision attack contract

17 Jun 2002

A BAE Systems-led team has been awarded the Assessment Phase contract for the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) Indirect Fire Precision Attack (IFPA) Cat A programme. The team includes the BAE Systems Future Systems and RO Defence business units, partnered with AMS, guided-weapons affiliate MBDA, HVR Consulting Services Ltd and QinetiQ.

The IFPA programme is key to providing the UK with an extended range, surface-to-surface, precision attack capability. The final capability will be centred on weapon systems for the delivery of effects and will involve the intelligent use of delivery platforms, munitions, C4I and ISTAR systems, communications and logistics.

The Assessment Phase of the programme will allow the team to work with the MoD to evolve the user requirement for IFPA and will culminate in the selection of preferred options for the programme together with an assessment of cost and operational effectiveness.

MoD have a budget in excess of 800M for the provision of the IFPA capability for the British Army. It is worth noting, that the programme is likely to become the subject of a Major Project Report (MPR) presented to the House of Commons Defence Committee in 2003. Consequently the Programme is likely to attract significant attention within the MoD Community concerning its progress

The value of this contract is 9.3 million. The duration is 3 years but the significance is in the type of contract and the way in which this project is influencing the Acquisition process in general. IFPA is the first genuine capability based procurement and several major projects are looking to use the same approach as a means of delivering faster, better focussed solutions to customer needs. IFPA is breaking significant new ground in the way in which the Company and the DPA work as a Joint IPT, collectively addressing solutions and risks.

" This Project is the Benchmark of how things should be done between ourselves, DPA & Customer 1" Alison Wood - BAE Systems Group Strategy Director
Indirect Fire Precision Attack:

The IFPA capability is intended to give the Army the ability to pinpoint and engage targets with enhanced accuracy - at a range of up to 150 kilometres, five times the range of the existing systems.

BAE Systems and the team have worked in partnership with the MoD to define and agree the contract for the Assessment Phase.

This process is referred to as Concurrent Pricing and introduced the concept of establishing a true Joint Integrated Project Team (JIPT) approach to the programme from the outset. It was this genuinely open forum which enabled the JIPT to achieve the published DPA and BAE Systems milestone for contract award by hitting issues early on and ensuring their prompt resolution.
About AMS:

AMS is a major electronic systems company based in Italy and the UK, designing, manufacturing and supplying radars and mission critical command, control and management systems to defence forces and civil air traffic authorities throughout the world. AMS is a joint venture company, owned equally by Finmeccanica and BAE Systems.