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Team Janus formed to compete for NATO Ballistic missile defence feasibility study contract

02 Apr 2001 | Ref. 052/2001

Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, BAE Systems and its joint ventures including Alenia Marconi Systems and Matra BAe Dynamics, and a team of major international aerospace and defence companies today announced the official formation of Team Janus to compete for the pending NATO Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence (TBMD) Feasibility Study. Eight of the 10 Team Janus team member companies are European.

The NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A) is responsible for the study and is expected to award two Feasibility Study contracts in late May 2001, with work scheduled to start on the contracts in July 2001. The initial steps leading to the formation of Team Janus were announced in July 2000 at the Farnborough Air Show.

The Team Janus consortium is composed of the following companies: Lockheed Martin Corporation acting through Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control (U.S), Aerospatiale Matra Missiles (France), Alenia Marconi Systems (UK and Italy), BAE Systems, EADS/LFK-Lenkflugkorpersysteme GmbH (Germany) acting also for Military Aircraft, Ground Radar and ASTRIUM GmbH, Matra-BAe Dynamics (U.K.) Ltd., Matra-BAe Dynamics (France and UK) and TRW Space and Missile Systems Division (U.S.).

Supporting Team Janus are additional companies from Greece, The Netherlands, Spain, Turkey and the U.S.

Team Janus is named after the Roman god Janus, who had two faces that looked to the past and to the future simultaneously. Team Janus represents the transition between localised, area air defence of the past, and multi-national, fully integrated TBMD capable air defence of the future.

Team Janus has been formed to fully meet the challenges offered by the NATO TBMD Feasibility Study. Team members were selected because of their unparalleled capabilities and expertise in the fields of missile defence analysis, hardware production and optimisation, and delivery of total integrated system-of-systems solutions to air defence.

For the NATO TBMD Feasibility Study, Team Janus is uniquely qualified to:

* Determine the feasibility of meeting the requirements set out in the NATO Staff Target.
* Identify alternative ways of meeting the NATO Staff Target.
* Recommend an architectural solution that achieves an appropriate balance among performance, timescales, cost and risk, as well as the individual classes of systems of which that architecture is composed (allowing the widest range of national systems to be integrated).
* Recommend the range of eventual numbers of these systems that will be needed, based on a variety of illustrative scenarios.
* Identify possible industrial strategies within which NATO might pursue the acquisition and in-service operation and support of active layered TBMD.
* Prepare plans and documentation to support the next stages of an active layered TBMD programme, including cost breakdowns, refined schedules and inputs to support draft NATO Staff Requirements.

Combining these areas and successfully synthesising an optimal solution requires a broad understanding of the complexities inherent in such a unique system-of-systems. Team Janus has been carefully composed to meet these challenges. The team members have unrivalled experience in TBMD studies, as well as a complete knowledge of relevant product technologies. The team members combined to provide extensive expertise in multi-national system-of-systems integration, where major considerations are more than just technical, and include political, social, economic and cultural issues.

NATO TBMD Feasibility Study Background

The need for a TBMD Feasibility Study is driven by the NATO policy on Extended Air Defence. In 1993, the NATO Council approved a conceptual framework for Extended Air Defence, devised by the NATO Air Defence Committee.

The requirement called for the development of an alliance capability to counter, among other things, the risk posed by tactical ballistic missiles (TBMs). Subsequently in 1997, the NATO Military Committee approved a Military Operational Requirement for active TBMD. In 1998, the Conference of National Armaments Directors approved a programme plan for the acquisition of active layered TBMD to address the Military Operational Requirement.

By virtue of its broad diversification and specialisation, Team Janus is well positioned to render a world-class multi-national and fully integrated solution for NATO TBMD.