Officials at the U.S. Army’s Communication-Electronics Life Cycle Management Command (CELCMC) at Fort Monmouth, N.J., sought computer and display systems for U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps combat vehicles. They found the needed equipment at DRS Technologies Inc., A Finmeccanica Company in Parsippany, N.J.

DRS Technologies, as part of a $531 million, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract ceiling extension to a JV5 production contract, is delivering JV-5 ultra-rugged vehicle computing and display systems. The contract provides for an indefinite quantity of JV-5 units for the U.S. Army’s Force XXI Battle Command, Brigade, and Below (FBCB2) and Blue Force Tracking (BFT) programs, and to meet the situational awareness requirements of the Marine Corps.

“The JV-5 system was designed to meet today’s FBCB2 requirements and support the Army’s migration to Joint Battle Command-Platform (JBC-P) and Unified Battle Command,” reveals Mike Sarrica, vice president and general manager of DRS Tactical Systems. “DRS has already delivered more than 20,000 JV-5 systems to PM FBCB2, at times delivering more than 1,000 systems per week.”

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The JV-5 vehicle computing system incorporates such new technologies as multicore processors, increased memory, greater data storage, and expansion capability to allow for future technology improvements. These enhancements reportedly provide the computer systems with better graphics processing, data handling, and system networking capabilities.

DRS Technologies’ computer systems are designed to provide global positioning system location, the ability to track and differentiate between friendly and enemy combatants, the ability to interface with terrestrial communication radios, such as the single-channel ground and airborne radio system or the enhanced position location reporting system, and the ability to access a satellite communications network.

The objective of the Army’s FBCB2 and BFT programs is to deliver a digital battle command-and-control information system that provides commanders and soldiers access to real-time information, enabling improved decision making, enhanced situational awareness, and a battlefield advantage through information superiority.

The company’s DRS Tactical Systems unit in Melbourne, Fla., will manufacture the systems, to be delivered through 2012.

For more information, visit DRS Technologies Inc. online at www.drs.com.