WARREN, Mich., 25 Dec. 2010.Electronic display experts at the GM GDLS Defense Group LLC joint venture in Sterling Heights, Mich., will provide 350 Video Display Electronic Terminal (VDET) A-kits for retrofits of the U.S. Army Stryker armored combat vehicle under terms of a $9.6 million contract awarded this past week from the U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command in Warren, Mich.
VDET replaces the Video Display Terminal (VDT) in the Stryker's embedded training module, which is becoming obsolete. The VDET combines three obsolete contractor-furnished line replaceable units (LRUs) to reduce size, weight and power (SWAP) in Stryker vetronics by as much as 40 percent.
The Stryker VDET upgrade improves the Stryker's command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities by installing the Vehicle Smart Display, which supports new computing needs as well as existing Command and Control (C2) and Situational Awareness requirements.
The VDET upgrade to Stryker vetronics includes the Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2 gigabytes of RAM (upgradeable to 4 gigabytes), a removable solid-state hard drive, and four RS170 input/output ports capable of providing video switching from four devices or video streaming from two devices.
This is the first of a three-part program to install VDETs in the Stryker. The program calls for 350 VDET upgrades this year, 1,261 in late 2011, and 1,173 in late 2012. The Stryker VDET smart display upgrade also includes touchscreen, as well as high-end NVIDIA graphics processing that runs virtual reality-type training applications in a small vetronics package.
GM GDLS Defense Group will do the work in Shelby Township, Mich., and London, Ontario, and should be finished by July 2011. For more information contact General Dynamics Land Systems online at www.gdls.com, or Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command at www.tacom.army.mil.
