BALTIMORE, 7 May 2010.Military communications experts at Northrop Grumman Cobham Intercoms LLC (NGCI) in Baltimore have taken another step toward upgrading the vehicle intercom system in the U.S. Army Stryker armored combat vehicle.
Northrop Grumman Cobham Intercoms engineers integrated the company's Vehicle Intercom System -- Expanded (VIS-X) into the Army’s Stryker systems integration lab (SIL) environment at the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command Life Cycle Management Command in Warren, Mich.
Northrop Grumman Cobham Intercoms is a company formed by Northrop Grumman Corp. and Cobham. Experts worked with the Army's Stryker brigade combat team program manager to install VIS-X hardware into the Stryker lab to replace the AN/VIC-3 intercom system.
The integration demonstrated the form, fit, and function compatibility of VIS-X with AN/VIC-3, as well as the ability to add communications features without increasing the system size or re-wiring the Stryker vehicle.
VIS-X is NGCI’s next- generation vehicle intercome system, which is designed to replace the AN/VIC-3 from Northrop Grumman and Cobham. More than 85,000 AN/VIC-3 systems have been fielded.
“During our Stryker SIL integration, we demonstrated that VIS-X reduces the total electronic box count by 30 percent and increases the number of available users, radios, and alarms,” says John Jadik, vice president of communications, intelligence and networking solutions for Northrop Grumman’s Land and Self Protection Systems Division. “Existing VIC-3 highway cables, headsets and brackets were reused, allowing for an easy upgrade to vehicles already using the AN/VIC-3 and reducing the risk associated with vehicle implementations.”
The VIS-X offers the Stryker and other wheeled and tracked vehicles 10/100/1 Gigabit Ethernet, VoIP, SIP calls, point-to-point calling, several intercom groups, remote radio control, radio re-transmission, and alphanumeric displays and menus. VIS-X is applicable to new and existing vehicles.
NGCI is providing the VIS-X under a 10-year $2.4 billion contract. For more information contact Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems online at www.es.northropgrumman.com, or Cobham Defence Communications at www.cobham.com.
