Boeing [NYSE: BA] and Science Applications International Corp. [NYSE: SAI], together the Lead Systems Integrator for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) modernization program, have announced the program has successfully completed preliminary design reviews (PDR) for all its unmanned vehicle systems (UVS).

The UVS Integrated Product Team (IPT) completed the five PDRs ahead of the FCS System-of-Systems (SoS) PDR scheduled for later this spring. The SoS PDR will assess the integration of the program's individual platforms into a complete SoS architecture and help establish baselines for developing prototypes. The FCS platforms reviewed in the PDRs were the Multifunctional Utility/Logistics Equipment (MULE) family of vehicles and its Autonomous Navigation System (ANS); the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV); the Class I Unmanned Aerial System (UAS); and the Class IV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

MULE and ANS reviews were completed in fiscal year 2008 and included all three MULE variants: the MULE-Transport, the MULE-Countermine, and the Armed Robotic Vehicle-Assault (Light). The UVS IPT and partner iRobot conducted the SUGV PDR at the iRobot facility in Bedford, Massachusetts, in October. The UVS IPT and partner Honeywell International conducted the Class I UAS PDR at the Boeing facility in St. Louis in late November. Finally, the UVS team and Northrop Grumman Corp. Unmanned Systems successfully conducted the Class IV UAV PDR at the Boeing facility in St. Louis in December. The Honeywell-developed FCS Class I Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is backpackable and provides dismounted soldiers with unprecedented reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition capability on the battlefield. Interoperability between FCS and current force systems was recently demo'd when real-time video imagery taken from the Class I UAV was relayed into the cockpit of an AH-64D Apache multi-role helicopter during mock combat exercises.

Additionally, The Boeing Company and the U.S. Army's Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command (SMDC/ARSTRAT) have launched a joint research-and-development effort to coordinate and fuse multiple types of sensor data in a secure environment for Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) and space situational awareness concept exploration.

Boeing and the SMDC/ARSTRAT signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) on February 24th and the two organizations met to exchange preliminary technical information at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. The CRADA will benefit from a Memorandum of Agreement between SMDC/ARSTRAT and the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) to provide expertise, tools, and information to enhance the final desired outcome of the CRADA: an effective Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) that may be used to validate ballistic missile defense concepts using modeling and simulation.