26 Aug 02. DRS Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: DRS – News) announced today that it has received a contract to design and manufacture display consoles for the NAUTIS 3 Command and Control System Upgrade for the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy.
For this new order, DRS’s OPUS 2 Command System Consoles will be installed on Hunt Class Mine Countermeasures Vehicles (MCMV), as part of the Mid-Life Update program. The $3m award was received from Alenia Marconi Systems Ltd. (AMS), an Anglo-Italian joint venture of BAE Systems plc. (LSE: BA.L), U.K., and Finmeccanica SpA (Milan: SIFI.MI), Italy.
The company’s DRS Rugged Systems (Europe) Ltd. unit in Farnham, Surrey, U.K., will perform work associated with this award, which will include adapting and supplying quantities of a side-by-side dual-display variant of the OPUS 2 Multi-Function Consoles, as well as providing training and reference sets. The systems are expected to be delivered to this customer commencing September 2002 and continuing through 2004.
OPUS 2 was developed with extensive consideration for modularity, conformance to defense ergonomic standards and versatility. Designed to support ease of technology insertion, the functionality of this console is expected to further evolve as new technology becomes available, delivering significant cost savings for customers well into the future.
The design of the OPUS 2 Multi-Function Console product line allows for fast customization for a variety of applications required for air, sea and land systems, including sonar, C3, weapons control and platform management. Modular and easily configurable, the console can be adjusted for vertical or horizontal use and is ideal for future display sizes. For this application, the systems will be supplied with integrated Sun® UltraSPARC(TM) VME electronics and dual
21.3-inch, 1,600 by 1,200-pixel, high-resolution displays.
OPUS 2 also has been selected to operate and control Sonar 2087, which is replacing the obsolete Sonar 2031 on Type 23 Duke Class frigates, and is a candidate for the antisubmarine warfare sensor of the Future Surface Combatant. In addition, it was selected to support Sonar 2093 for European Minesweepers, which is a highly capable, variable-depth, multi-mode mine hunting sonar. AMS’s NAUTIS 3 is the latest variant of the Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS)-based NAUTIS family of command systems already in service with the U.S. Navy, U.K. Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy, among others. It controls all of the combat system equipment essential to MCM mission effectiveness.
Comment: This order further underlines the success of the strategy of DRS’ UK segment in the development of a range of naval consoles. This business now accounts for over 50% of the Hampshire facility which had previously been dedicated exclusively to the production of rugged computers.