11 Dec 03. Boeing Co. and SAIC have formalized an eight-year deal with the U.S. Army worth up to a total of $14.8bn to manage the design, development and early output of the FCS requirement contract. Outlines of the deal, including the amount of the contract with Boeing and SAIC, were announced in May, when the Defense Department moved Future Combat Systems program into its development and design phase.
The agreement announced Thursday “definitizes” an agreement signed on May 30 for what amounts to the Defense Department’s second-biggest weapons program after the Joint Strike Fighter being built by Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE:LMT – News), said an Army spokesman, Maj. Greg Tallman. “Definitization” means the contracting parties, represented by Boeing and the Army’s Tank, Automotive and Armaments Command, have reached agreement on “more precisely defined provisions relative to the scope, schedule and price” of the phased deal, Tallman said. The project is designed to replace the current fleet of heavy vehicles, including Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles, with lighter, smaller manned and unmanned vehicles and digitally linked aircraft.