The Australian army has chosen Leonardo DRS to provide state-of-the art computing infrastructure for its fleet of M1A1SA Abrams main battle tanks and other combat vehicles.
The company was awarded a $3.1 million direct commercial sale contract for Leonardo’s next-generation battle management system (BMS), called the Mounted Family of Computer Systems (MFoCS).
It is the first order for the initial phase of the Australian army’s Land 907 BMS program to provide armored cavalry units with improved connectivity within the Australian Defense Force and increased interoperability with United States and allied battle-management systems in the field. Ironically, Leonardo DRS will produce MFoCS systems in its Melbourne, Fla., facility and install the system in five Australia locations.
Leonardo DRS is a U.S. based division of Italy’s Leonardo.
Leonardo DRS already holds contracts worth $53 million to provide the U.S. Army tanks and vehicles with MFoCS. The orders are part of an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract.
“MFoCS is the most advanced family of ultra-rugged computers and display systems engineered for military application and it can be installed on every tactical platform variant in use by all of the services,” Jerry Hathaway, vice president and general manager of DRS Land Electronics, said in a statement.
MFoCS systems are being installed in ground combat and tactical vehicles to provide modular computing capabilities for the U.S Army and other services, giving warfighters the next-generation of computing and display technology with faster processing performance. This enables support for simultaneous applications as well as the integration of additional sensors and communications networks.
MFoCS units are being installed across U.S. military services including aircraft, wheeled and tracked vehicles, tactical operations centers, and other mission command platforms.
“Leonardo DRS is proud to provide the proven MFoCS system to the Australian Army for many of its armored cavalry vehicles. We have a long history of providing its land forces with combat-proven hardware for a wide range of platforms,” said Jerry Hathaway, vice president and general manager of DRS Land Electronics business.
The upgrade to MFoCS provides tankers with tablets and rugged sunlight-readable touchscreen displays, that support legacy battle command systems like Blue Force Tracking, and “provides commanders with numerous options that provide increased joint, U.S., and coalition interoperability,” according to a company statement.