Northrop Grumman Cobham Intercoms LLC (NGCI LLC), a company formed by Northrop Grumman [NOC] and Cobham (COB), has been selected over teams led by Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Rockwell Collins [COL] under a 10-year, potential $2.4 billion contract, to provide the Vehicular Intercommunication System Expanded (VIS-X) for the Army’s Communications and Electronics Command (CECOM).
In the competition, Lockheed Martin teamed with Sanmina-SCI; Griffon Corp.’s [GFF] Telephonics teamed with Rockwell Collins.
Under the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract, the NGCI team is required to be able to deliver up to 500 VIS-X systems per month during the first year following completion of First Article Testing and up to 2,000 systems per month in subsequent years. The total value of the 10-year ID/IQ contract has an anticipated not-to-exceed ceiling of $2.4 billion.
VIS-X will provide vehicle crewmembers and occupants with improved speech intelligibility and hearing protection. It will also provide vehicle crew members and occupants with increased command and control of the on-board and external communication assets, connection to future Internet Protocol (IP)-based digital communications networks, VoIP services, and an increased number of user interfaces for use by crew and next generation IP radios. VIS-X can be used in both new production and legacy vehicle platforms, allowing the warfighter to utilize the same state-of-the-art equipment regardless of vehicle type or age.
“The enduring partnership between Northrop Grumman and Cobham is one that will continue to benefit our warfighters by providing them with cutting-edge technologies on the battlefield,” Jeff Palombo, sector vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman’s Land Forces Division, said. “Providing enhanced situational awareness and IP-based digital communication networks will better protect our troops and allow them to fight smarter.”
Steve Collier, vice president Cobham Defense Communications, said, “VIS-X will allow soldiers and other vehicle mounted troops to communicate faster, safer and more securely with greater understanding of the operational situation during the most demanding missions. The new teaming agreement between Cobham and Northrop Grumman strengthens the 15-year relationship between our two companies supplying the existing VIC-3 system.”
Northrop Grumman and Cobham will continue to supply VIC-3 systems to support the large installed base of more than 85,000 vehicles.