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home > March 24, 2008 issue > article
Partnerships flourish for Army's FCS program
By Doug Beizer
Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — Army vehicles are no longer simply a
way to move troops, weapons and supplies. Under the Future
Combat Systems program, vehicles are now sensors in a networked
battlefield.
Because most sensors need electricity to work, the next generation
of FCS manned ground vehicles will
be hybrid electric, said Maj. Gen.
Charles Cartwright, program manager
for Future Combat Systems.
“Coming off the engine is about 420 kilowatts
of power, which means now for the first time
you’re looking at an all-electric vehicle,” Cartwright said
at the Association of the United States Army’s Winter
Symposium.
Many vendors attending the show are developing technologies
for FCS under partnerships. The opportunities under the program
are expected to grow significantly in the future, several said. The
manned vehicles illustrate how things are changing.
“Round cables now become various big flat
cables that move power throughout this vehicle,”
Cartwright said.
The vehicles are also equipped with fiber
optics to connect all the onboard sensors and
communications devices — all of which
run on electricity.
The engine is mounted on the side of
the vehicle so it can be exchanged for
a fuel cell, if that ever
becomes available. The
FCS program also is
addressing how to provide
maintenance for the
new vehicles that rely on electricity
rather than the hydraulics found
in older vehicles.
Unattended ground sensors are another piece of the FCS
program that took strides in the past year, said Gregg Martin,
Boeing’s FCS vice president and program manager.
An urban ground sensor is placed in buildings
after they are cleared. With the sensors in place,
warfighters are able to monitor whether
anyone has gone back into the building.
There are also tactical ground sensors
designed to be used in the field.
“They can be used to look at traffic
in an area of interest,” Martin said.
“And all of that information is digested
and processed through a gateway. So there
are several nodes out in a field, they talk to a gateway,
and process the information.”
The FCS program is also working on making sure the various
radio waves being used in the battlefield do not interfere with
one another.
“And how do you not fry eggs on top of the vehicles because
you’ve got so much power up there inside these antennas from satellite
systems, UHF, VHF and other waveforms,” Cartwright said.
“We’re working to reduce the de-confliction to give them the range
and capability they need.”
Small, unmanned vehicles that a warfighter could carry are also
part of FCS. The small, unmanned ground vehicle, or SUGV, can
be used to clear a building or provide surveillance in a dangerous
area, Martin said.
The larger multifunction utility/logistics and equipment,
named the MULE, is used for a number of
tasks, such as carrying an infantry squad’s
equipment. The Transport
MULE can carry more than
2,000 pounds of equipment.
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