Rockwell Collins received a $142 million contract from the U.S. Navy for the procurement of the Tactical Combat Training System Increment II.
The system, also known as TCTS, is being designed to replace the Navy’s current methods for tracking and detecting aircraft during tactical training exercises.
The U.S. Department of Defense says the new contract will result in environmental improvement for air combat training, range-less air combat and secure air-to-air and air-to-ground data links.
The agreement includes ground subsystems, remote range units and other capabilities for fixed and rotary-wing aircraft.
Work will be performed at various locations in Iowa, Florida and Texas, and is expected to be complete by November 2022.
Rockwell Collins received $8.3 million in fiscal 2017 research, development, testing and evaluation funds at the time of the contact award, none of which is set to expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The project will be overseen by the Naval Air Warfare center in Orlando, Fla.
TCTS uses Global Positioning System capabilities to provide real-time tracking of allied aircraft during military training events. The system can follow planes at a range of up to approximately 350 nautical miles from any remote range unit.
The system can also be used in a range-less mode with no ground infrastructure.
Filed Under: Aerospace + defense
