BAE Systems To Develop Net-Centric Targeting System

BAE Systems, The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's (NGA) InnoVision Directorate has selected BAE Systems to develop a web-based surveillance and targeting system. The system will rapidly identify battlefield targets and other possible threats and greatly speed decision-making by intelligence analysts and military personnel. 
 
NGA awarded BAE Systems a $47 million contract, including options, to deliver the Global Net-Centric Surveillance and Targeting (GNCST) system. “Gun Coast,” as it's commonly called, uses a Web-based interface on a secured computer network to gather real-time data from multiple intelligence sensors and process it into useable data for the military and intelligence communities. 
 
Analysts currently collect data from many different sources and sensors, and processing that data and fusing it into useful information can take considerable resources and time. Through the use of complex algorithms, GNCST can dramatically reduce the workload and time needed to put vital pieces of information together. 
 
“Once GNCST is operational, an end user might ask the system to locate surface-to-air missiles that appeared in a specific region within the past 45 seconds,” said Scott Boyce, BAE Systems' GNCST program manager in San Diego. “In as little as a few seconds, GNCST would respond with target coordinates for those missiles.” 
 
BAE Systems leads a team supported by Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, and Dragon Research. The initial contract is a 15-month program with four additional options. The next step will be to transition the system from a lab and demonstration environment to an operational system and into the hands of the war fighter.  
 
BAE Systems is the premier trans-Atlantic defense and aerospace company, delivering a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions and customer support services. BAE Systems, with more than 100,000 employees worldwide, had 2005 sales that exceeded $28 billion.