Thales, London, UK: The FRES Systems House, Atkins, has awarded a contract to the Thales UK Team for an Electronic Architecture (EA) Technology Demonstrator Programme (TDP) in support of the Initial Assessment Phase for the Future Rapid Effect System (FRES).
The Thales UK Team includes BAE Systems as a strategic partner and QinetiQ. The programme, which will last around 18 months, will define a scalable open architecture that may be a candidate electronic architecture solution at the core of the FRES fleet. It is currently estimated that the fleet will exceed 3,500 vehicles.
FRES will be a family of network-enabled armoured vehicles forming a key element of the MoD's vision for a medium weight capability. The FRES requirement sets demanding targets including limits to weight and size to allow rapid deployment by air, while at the same time calling for the delivery of military effect and survivability in excess of that currently available from vehicles of this class. FRES will also seek to minimise the logistic footprint and through life support costs.
The EA will demonstrate the capability to integrate FRES sub-systems into the vehicles and provide the cross-fleet coherence that will enable the functionality to command, control and support FRES. The EA will facilitate Network Enabled Capability, integrated data and image handling, local situational awareness, interoperability and combat readiness.
It will also drive commonality and scalability across FRES roles, mission-specific reconfiguration, and through-life growth by incremental acquisition. The EA TDP will define and demonstrate a potential FRES open architecture, compliant with current and emerging MoD Standards. In addition the EA TDP will demonstrate how end-to-end Health and Usage Monitoring System (HUMS) can improve combat and cost effectiveness.
The Thales UK Team members, BAE Systems, QinetiQ and Thales UK, have delivered some of the most advanced systems owned and operated by the UK and many other Armed Forces worldwide and enjoy a world-class reputation in research and development, production and through life support. Based at the Thales UK site in Staines, they will bring to bear a unique understanding of the UK Land Domain and the context in which the FRES programme will be delivered.
Risk mitigation, which will be at the heart of the TDP, will be achieved through the application of proven programme management and systems engineering processes backed by in-depth domain understanding and technology expertise. The EA will be demonstrated by integrating it into a candidate vehicle chassis.
For maximum flexibility, simulation techniques will also be widely employed through the use of System Integration Laboratories (SIL). This use of simulation will save both time and money and allow for more rigorous de-risking.
The Thales UK Team will work with both the Defence Procurement Agency's (DPA) FRES Integrated Project Team (IPT) and the FRES Systems House (SH), Atkins, to ensure that the FRES EA TDP successfully delivers evidence to support the FRES Main Gate.
This will include technology and systems integration readiness maturity levels commensurate with the FRES Initial Operational Capability (IOC), which is to be fielded early in the next decade, with coherence to the Full Operational Capability (FOC), which will enter service progressively thereafter.
Alex Dorrian, CEO Thales UK said, “This is an important step forward for the FRES programme which is key to the delivery of the UK vision of a medium weight capability. We welcome the award of the FRES EA TDP and recognise its central importance to the future success of FRES. This is a credit to the efforts of Thales UK staff and our partners.”
The Thales UK Team now enters the initial phase of the EA TDP. This will include broad engagement of industry through the competitive selection of suppliers for the sub-systems and work packages that comprise the EA TDP. This will provide opportunities for electronics companies, research organisations and vehicle specialists of all sizes throughout the UK to contribute to the TDP.
