FRES 05
Memorandum from Thales UK
In this document Thales outlines its position in
the UK Land domain, and its contribution to the development of the FRES
Requirement and Acquisition Strategy and to the DIS.
Thales UK
1.1. Thales is a key player in the land systems
domain, both globally and in the UK, acting as both a systems integrator and a
supplier of key technologies. The
company has taken the prime contractor role on many complex vehicle programmes. Thales is committed to making a significant
contribution to the debate and to the delivery of the FRES capability.
2.2. Thales is the largest military vehicle
system integrator in Europe with experience on over 20,000 vehicles
worldwide. The most recent example is
the provision of a fleet wide electronic architecture to the new Piranha III
Armoured Fight Vehicle (AFV) fleet being procured by the Belgian Army.
3.3. In the UK Thales, through its Belfast
facility, is the prime contractor and system design authority for the Self
Propelled High Velocity Missile (SP HVM) Weapon System, which integrates the
Starstreak missile system with advanced sensors and command and control on the
Stormer platform. As system design
authority, Thales also delivered a major capability upgrade to this system,
successfully achieving the in service date in October 2006. Thales is concluding negotiations with MoD
to provide the SP HVM capability through-life.
4.4. Thales, through its Glasgow facility, is
the prime contractor for the Battle Group Thermal Imager (BGTI) System, which
was successfully delivered into service in 2005 and will be fielded on over 500
vehicles. Thales has total
responsibility for the sub-system and vehicle integration of BGTI across all
vehicle variants, sub-contracting the platform, design authority to BAE
Systems. BGTI integrates a stabilised gunners sight, commander's crew station,
three-axis inertial navigation system (INS), driver's display and the
BOWMAN/Combat battlefield management system (BMS). The BGTI commander's panel is the hub for all data flow and
provides the commander with an intuitive man machine interface that enables him
to have access to optical, video, map and navigation data. BGTI is also capable of planning routes and
displaying target location data independent of BOWMAN. The architecture includes a combination of
international open standard data transfer protocols to utilise proven "off the
shelf" technology whilst optimising the interface to the BOWMAN system. Thales believes that BGTI represents the
most complex AFV electronic system in service in the UK.
5.5. Thales
has wide experience in the UK and overseas of acting as an independent system
and system-of-systems integrator. Its
roles in SP HVM, BGTI, CVF, Watchkeeper and Future Integrated Soldier
Technology (FIST) testify to its capability, people and processes in this
regard. In the land domain Thales has
run competitions for complex sighting and sensing systems and has then
successfully integrated these to deliver an AFV based capability to UK MoD.
Thales FRES activity to date
6.6. Through the FRES Integrated Project Team
(IPT) and the Directorate of Equipment Capability (Ground Manoeuvre) Thales has
contributed to the MoD's deliberations on acquisition strategy by way of
presentations, papers and strategic discussions. Thales has developed programme,
risk, supply chain management, business and financial models to illustrate
alternative ways of working and to facilitate the identification of issues.
7.7. From other major programmes in which
Thales is involved such as CVF, Watchkeeper, FIST and others, Thales also has
much experience of alliancing, partnering and working with other substantial
organisations.
8.8. Thales has also been supporting the FRES
Systems House (SH), Atkins Defence, in the development of the system
requirement document (SRD) that will deliver the operational requirement for
FRES. Thales has been tasked by the SH to provide inputs on specific topics
such as power management, embedded training, vehicle batteries, commonality and
acquisition strategy. Thales has also initiated direct discussion with the SH
and informed their development of the SRD.
9.9. Thales competed for and is leading the two
key FRES Technology Demonstrator Programmes (TDP), the Electronic Architecture
(EA) TDP and the Integrated Survivability (IS) TDP.
10.10. As part of the work on the EA TDP Thales sees
the development of an open, scalable electronic architecture as key to ensuring
the coherence of both the FRES fleet and legacy platforms and to providing a
mechanism for growth and technology insertion. To meet these requirements Thales
has brought in BAE Systems, QinetiQ and a number of SMEs including Ncode,
IFS Defence, McLaren Electronic Systems, Eaton Aerospace, and Aerosystems
International, as well as the University of Sussex, to ensure that the
best of UK capability is harnessed and developed in a team environment to
deliver an optimised architecture.
11.11. Thales believes Integrated Survivability to be
a key enabler to delivering the FRES capability through life. As part of the
Integrated Survivability TDP Thales has identified the major trade-offs that
need to be made in terms of survivability characteristics and has proposed a
number of optimised survivability concepts for FRES. Thales has contracted with
The Boeing Company to ensure the pull through of the survivability lessons learnt
in the US including those from the Future Combat Systems (FCS) programme.
FRES Acquisition Strategy
12.12. It is highly likely that FRES will consist of
platforms from more than one supplier. FRES fleet coherence, commonality and
hence value for money, are likely to be delivered only through a systematic
approach, focussed on the capability required of the FRES fleet and individual
variants, rather than a vehicle-centric approach. A key enabler in delivering
that coherence is the effective management and control of the FRES system of
systems architecture and in particular the fleet level segments of electronic
architecture and integrated survivability.
Thales is therefore pleased to confirm its support for the acquisition
strategy outlined in the recent letter to its Chief Executive and looks forward
to playing a leading role in working with the MoD to deliver the FRES
capability effectively.
13.13. Thales looks forward to working with MoD to
define further and refine the acquisition process. A key issue to be addressed
by the acquisition strategy will be the mechanisms by which broad fleet
coherence will be achieved by spiralling systems and technologies from the FRES
programme into the legacy fleet.
FRES and DIS
14.14. The DIS clearly sets out MoD's intent that FRES
should be delivered through a team lead by a systems integrator with the
highest levels of systems engineering, skills, resources and capabilities based
in the UK. The DIS also highlights the need for a system of systems perspective
to manage the challenges not just of the physical integration of complex
sub-systems into the various platforms but also the integration of these
platforms into the wider military network to fully exploit the benefits of NEC.
Thales has voiced its support for these objectives and its desire to work with
the MoD to ensure that they are fulfilled.
15.15. With respect to legacy AFV platforms, Thales
considers it important that the partnering agreement with BAE Systems should
not restrict competition, especially with respect to major system integration
activities. Thales believes that such
partnering agreements should not become rigid monopolies and that they should
be transparent to the supply chain. Thales considers that systems such as BGTI
provide good examples of where the MoD has benefited from effective competition
beyond the platform supplier.
Conclusion
16.16. Thales has a strong desire to be the System of
Systems Integrator for the FRES programme acting in partnership with the MoD.
Thales has all of the necessary resources and capability in the UK to lead a UK
based team harnessing the best of UK and international companies for the
benefit of the programme.
24 November 2006
