TIPS industries submit results of NATO AGS study

TIPS industries, working with the TCAR team, have submitted a study commissioned under a € 22 million NATO contract, the first in a series of contracts for the recently launched Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) programme. The contract addressed issues such as overall system and radar sensor development, programme risk and cost, as its main priorities. The submission came during the Conference of National Armament Directors meeting today.

“Completion of this study is yet another important milestone that confirms this programme is both affordable and executable. The team is confident of its abilities to deliver this programme,” commented Alan Doshier, Vice President, Northrop Grumman ISS International, Inc., speaking for TIPS industries. “We have further refined the baseline mixed fleet, and addressed TCAR integration while reducing programme costs and risk. Second, in the course of performing this study, we’ve demonstrated that the NATO’s AGS Team – industry, NATO and national governments – is now one team with one mission, focused on executing the programme.”

“Working together with TIPS as one team,” added Hansjoerg Roschmann, EADS Defence Electronics Vice President Radar Products, speaking for TCAR industries. “The study has given us the opportunity to develop strategies needed to develop and integrate the radar efficiently.”

“Our industry team is committed, the TIPS and TCAR consortia are healthy,” added Gianpiero Lorandi, Galileo Avionica’s Head of Avionics Systems, on behalf of TIPS industries. “The Risk Reduction Study was an excellent first step toward realizing this critical capability to NATO commanders. This decision of nations to invest in the study again demonstrates their commitment to providing NATO forces with this essential transformational capability.”

NATO’s decision to proceed with the programme, based on the TIPS mixed fleet equipped with the TCAR sensors, meets the NATO requirement for the AGS core capability. The NATO AGS system will provide situational awareness through a shared common ground picture that will be available to NATO and national decision makers. The TIPS mixed fleet of manned and unmanned systems will provide the Alliance with a core component for the NATO Response Force, providing a critical capability designed to meet its Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) and Command and Control (C2) requirements for the 21st century. The mixed fleet solution will also support a variety of new mission requirements for NATO including nation building, homeland security and humanitarian relief.

EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2004, the Group generated revenues of over € 31.8 billion and employed a workforce of about 110,000.

Galileo Avionica embodies the avionics and airborne radar capabilities of Finmeccanica, Italy's largest high technologies company and national defence leader.

General Dynamics Canada is Canada's largest defence company with a global reputation for providing integrated mission solutions to land, sea and air systems.

Indra is the leading Spanish company in Information Technologies (IT) with a very active presence in the defence market and is the 5th European IT company by market capitalization. Indra is deeply involved in complex and critical defence programmes for the Ministries of Defence of countries around the world.

Northrop Grumman Corporation, a global defence company, is the prime contractor for the E-8C Joint STARS and E-10A airborne ground surveillance aircraft, the Global Hawk HALE UAV and the MP-RTIP radar programme. The company’s Northrop Grumman ISS International, Inc. subsidiary manages their work on the TIPS team.

Thales is a leading international electronics and systems group, serving defence, aerospace, security and services markets worldwide. The Group employs 60,000 people throughout the world and generated revenues of € 10.3 billion in 2004.

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