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IABG joins SAIC to bid for NATO ALTBMD contract

In a press conference in Brussels on 26 October 2005, IABG announced its decision to join a team led by SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation), which is to bid for the systems engineering and integration contract (SE&I) under the NATO programme for strategic interceptor and defence missiles in the area of combat (ALTBMD – Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defense). The invitation to tender is scheduled for March 2006.

The team is headed by SAIC (US), and comprises the following members: the independent, neutral simulation and testing company IABG (D), TNO (NL), QinetiQ (GB), EADS SPACE (FR), Raytheon (US), Thales (F), Raytheon (US) and ThalesRaytheonSystems. All of the companies involved in this international consortium have a wealth of experience in the areas of architecture definition, design, development, manufacturing, integration and testing with relation to missile defence systems. The team members are responsible for the development and manufacture of most hierarchical missile defence systems and sensors worldwide, as well as the BMC3 base which NATO is to use for their integration. The members of the SAIC team have been collaborating for almost four years on two feasibility studies in order to analyse the requirements of a NATO missile defence architecture, thus enabling them to offer a fully developed solution to support the integration needs of the alliance.

The successful bidder for the SE&I contract will support NATO in the integration of national and NATO weapons systems, sensors and control systems (BMC3 - Battle Management, Command, Control and Communications) into a coherent, efficient missile defence architecture in the field of application. This primarily involves tasks in the areas of architecture definition, systems engineering, testing and validation, as well as the development and operation of an integration test bench (known as a “test bed”) which will serve to establish the architectural efficiency of simulated and real systems.

“As a member of the SAIC team, IABG will provide NATO with its unique experience in the area of strategic missile defence. And not just this: IABG will also bring its expertise in systems engineering, simulation and testing to bear in order to support NATO in this new challenge,” said Thomas Dittler, CEO of IABG. In the past, IABG has collaborated on a variety of exercises aimed at enhancing the efficiency of multinational air defence architectures in the face of a threatened tactical ballistic missile strike. These include the US/Dutch exercise <link http: www.iabg.de aktuelles-termine aktuelles details news mit-simburg external-link-new-window externen link in neuem>Joint Project Optic Windmill (JPOW) in April 2004.