DRS Technologies‘ [DRS] recent win of a contract to deliver an end-to-end border security solution for a portion of Jordan’s border builds on the company’s experience in providing border security and coastal surveillance solutions in Egypt and critical infrastructure protection solutions for other customers.
The win also further establishes the company as a creditable systems integrator for large scale border security projects.
DRS announced its win of the Jordanian border security system early last month. The company was selected for the contract in late February. The contract was awarded by the United States Army Communications and Electronics Command and the first phase of the system, which will cover a 50-kilometer section of Jordan’s border, will be delivered as a Foreign Military Sale.
The value of the award, the location of the initial installation, and a timetable for the deployment were not disclosed.
In the mid-1990s DRS beat Lockheed Martin [LMT] to supply border security and coastal surveillance systems to Egypt and has been supporting that program ever since, Richard Danforth, president of DRS’ C3 business, tells TR2. The work in Egypt has involved setting up mobile sensors such as radars and cameras for local use. Now DRS will be integrating those assets to provide an end-to-end solution, he added.
DRS has business units with expertise in radar, sonar, software and cameras, Danforth says. “We used that product expertise, coupled with our system expertise, to compete and win in Egypt and win in Jordan.”
For the Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) the border security system that DRS has been developing and will deploy addresses sensing, command and control, communications, computers and networking, Danforth says. The command and control structure will support multiple echelons within the JAF force structure and consist of fixed and mobile towers, radars, day and night cameras, unattended ground sensors and others, all depending on location and terrain, he says.
While DRS did not disclose its teammates for the Jordan project, 21st Century Systems issued a press release saying that it is on the team and will supply its situational awareness software called High Resolution Situational Awareness (HiRSA). The software was first deployed in 2004 as part of a command and control system for U.S. Marines at Camp Fallujah in Iraq.
HiRSA provides the interface for the sensor inputs and allows intelligent control of the sensors.
Danforth says the border security program will cover all of Jordan’s borders. The country’s immediate neighbors include Israel to the west, Syria to the north, Iraq in the northeast, and Saudi Arabia to the east and south. The country also has some shorelines with the Dead Sea to the west and the Gulf of Aqaba to the southwest.
Those borders represent a variety of terrains, from coastal, to desert and sandy, to rocky and mountainous, Danforth says.
In addition to the first system deployment, DRS will also propose an overall system architecture for the rest of Jordan, Danforth says. How many sensors, computer power, infrastructure and overall architecture will be suggested, he adds.
The solution for various areas will depend on terrain and location and could be low-tech or high-tech, he says.
The initial 50-kilometer deployment will be operational from the get-go, Danforth says. It’s not a proof-of-concept test, he adds.
As part of the competitive process, bidders demonstrated their respective systems early last year at the Army’s Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona. That process also helps to make sure that the system will work when deployed, Danforth says.
DRS has actually gone through the design and test process with its hardware, software, interfaces and concept of operations four times in the past 15 or so months at Yuma, Danforth said. On top of all that, the company has drawn on the lessons of the past 15 years in Egypt to incorporate into the new design, says John Laughlin, DRS’ program manager for the Jordan project.
Laughlin says the development process for the Jordan program began about two years ago and that the company has had several opportunities for field tests and demonstrations to check out the technical aspects of the system and to get customer feedback.
“By doing that, we greatly de-risk what the program is going to be going forward and allow ourselves to be well positioned for success as we go in,” Laughlin says.
Just like in Egypt, if all goes well in Jordan DRS expects its success there to position it for additional work, the company officials say.