By Ann Roosevelt
A Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) review of improved infantry equipment will be held this morning, postponed from Monday due to the Washington D.C. area’s need to dig out from a major snowstorm that has left federal agencies closed.
A nod from the DAB could lead to limited rate initial production for the first set of equipment, Increment 1, which would improve Infantry Brigade Combat Teams beginning in 2011.
Increment 1 capabilities include the Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System, being developed by NetFires LLC, a joint venture between Raytheon [RTN] and Lockheed Martin [LMT]; Textron‘s [TXT] Tactical and Urban Unattended Ground Sensors; Honeywell‘s [HON] Class 1 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle; iRobot‘s [IRBT] Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle and the Network Integration Kit.
Earlier this month, the equipment successfully completed a comprehensive Army Systems Acquisition Review Council review where material development, requirements, resources, production readiness and test and evaluation results were examined. The Dec. 16 meeting approved the capabilities moving to the DAB review.
Meanwhile, the Army Program Executive Office Integration, Army Training and Doctrine Command and the Test and Evaluation command plan more tests of the equipment in 2010, advancing the test-fix-test approach, a service spokesman said. Such tests would continue right through the initial limited production, he said.