General Dynamics [GD] has tested the solution it is proposing for an electronic surveillance network that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) hopes to begin deploying next year along portions of the United States’ southwest border, a company executive said yesterday.
“We have de-risked the system and actually integrated those components in preparation not only for our technical response in the written proposal, because we want to make sure that we characterize and mitigate the risks that we see,” Chris Marzilli, president of GD’s C4 Systems business area, told Defense Daily.
GD said last month that its C4 Systems division is teaming with the North American division of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. to pursue CBP’s Integrated Fixed Tower (IFT) program (Defense Daily, June 7). At least four other companies are also competing for the program including Boeing [BA], Lockheed Martin [LMT], Northrop Grumman [NOC] and Raytheon [RTN].
After reviewing the bids, CBP later this summer is expected to invite companies whose proposals are within the technically competitive range to participate in an operational assessment as part of the source selection (Defense Daily, April 11).
GD has been testing its IFT solution at a staging area near its C4 Systems headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz. Marzilli said the environmental conditions are representative of operational conditions.
In addition to being prime contractor and systems integrator, GD for its solution will be supplying its own day and night camera that is part of its Global Imaging Technologies unit, which is the former Axsys Technologies the company acquired in 2009. EADS’ Cassidian business will be supplying the ground-based radar from its SPEXER product family and the common operating picture platform GEO Sapien.
On its own, GD has tested all of these systems for things like fidelity and range as well as the microwave communications backhaul that link the sensor data to command and control facilities, Marzilli said.
“It will work out of the box,” Marzilli said.
GD is touting its team’s significant experience with border and maritime security and communications projects. GD has deployed 245 towers and related communications systems around the U.S. coastal zones for the Coast Guard’s Rescue 21 mariner distress and emergency rescue system. The company has also developed and deployed an integrated wireless network in the Washington, D.C., region on 17 towers and structures for the Justice Department to provide interoperable wireless communications services to field agents.
Cassidian has deployed over 1,000 border surveillance sensors, with major deployments in Saudi Arabia and Romania, and has demonstrated the ability to quickly provide software upgrades to these, GD said. Marzilli noted that the GEO Sapien common operating system is also being used in these deployments and in Europe.
The need to be able to relatively quickly set up the electronic fence network with very little in the way of integration and technical challenges will be a key discriminator for any of the companies bidding on IFT. The program was established after the Department of Homeland Security halted the predecessor program, the Secure Border Initiative Network (SBInet) that prime contractor Boeing had deployed along over 50 miles of border, due to technical challenges that led to delays and cost increases. The Border Patrol, which is the operational user of SBInet, has said the system that is operating has been beneficial improving situational awareness for its agents.
CBP also wants solutions that can be easily upgraded in the future including, if desired, with systems from other companies so that the agency isn’t wed to proprietary solutions. Marzilli said that GD has a legacy of being able to do this type of technology insertion off-the-shelf.
Marzilli also said that eventually GD expects to be able to offer next-generation wireless networking services to CBP through its recent acquisition of IP Wireless.
“As the border security folks get more data driven [they] will start taking advantage of 4G LTE,” which is what IP Wireless provides, he said.
CBP has said it expects to select an IFT contractor by December.