NATO’s Communications and Information (NCI) Agency said it signed with ThalesRaytheonSystems an approximately $179.9 million contract for a significant upgrade to the alliance’s current theater missile defense (TMD) command and control (C2) capability.
Bringing new capabilities to NATO’s Air Command and Control System (ACCS), the upgrade will strengthen and expand NATO’s existing TMD C2 system, which allows the Alliance to link national sensors and interceptors to defend against short and medium range ballistic missile threats. The upgrade also improves the capacity of NATO’s Air Command in Ramstein to plan and execute a missile defense battle.
“The execution of this contract will be a major technical milestone forward for NATO’s theater missile defense,” said Patrick Auroy, NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Defense Investment. “This contract links two of NATO’s largest common funded investments–air and missile defense –paving the way for an integrated approach. What is important now is its timely execution.”
NCI Agency General Manager Koen Gijsbers and ThalesRaytheonSystem CEO Jack Harrington signed the contract at the Paris Air Show.
The project involves companies from eight nations and 15 industry partners across Europe and North America.
The contract is NATO’s largest common-funded security investment in 2013.
The contract, called ACCS Theater Missile Defence 1, will bring new capabilities to NATO’s Air Command and Control System for receiving and processing ballistic missile tracks, including integration of additional radar and satellite feeds, major enhancement to data communication capacity and improved correlation features.
The upgrade is expected to be completed by 2015.