Navy Evaluates Display Technology

The Program Executive Officer for Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO IWS), Rear Adm. Tom Bush, hosted an industry day on August 7 to brief interested manufacturers and invite industry feedback on a recently released draft Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) solicitation to manufacture Navy Display Systems as well as develop and produce the Navy's next generation of displays, the Future Common Display System. The Navy's Future Common Display System will be the follow-on to the AN/UYQ-70, Advanced Display System. More than 3,200 AN/UYQ-70, Advanced Display Systems have been produced and integrated into ship, submarine, and aircraft combat systems. Potential users of the Future Common Display System include both current and future shipbuilding programs such as DD(X), Littoral Combat Ship, and CVN21. Bush emphasized the Navy's vision for the Future Common Display System is the development of a family of displays, using commercially available hardware and software, which is compliant with the latest Navy Open Architecture Computing Environment (OACE) and Human Systems Integration (HSI) standards and is capable of providing a horizontally integrated display solution. Today, an Arleigh Burke destroyer has more than 330 displays installed throughout the ship; only 30 are common AN/UYQ-70 combat system displays. Using the Future Common Display System throughout a platform would reduce equipment procurement costs through the use of quantity buys and reduce life-cycle support costs through the use of common, simplified support products including technical documentation, training and spares. Additional benefits of the Future Common Display System include the ability to conduct rapid, low cost technology insertion and technology refresh through conformance with OACE standards; and the support of reduced shipboard manning initiatives through implementation of HSI design requirements. If the Navy subsequently awards an IDIQ contract for the Display Systems, the potential contract value would be $2 billion, with an anticipated contract award date in or around the third quarter of fiscal year 2004. PEO IWS is responsible to ensure an across Navy focus for Warfare Systems components. The organization's mission is to provide engineering and acquisition expertise in the design, fabrication and procurement of combat systems that are integrated, interoperable, and ride on an open systems computing architecture to provide the Fleet with state-of-the-art technology at an affordable cost. (Source: NAVSEA Newswire)