By Alice Lipowicz
Special to the Washington Post
Monday, November 5, 2007

General Dynamics has won a $20 million contract to analyze combat identification systems for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

Under the five-year contract, the company's Fairfax-based Advanced Information Systems unit will determine which technologies are most effective in helping military personnel identify and evaluate targets on the battlefield.

The technologies to be studied include radar, sonar and infrared sensors used to find enemy tanks and weapons depots. The contract also calls for the company to assess how battlefield information is collected and analyzed.

The contract builds on General Dynamics' expertise in processing large amounts of sensor data, said Ray Bjorklund, senior vice president at FedSources, a market research firm in McLean. "They can use those advanced capabilities to help find unusual things: to find targets that are hidden," Bjorklund said. Improving target identification also is needed to help avoid friendly fire, he said.

The Air Force is outsourcing certain research and development tasks, including some classified work, said Mike McConkey, program manager with the Air Force research lab. The contract was not prompted by any specific concerns, he added.

"Our team is well positioned to help the Air Force analyze and quickly utilize the most promising and cost-effective combat identification technologies," Mark Kusiak, vice president of sensing and imaging systems for General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, said in a news release. The company declined to comment further on the award.

General Dynamics will perform the work at its facilities in Dayton, Ohio, and Ypsilanti, Mich. Other companies working with General Dynamics include Raytheon's Space and Airborne Systems unit in El Segundo, Calif.; Northrop Grumman's Electronic Systems unit in Baltimore; Exemplar Systems of New Carlisle, Ohio; RNP Engineering of Beavercreek, Ohio; and Aerial Productions International of Marana, Ariz.

General Dynamics, based in Falls Church, employs 83,000 people and has revenue of about $24 billion.

Alice Lipowicz is a staff writer with Washington Technology. For more news on government contracts go to www.washingtontechnology.com.