Hughes receives CRADA contract for BFT-3
Hughes Network Systems has received a two-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) from the US Army for the third phase of the Blue Force Tracking programme, the company announced on 3 April.
Under the agreement, Hughes and other industry participants will conduct studies and deliver a series of recommendations to modernise the BFT system architecture to improve interoperability and resiliency, as part of an Open System Architecture (OSA) consortium working to achieve more flexible network tracking of friendly force locations. Hughes will present recommendations to bolster operational resiliency with a focus on maintaining communications in contested environments.
The OSA results under the CRADA will include modular network architecture recommendations for the US Army to integrate various military and commercial networks and services using new standardised interfaces.
The final CRADA reports are expected to precede competitive procurements of the next generation BFT system in 2020 or 2021.
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