Computer subsystem to control US Army guns

Aitech Defense Systems has been awarded the contract for the US Army's Mobile Gun System, part of the interim armoured vehicle programme to be used by the Army's new light combat brigades.

Aitech Defense Systems has been awarded the contract for the US Army's Mobile Gun System (MGS), part of the interim armoured vehicle (IAV) programme to be used by the Army's new light combat brigades.

The new contract from General Dynamics Canada (GDC), Ottawa, Canada, covers the delivery of initial preproduction units of the Mobile Gun Computer subsystem for use in the advanced MGS.

The contract, totaling over $1 million, is the result of a previous development programme where the Aitech subsystem design was qualified.

In November 2000, a six-year, $4 billion contract was awarded to General Dynamics Land Systems to equip the US Army's brigade combat teams with over 2000 armoured wheeled vehicles through a series of orders starting in 2001.

The new armoured vehicle, known as Stryker, is the centrepiece of the US Army's efforts to transform itself into a more agile, deployable force.

The Stryker MGS variant consists of a 105mm cannon mounted in a low-profile turret integrated into the LAV-III chassis.

Aitech's initial contract is for the delivery of an electronic controller subsystem enclosure comprising a combination of existing Aitech COTS and custom chassis, backplane, power supply and enclosure products.

The subsystem from Aitech, further populated by GDC, will provide the firing control of the 105mm cannon to achieve the sustained high fire rates needed in tomorrow's battlefield.

The MGS computer is housed in a customised half-ATR short chassis that contains an input power line filter, a precision reference power supply unit, an I/O harness and backplane to interface with the added single board computer and intelligent I/O modules, as well as additional standard, 6U CompactPCI I/O boards.

The vehicles are to form the basis of six brigade combat teams by 2008, and the SECDEF-approved contract requirement covers the supply of 2131 vehicles in many different variants.

The current upgrade programme outlines plans to equip more than 200 Stryker Mobile Gun Systems with the advanced subsystem over a two-three year period.

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