Future Combat Systems simulator: All three stations are linked on the FCS network, allowing operators to coordinate attacks on the simulated enemy. Photo by Eamonn Bourke.
Demonstration trailer open to Bliss Soldiers, families
Annie Gammell, Fort Bliss FFID Public Affairs
The Army’s Future Combat Systems mobile demonstration trailer will be open for Soldiers and their families to tour today. The trailer will be parked in the lot adjacent to the Centennial Club at Biggs Army Airfield and open between the hours of 1 and 3 p.m.
Built by the Boeing Company, this state-of-the-art trailer was designed and developed to help demonstrate the FCS network-centric concept of operations to U.S. Army and government personnel, One-Team members, suppliers and employees across the country.
The trailer is 53 feet long and houses three mock motion-based, mounted-combat systems with touch screens that provide detailed mission data, including the common operating picture, current vehicle perspective, maps, friendly unit location, weapon data and other relevant battlefield information. Visitors will get an up-close look and feel for the FCS program’s 21st-century technology and can “drive” the MCS through a simulated battlefield mission, engage targets, control an unmanned aerial vehicle and see firsthand the benefits of improved situational awareness.
“The trailer allows us to demonstrate a number of the FCS program’s operational concepts and show the war fighting benefits for current and future Soldiers,” said Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing Combat Systems vice president-general manager and FCS program manager. “We are able to help people better understand the significance and breadth of the program and demonstrate the interoperability between FCS and current force systems.”
The FCS program is a joint networked system that includes the individual Soldier, 14 individual systems and the network. It employs advanced communications equipment and technologies to link Soldiers with both manned and unmanned ground and air platforms and sensors. Soldiers linked to these platforms and sensors have access to data that can provide a much more accurate picture of what’s going on around them. FCS enables ground combat forces to be highly agile and versatile, capable of conducting a variety of missions.
Boeing and Science Applications International Corporation work together as the lead systems integrator for the FCS program.
For more information, contact Annie Gammell at 568-8519.