Boeing Project Passes Review

The Pentagon’s second-costliest aerospace program, which is being managed by Boeing Co. and San Diego-based Science Applications International Corp., passed its most important milestone this year and can move into its next phase of development, Army officials said Tuesday.

After several days of intense review by the Army, Boeing and Defense Department officials showed that the key technologies for the Future Combat Systems were on track, Maj. Gen. Charles Cartwright said during a conference call with reporters.

“We are done with PowerPoint charts,” Cartwright said about a system that previously existed only on paper and in computerized models.

The green light means the program can proceed to the next stage in which early prototypes are designed and tested.

“It’s about building real stuff, not only for the current force but to build the equipment for the future brigades,” Cartwright said.

The development program was reorganized in 2004 to add about four years and include five weapons systems that were originally deferred.

The program in inflation-adjusted dollars is estimated to cost $164 billion, the Pentagon’s second-most costly, behind the Lockheed Martin Corp. Joint Strike Fighter.

The Future Combat Systems is a new family of manned and unmanned vehicles that are linked by high-speed, digital communications, drones and new combat radios.

The system is organized into brigades that are lighter and faster than those in today’s Army.

Chicago-based Boeing, the second-largest U.S. defense company, and Science Applications co-manage the system for the Army under a $20.9-billion contract that extends to 2014.

Cartwright said the companies were meeting their cost and schedule goals.

London-based BAE System’s North American unit and Falls Church, Va.-based General Dynamics are the primary companies developing eight models of manned tactical and support vehicles.

Two other Southern California companies are major subcontractors on the project: Century City-based Northrop Grumman and Computer Sciences Corp. of El Segundo.

Also involved are Lockheed Martin Corp., based in Bethesda, Md.; Raytheon Co., of Waltham, Mass.; and Textron Inc., based in Providence, R.I.