Blackburn firm in running for £100m contract for Playstation-inspired army handsets

November 25th, 2008, 01:11 Posted By: wraggster

A MILITARY defence manufacturer is in the running for a £100m contract that would make British soldiers the most technologically advanced in the world.

Cobham Defence Communications, Haslingden Road, Blackburn, is one of three companies vying for a UK Ministry of Defence Contract to kit out troops with mobile Global Positioning Systems (GPS) that could be taken into battle.

The handsets, which are the same size as a Playstation Portable gaming systems, would enable troops to locate their and the enemy’s exact position on the battlefield.

Richard Stubbs, business development director at Cobham, said: “The contract would create 20 new manufacturing jobs in Blackburn and would mean a UK company supplying UK troops with leading technology.

“The technology will allow troops to see a map which shows them where they are, what direction they heading in and where the other guys in the section are in relation to them.”

The handsets would be operated by section commanders and enable them to see exactly where their soldiers were positioned.

The location of infantry soldiers - represented by a blue icon - would be tracked via GPS transmitters fitted to their radio packs.

All the handsets would be linked to a laptop operated by higher ranking officers and would allow constant updates regarding their objectives.

The interactive handsets would even make it possible for soldiers to remotely request artillery fire by inputting the GPS location of, for example, an enemy tank or vehicle.

This information would be sent via the handset to other equipment linked into the network/ The programme is known as Future Infantry Soldier Technology (FIST) and represents the culmination of 10 years of development by Cobham and its 200 Blackburn staff.

Alex Beard, general manager of soldier systems at Cobham, said: “We would supply 10,000 of these units and make the British Army the first fighting army in the world to have this technology.”

Cobham’s competitors are Selex and Rheinmetall and Thales and General Dynamics.

If successful, Cobham believes the contract would create a further 60-70 jobs over the next five years as the systems and technology were developed further.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk...army_handsets/

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