( DN ) - The U.S. Army is finalizing plans to outfit the 30-ton, battle-tested Bradley fighting vehicle with high-tech sensors, computers and weapons designed to last through 2050, service officials said.
The capabilities description document being drafted calls for upgrading the Bradley with computer technologies that will enable it to fit into the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS).
"What the improvements to the Bradley do is it brings it into the digital age," said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Mike Lanears, who directs the Life Cycle Management Command of the service's Tank Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM). "We will be able to operate within FCS and across the battlefield."
The Army plans at least two upgraded Bradley variants: the Bradley A3B1 to field in 2010, and the A3B2 to field in 2012, Army and BAE Systems officials said.
"This vehicle is intended to be complementary to the FCS BCT [brigade combat team]," said Ralph Spencer, BAE's Bradley program manger.
In anticipation of the Army's new requirements for the Bradley, BAE has built several technology models with next-generation gear. A Bradley cavalry fighting variant on display here Feb. 27-29 at the Association of the United States Army's winter convention was outfitted with a long masthead sensor for long-range surveillance and targeting. Computers in the vehicle are built to receive live images from small UAVs flying nearby.
"We can fly a Raven UAV up to 10 kilometers away from under armor in the vehicle," Spencer said. "The Bradley operators can see live video feeds from the UAV, and with the mast head sensor, they can identify targets beyond the normal range of the gun sights."
The Bradley's upgraded sensors were successfully tested in December at Fort Knox, Ky, Spencer said.
"With this sensor from FLIR Systems, it has a laser target designator, so we can paint the target and do a target handoff to other munitions, such as a Hellfire missile from an Apache," he said.
The technology demonstrator Bradley also had external fuel tanks, moved to reduce risk and free more space inside the vehicle.
Since more soldiers are using remote weapon stations, and because combat experience has led soldiers to avoid leaving their vehicle, high-tech cameras are placed around the Bradley to provide a full view of the battlefield.
"We've added a series of cameras - one in the tail light, one in the headlight - and then we have a few camera pods on the vehicle that provide either color video or IR [infrared] imagery with 360-degree representation around the vehicle," said Dawn Mangano, BAE's assistant Bradley program manager.