BAE SYSTEMS AWARDED FIVE-YEAR PTARMIGAN SUPPORT CONTRACT

BAE SYSTEMS C4ISR has been awarded a contract by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to provide technical support to the Ptarmigan tactical area communication system, including the newly fielded Mobile Access to Ptarmigan Packet Switch (MAPPS) installations also supplied by the company. This programme will maintain Ptarmigan's full operational capability for world-wide deployment and enable technology insertion where appropriate.

The contract covers support activities for the next five years as the system reaches its out-of-service date of 2011. It is to be replaced by the FALCON communication system, for which BAE SYSTEMS C4ISR is undertaking one of two competitive Assessment Phase contracts. A limited test and reference network will be maintained to enable diagnosis and rectification of any system problems that may arise during the remainder of Ptarmigan's in-service life.

The BAE SYSTEMS C4ISR Christchurch-based Communications & Defence Infrastructure team's partners are Dytecna, Marconi Selenia Secure Systems, Haysys Ltd, Racal Instruments, Insys and Marshall.

This award coincides with the 30th anniversary of the award of the original Ptarmigan development contract, which was let in July 1973 and led to the system's first fielding in the mid-1980's.

Ptarmigan was the world's first deployed military digital area communications system. It incorporated many of the advanced data packaging and switching technologies now mirrored in the world of civil telecommunications. The system has supported British Forces in several recent major campaigns and has been updated to reflect changing military requirements - in particular those of expeditionary warfare, peacekeeping roles and the emergence of Network Enabled Capability in the ever expanding digitized battlespace.