Defense Contractors Jockey for Army's Next Arms Program.

TRW Inc.'s Carson-based Tactical Systems Division has begun the concept design of Future Combat Systems, a state-of-the-art array of sensor-based unmanned military hardware operated by a far-away command and control vehicle.

The group is heading one of four defense contractor teams selected by the Pentagon to compete for a contract that could change the future of the U.S. Army's battlefield operations.

The Army and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the central research and development organization of the U.S. Department of Defense, allotted a combined $153 million toward the project for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, and hopes Congress will approve a $200 million appropriation for fiscal 2002.

"One of the goals of the Future Combat Systems program is to reduce the number of humans on the battlefield by letting humans do what they do best, which is make decisions, and having machines do what they do best," said Jan Walker, a DARPA spokeswoman.

Plans call for concept designs to be submitted in May 2002, at which time two of the four teams will be selected to design the Future Combat Systems.

The Army will award an engineering and manufacturing development contract in fiscal 2006, with the first system to be ready in 2012.

TRW's group, dubbed Team Gladiator, is competing with groups headed by Boeing Co.'s Phantom Works, which will move its headquarters from Seattle to Seal Beach in July, Science Applications International Corp. of McLean, Va., General Dynamics Corp.'s land systems sector in Sterling Heights, Mich. and Raytheon Co.'s Plano, Texas operation.

With Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld expected to increase the annual weapons procurement budget from $60 billion to $85 billion over the next seven years, analysts said TRW is in a strong position to benefit from the Future Combat Systems and other missile-related projects.

"TRW is actually one of the best positioned companies to benefit from the Bush defense plan," said James Fessel, an analyst with Philadelphia-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc. "They've done a lot of defense work in the past, specifically with missile systems."

Neither Pentagon nor company officials could estimate how much each system would cost or how many jobs it would bring to Carson if TRW's team is awarded the production contract. Currently, fewer than 10 TRW employees are assigned to the concept development phase, according to Dave Schwab, a company spokesman.

The program consists of, among other components, airborne and ground vehicles equipped with radar, infrared and electro-optical sensors that gather images of enemy positions and transmit them via satellite to manned control vehicles. These, in turn, will fire missiles from launchers on the ground or attached to unmanned vehicles. The project would also include long- and short-endurance reconnaissance air vehicles.

"Right now, it's very, very small but it could become one of our biggest programs," Schwab said. "This will eventually replace everything in the Army as far as battlefield combat systems go."

Each team contributed a majority share of the concept design expenses, including $15.5 million by Team Gladiator. Most of the project funding thus far has been spent on in-house planning by DARPA and the Army.