Soldiers Demonstrate Advanced Combat Identification System.

FORT BENNING, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 27, 1999--

Successful Evaluation Leads to Next Phase in System Development

U.S. Army soldiers successfully demonstrated Motorola's Combat IDentification for Dismounted Soldier (CIDDS) product under field conditions Thursday, April 8, paving the way for formal evaluation of the system that will enable troops to determine whether unknown targets are friendly or not.

Five soldiers from the Army's 75th Ranger Regiment and 29th Infantry Training Brigade used the systems on an abandoned airfield as product managers and Army officials evaluated various functional aspects of the systems' design and reliability in the field.

The test provided the soldiers with the opportunity to play a direct role in the development of product that they may someday use in combat situations.

"We're determined to use the most advanced technology available to make our soldiers safer and more effective in the field," said Lt. Col. Jon Maddux, product manager for Combat Identification. "If affordable, this successful demonstration proves that CIDDS is viable and ready for the next phase of the program leading up to formal testing."

The Army's Product Manager-Combat Identification (PM-CI) office manages CIDDS development from the Program Executive-Office Electronic Warfare and Sensors (PEO-IEW&S), in Fort Monmouth, N.J.

Motorola will use the data it gained from this exercise to complete its design efforts and begin production of 148 systems for formal testing and evaluation late next year. Upon the successful completion of the formal evaluation, the Army plans to outfit most of its soldiers with CIDDS systems.

"By working directly with the soldiers, we were able to quickly develop a prototype that was lightweight, effective and meets a series of challenging requirements," said Mark Fried, corporate vice president and general manager of Motorola's Integrated Systems Division.

"We look forward to continuing this development process with the Army and delivering a product that contributes to individual soldier safety and combat effectiveness."

CIDDS is a two-part system that attaches to the individual soldier's helmet and rifle. When a soldier spots a questionable target, he "queries" the target by activating a CIDDS laser that is attached to his rifle. The laser sends a signal to the target.

If the target is a soldier wearing CIDDS helmet, the system immediately sends an encrypted radio signal that identifies him as friendly to the potential shooter. The entire process takes less than one second.

The demonstration showed that the system exceeds the Army's requirement to accurately determine the status of an unknown standing target as soldiers query them from a standing position at a range of 1,100 meters. From prone positions, soldiers also were able to accurately determine unknown prone targets as they queried them from 700 meters at night and 900 meters in daylight.

During the demonstration, the soldiers evaluated two additional CIDDS capabilities -- the Tactical Engagement Simulation (TES) function and the infrared-aiming laser. The TES function is fully interoperable with the Military Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES), enabling soldiers to determine enemy and friendly targets during simulated combat engagements.

The infrared-aiming laser enabled the soldiers to acquire targets more quickly during the hours of darkness.

The CIDDS system weighs approximately two pounds and consists of a laser, a radio receiver and transmitter, specialized antennas, laser detectors and supporting electronics. Motorola designed CIDDS to fully interoperate with the Land Warrior system's combat identification function.

The Land Warrior system is part of the Army's Force XXI initiative to develop digital communications, weaponry and advanced soldier protection to U.S. ground forces.

About Motorola

Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is a global leader in providing integrated communications solutions and embedded electronic solutions, software-enhanced wireless telephone, two-way radio, messaging and satellite communications products and systems, as well as networking and Internet-access products, for consumers, network operators, and commercial, government and industrial customers.

Sales in 1998 were $29.4 billion. For more information, please visit the Motorola Web site at http://www.motorola.com.

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