$5.7M for CAAS to Upgrade Spec Ops Helicopters

(click to view full) Rockwell Collins Inc. in Cedar Rapids, IA received the full delivery order amount of $5.7 million as part of a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Common Avionics Architecture System. Work will be performed in Cedar Rapids, IA and is expected to be complete by April 26, 2008. This was a sole source contract initiated on March 14, 2004 by the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal, AL (DAAH23-03-D-0015). The CAAS program is designed to provide the Army Special Operations Forces MH-47 Chinook, MH-60 Black Hawk family, and A/MH-6 “Little Bird” helicopter fleets with a common avionics architecture. For the CAAS program the company is providing hardware that incorporates common, reusable processing elements and incorporates an open systems architecture based on commercial standards. The commonality of hardware components is expected to provide the SOF lower total lifecycle cost and lower costs for technology insertion and supportability. For more background, see National Defense Magazine’s February 2003 article “Avionics Upgrade Underway For Special Ops Helicopters.” This program is also moving into the regular Army fleet, and will be incorporated into new platforms like the UH-60M Black Hawk, CH-47F Chinook, ARH-70A armed reconnaissance helicopter, et. al.