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General Dynamics C4 Systems in Scottsdale, AZ received a $78 million cost-plus-award-fee indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract, to develop the next iteration of their Command Post of the Future computing system. It’s actually more of a present-day reality than the name suggests, as the original CPOF contract was awarded in 2007. Over 3,000 systems have now been fielded, and over 1,200 systems deployed from Corps to Battalion. Work on this next major release will be performed in Scottsdale, AZ, with an estimated completion date of Sept 26/13. One bid was solicited, with 1 bid received by US Army CECOM at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD (W15P7T-11-D-C206).
CPOF operators have always operated on the idea of “See What You Think,” using customized screen displays, shared views, and information transfer without keystroke combinations of forced input. This development cycle looks to build on that…
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The CPOF system’s core goal is a tall order amidst the inevitable confusion of war: try and create a shared picture of what’s going on, while remaining master of the incoming information rather than its slave. The technology foundation currently runs on Windows 2003 64-bit servers.
In this major release of its system, GDC4S will field the next-generation of its CoMotion technology architecture, aiming to increase the maximum number of information-sharing operators from hundreds to thousands. That will be accompanied by sharing with a wider variety of control systems, including ground, aviation, logistics, fires and airspace control systems. Finally, operators who are temporarily disconnected from the network will be able to continue collaboration when they reconnect, without interruption to operations or loss of data.