NATO Communications and Information Agency signed EUR 136M missile defence upgrade with ThalesRaytheonSystems

25-6-2013 — /europawire.eu/ — On 20 June, the NATO Communications and Information (NCI) Agency signed with ThalesRaytheonSystems a 136 million Euro contract for a significant upgrade to NATO’s current theatre missile defence command and control capability.

By bringing new capabilities to NATO’s Air Command and Control System (ACCS), the upgrade will strengthen and expand NATO’s existing theatre missile defence command and control system, which allows the Alliance to link national sensors and interceptors to defend against short and medium range ballistic missile threats. The upgrade also improves the capacity of NATO’s Air Command in Ramstein to plan and execute a missile defence battle.

“The execution of this contract will be a major technical milestone forward for NATO’s theatre missile defence,” said Patrick Auroy, NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment, “This contract links two of NATO’s largest common funded investments – air and missile defence – paving the way for an integrated approach.  What is important now is its timely execution.”

NCI Agency General Manager Koen Gijsbers and ThalesRaytheonSystem CEO Jack Harrington signed the contract at the Paris Air Show.  The project involves companies from 8 nations and 15 industry partners across Europe and North America.

The contract is NATO’s largest common-funded security investment in 2013.

Increased capacity
The contract, called ACCS Theatre Missile Defence 1, will bring new capabilities to NATO’s Air Command and Control System for receiving and processing ballistic missile tracks, including integration of additional radar and satellite feeds, major enhancement to data communication capacity and improved correlation features.

The upgrade is expected to be completed by 2015.

The NCI Agency is responsible for executing and managing NATO’s priority technology projects, including cyber, air and missile defence.

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NATO Communications and Information Agency signed EUR 136M missile defence upgrade with ThalesRaytheonSystems