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FW: Honeywell SMART battlefield sim/mod project in ABQ

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FW: Honeywell SMART battlefield sim/mod project in ABQ

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Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Future Wars Play Out at Center








By Andrew Webb
Copyright © 2004 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Staff Writer

    
A new 16,000-square-foot war games center will put Honeywell's Albuquerque complex at the leading edge as the U.S. Army trades heavy armor for high-tech battle systems.
    
That strategy goes on display today when the defense giant opens its Simulation and Modeling for Acquisition, Requirements and Training facility, or SMARTlab, for development and testing of fully networked battlefield systems.
    
The multimillion-dollar center will house several project areas for Honeywell's existing $240 million worth of military contracts under the Army's rapidly evolving Future Combat Systems initiative, as well as provide space for its defense customers, such as the Department of Homeland Security, to test and train users.
    
It includes a virtual-reality lab, war game capabilities and advanced battle software for the development of the networked war fighters of the future.
    
"This is the beginning of a new era," said Ed Goosen, a Honeywell vice president, of the Army's Future Combat Systems initiative, which is expected to be deployed starting in 2010.
    
Rather than traditional systems in which soldiers go into battle with little grasp of what lies ahead and armed for anything, the initiative aims to use elaborate networks of sensors and cameras, some deployed on unmanned aerial and surface vehicles, to provide advance awareness and allow precise planning.
    
That information will then be transmitted to fighters on the ground over mobile networks to aid in accurate planning, aiming and maneuvering.
    
The U.S. Army expects such systems will eventually allow for replacement of today's combat vehicles with faster, lighter military tanks and personnel carriers that trade bulky armor for better information. Even foot soldiers will have wearable computers.
    
Instead of building tanks that are just faster and tougher than those of adversaries, Goosen said, the Army wants to match the threat by knowing better what the threat is.
    
That becomes more important, he says, because terrorist tactics differ from traditional rules of engagement.
    
"Technology has developed to the point where information is very powerful," he said. "If we see it first, we understand it first. We're not going to inadvertently stumble into an enemy."
    
Among Honeywell's existing contracts under the Future Combat Systems initiative is one for an unmanned, 13-inch-wide unmanned aerial vehicle, held aloft by a small helicopter-like blade, that contains cameras and sensors. The remotely controlled device can hover over battlefields and give real-time, bird's-eye views of oncoming threats.
    
Honeywell expects to begin delivering on the $40 million contract next year.
    
Another contract is to retrofit World War II-era artillery systems with computerized aiming systems that can respond to remotely gathered information, reducing preparation time from more than eight minutes to one minute.
    
The firm last year added 100 employees under those contracts, bringing to 1,200 the number employed at the Honeywell site on San Mateo, north of Alameda.
    
Honeywell's SMARTlab, located within the San Mateo facility, will give military units a means by which to integrate all that equipment.
    
"The challenge is how to create an architecture that can handle all this information so that just the right amount is available at the right time," Goosen said. "Test centers in the past used to try to build the best plane, the best tank. Now it's the best network."
    
A visualization lab with 3-D video systems will allow developers to design and experiment with concepts for vehicles and other devices before a prototype is even built.
    
"These types of systems are expensive to build, test and fix," said Derick Gerlock, SMARTlab program manager. "That's why we made the leap to a virtual environment."
    
The SMARTlab is one of a few of its kind, Gerlock said.
    
"We're at the forefront of (Future Combat Systems)," he said.
    
SMARTlab, which was carved out of existing storage space at the Northeast Heights site, currently employs about 7, Gerlock said. That number will fluctuate as the military ramps up the overall program, which is expected to cost more than $100 billion.
    
Newer, lighter vehicles are expected to be developed in about 2014, Goosen said, but the military meanwhile aims to accelerate plans to retrofit older vehicles with networked communications systems.
    
"We need that capability now," he said.
    
Honeywell developed expertise managing complex logistics problems by developing technology that helps airlines schedule aircraft maintenance based on the status of aircraft, its location and the availability of maintenance resources throughout the airline's system.
    
The Morris Township, N.J.-based firm employs 100,000 people worldwide, and develops aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; automotive products; power generation systems; and specialized materials.








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