ABU DHABI - A David-and-Goliath pairing of L-3 Communications and armored vehicle minnow Total Mobility Vehicles (TMV) made their debut together Feb. 20 on the opening day of IDEX 2011, marrying a new 6x6 platform with an integrated network of sensors and displays.
U.S. systems giant L-3 is teaming with the British vehicle maker to showcase an array of capabilities based on what it calls its Ruggedized Command and Control Network.
L-3 demonstrated a virtual version of a generic vehicle, deploying its RCCN system to potential customers in the U.S. last year.
This time it has gone one better, and it brought the real deal in the shape of the imposing TMV vehicle fitted out with its systems and products to IDEX 2011, which runs through Feb. 24.
The "best way to demonstrate the company's vehicle networking capabilities is on a rolling test bed and the newly designed TMV vehicle is the perfect fit," said Pete Alexander, business development director for L-3's San Diego-based Ruggedized Command & Control Solutions business.
The tie-up with TMV doesn't mean L-3 is getting into the platform business. But Alexander said it does show L-3's ability to integrate systems from across the marketplace, including many in-house technologies, in a rugged open architecture network.
"We are vehicle agnostic and equipment agnostic; we are not vertically aligned; and we can play in the field as a neutral, trusted supplier," he said.
Alexander said some of the vehicle primes have been bringing equipment capability back in-house in recent times - and in doing so they "have pigeon holed themselves" to provide only what solutions they can offer from their own product ranges.
L-3 marketing literature at the show claims the RCCN is the "first operationally proven, truly agnostic vehicle network solution."
Alexander said L-3 can supply solutions free of U.S. technology export restrictions, if required.
TMV brought a special forces-configured vehicle to IDEX, with L-3's RCCN providing the electronic backbone for a baseline suite of capabilities that includes displays, data receiver terminals, vision enhancers, event recorders and electronic jammers.
Other 6x6 versions of the TMV, like an armored personnel carrier, could include remote weapons stations, mast mounted sensor suites, weapon sights and electro optical/infrared systems.
For TMV, the association with L-3 "demonstrates to potential customers the ease of integrating top-line systems into our vehicle and helps people recognize our ambitions in the marketplace," said John Stretton, the British company's managing director.
TMV, an outgrowth of the Leyland Technical Centre, has matured the high protection, high mobility 6x6 vehicle to the point where it could deliver a fully integrated machine to a customer in the first quarter of 2012, Stretton said.
It's not just the military on which TMV is focusing, Stretton said. Applications like border patrol and emergency response vehicles are also in the company's sights. And 4x4 and 8x8 versions of the vehicle also are on the drawing board.
L-3 demonstrated a virtual version of a generic vehicle, deploying its RCCN system to potential customers in the U.S. last year.
This time it has gone one better, and it brought the real deal in the shape of the imposing TMV vehicle fitted out with its systems and products to IDEX 2011, which runs through Feb. 24.
The "best way to demonstrate the company's vehicle networking capabilities is on a rolling test bed and the newly designed TMV vehicle is the perfect fit," said Pete Alexander, business development director for L-3's San Diego-based Ruggedized Command & Control Solutions business.
The tie-up with TMV doesn't mean L-3 is getting into the platform business. But Alexander said it does show L-3's ability to integrate systems from across the marketplace, including many in-house technologies, in a rugged open architecture network.
"We are vehicle agnostic and equipment agnostic; we are not vertically aligned; and we can play in the field as a neutral, trusted supplier," he said.
Alexander said some of the vehicle primes have been bringing equipment capability back in-house in recent times - and in doing so they "have pigeon holed themselves" to provide only what solutions they can offer from their own product ranges.
L-3 marketing literature at the show claims the RCCN is the "first operationally proven, truly agnostic vehicle network solution."
Alexander said L-3 can supply solutions free of U.S. technology export restrictions, if required.
TMV brought a special forces-configured vehicle to IDEX, with L-3's RCCN providing the electronic backbone for a baseline suite of capabilities that includes displays, data receiver terminals, vision enhancers, event recorders and electronic jammers.
Other 6x6 versions of the TMV, like an armored personnel carrier, could include remote weapons stations, mast mounted sensor suites, weapon sights and electro optical/infrared systems.
For TMV, the association with L-3 "demonstrates to potential customers the ease of integrating top-line systems into our vehicle and helps people recognize our ambitions in the marketplace," said John Stretton, the British company's managing director.
TMV, an outgrowth of the Leyland Technical Centre, has matured the high protection, high mobility 6x6 vehicle to the point where it could deliver a fully integrated machine to a customer in the first quarter of 2012, Stretton said.
It's not just the military on which TMV is focusing, Stretton said. Applications like border patrol and emergency response vehicles are also in the company's sights. And 4x4 and 8x8 versions of the vehicle also are on the drawing board.
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