Article Posted on : - May 20, 2010

CROWS remote weapons stations attached to the RG-33 vehicles.

HUNTSVILLE, ALASKA (BNS): Northrop Grumman Corporation and EOS Technologies Inc. have teamed to pursue the US Army's Common Remotely Operated Weapons Station 3 (CROWS 3) programme.

Under the agreement announced Wednesday, Northrop Grumman will be the prime contractor and systems integrator if the team is selected for CROWS 3, according to the company news release.

The US Army Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, Warren, Michigan, is expected to release a request for proposals for approximately 10,000 CROWS 3 systems in the year-end. The Army plans to equip its entire inventory of tactical vehicles under the CROWS 3 programme, making the total programme worth as much as $4 billion.

EOS has earlier provided systems to the US Army under the initial CROWS 1 contract and has produced a weapon system that is compliant with both CROWS 1 and CROWS 2 requirements.

"Northrop Grumman and EOS have separately been pre-eminent suppliers of systems to the US Army for a considerable time," said Joe G. Taylor, Jr., Northrop Grumman Information Systems' vice president for ground combat systems, as quoted in the release.

As part of the teaming agreement, both the companies have formed a single product development and production team to offer new technology products. EOS is also modifying its current production of remote weapon systems to include Northrop Grumman participation.

"The pooling of our technologies will provide higher product performance and more options to the customer, as well as easier integration of CROWS into the increasingly complex information and control systems used for weapon system deployment," said Ben Greene, chief executive officer of EOS.

The CROWS vehicle-mounted stations allow soldiers to locate, identify and engage targets with better accuracy and improved range, while the gunner remains safely inside an armored vehicle.