GA-ASI $95M Contracts for new Gray Eagle Ground Control Stations

Defense.gov Contracts for Friday, February 21, 2014

Universal Ground Control Station (UGCS)

General Atomics-Aeronautical Systems, Inc., Poway, Calif., was awarded an $18,109,374 modification (P00014) to contract W58RGZ-12-C-0057 for changes to the Universal Ground Control Station.  Fiscal 2013 other procurement funds in the amount of $8,873,593 were obligated at the time of the award.  Work will be performed in Poway, Calif., with an estimated completion date of Nov. 30, 2015.   Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala. is the contracting activity.

 

The Mobile Ground Control Station (MGCS)
from General Atomics is a UAS control center,
enclosed in a either a 24-foot shelter or 30-foot trailer,
used to control one GA-ASI aircraft

General Atomics-Aeronautical Systems, Inc., Poway, Calif., was awarded a $76,215,685 modification (P00015) to contract W58RGZ-12-C-0057 to change the Gray Eagle Portable Ground Control Station to a mobile ground control station.  Fiscal 2014 other procurement funds in the amount of $35,842,972 and fiscal 2013 other procurement funds in the amount of $2,453,283 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is Nov. 30, 2016.Work will be performed in Poway, Calif. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala. is the contracting activity.

Gray Eagle UAS 

General Atomics gets Army go-ahead for UAV universal ground control station integration - Military & Aerospace Electronics



REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala., 11 May 2011. Plans by the U.S. military to consolidate its numbers of ground control stations for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) may be moving forward with the announcement Tuesday of a contract to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. in Poway, Calif., to integrate a Universal Ground Control Station.

The U.S. Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., awarded General Atomics Aeronautical Systems a $9 million contract Friday to work together with AAI Corp. in Hunt Valley, Md., which is the developer of the Army's Universal Ground Control Station, or UGCS. The contract
calls for General Atomics to procure hardware, help AAI with development funding, and complete integration of the UGCS with the General Atomics  MQ-1C Grey Eagle UAV, which is an extended-range version of the General Atomics Predator UAV.


Building a Better Ground Station

The Army is pursuing the Universal Ground Control Station (UGCS) to improve upon its decade-old One System Ground Control Station (OSGCS). UGCS is designed to operate three types of Army unmanned aircraft: Gray Eagle,  Hunter and Shadow. While UGCS retains the exterior of OSGCS—an HMMWV-mounted shelter for both Hunter and Shadow and a 5-ton truck for the longer-endurance Gray Eagle—the new consoles and software that operate all three aircraft are identical.

“You can take soldiers and instead of training them on multiple ground control stations, you can train them on one ground control station,” said Lieutenant Colonel James Kennedy, the Common Systems Integration (CSI) product manager in the Army’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Project Office. “Then, regardless of where they are stationed, they’ll be able to fly whatever aircraft their particular unit is using.”

It’s Better to Share: Breaking Down UAV GCS Barriers 


UAVs have played a crucial role in gathering intelligence in the US military’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are thousands of UAVs gathering and distributing valuable data on the enemy, but each system uses its own proprietary subsystem to control the air vehicle as well as receive and process the data. Yet commanders need access to information gathered by all types of UAVs that are flying missions in their area of operation. Recognizing this shortcoming, the Pentagon began an effort in 2008 to break down the proprietary barriers between UAV systems and create a single GCS that will fly all types of drones.