tactical fire control artillery network

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Maryland – The artillery fire control experts at RTX Corp. will provide the U.S. Army with a tactical network for automated planning, coordination, control and execution of artillery fire and effects under a $9.1 million contract announced in May.

U.S. Army Contracting Command officials at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., are directing RTX Raytheon Segment Fort Wayne, Ind., to provide the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS) .

AFATDS, originally developed in the 1980s, is the fire support command and control (C2) system used by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps to provide automated support for planning, coordination, control and execution of fires and their effects.

AFATDS ranks targets by importance based on sensor data and performs attack analysis using situational data combined with commander guidance, RTX officials say.

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The system is designed to produce timely, accurate, and coordinated fire control options for attacking targets using Army, Navy, Marine, and US Army weapons systems. air. It seeks to manage attacks against planned and time-sensitive targets.

AFATDS supports weapon systems such as mortars, field artillery, rockets, close air support, attack helicopters, and naval surface fire support.

The AFATDS also acts as a fire support server for local and tactical Internet-based users, including the AFATDS Effects Management Tool (EMT) and the Command and Control Personal Computer EMT of the Marine Corps (C2PC).

AFATDS is part of all echelons of the United States Army, from Weapons Platoon to Corps, and the Marine Corps, from Gunnery Battery to Marine Expeditionary Forces.

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AFATDS is also installed aboard the US Navy's large-deck amphibious assault ships to support maritime expeditionary strike groups during amphibious operations.

AFATDS works with current and planned US fire support systems, as well as allied C2 field artillery systems such as the UK BATES, German ADLER, French ATLAS and Italian SIR. AFATDS is approved for foreign military sales.

Under this contract, RTX will perform the work in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and is expected to be completed by March 2027. For more information, contact RTX Raytheon online at www.rtx.com/raytheon.