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September 14th 2011 - General Dynamics UK celebrates Bowman’s 10th anniversary at DSEi 2011

 London, United Kingdom – Today at DSEi 2011 General Dynamics UK and the Ministry of Defence celebrated the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Bowman contract, which has resulted in the modernisation through digitisation of the British Armed Forces tactical communications infrastructure. In addition, General Dynamics UK has kept its promise to invest further in the UK, creating and sustaining 1,600 high-value jobs. Many of those jobs are located in South Wales, an area of the UK that has suffered high levels of unemployment in the past.

The Bowman contract was signed at DSEi exactly 10 years ago this week. Members of General Dynamics UK, the Bowman and Tactical Communications and Information Systems (BATCIS) Team at the MoD, users from the British Armed Forces and suppliers to the programme gathered at General Dynamics UK’s stand to celebrate 10 successful years of delivering this ground-breaking capability.

“Over the 10 years since General Dynamics was awarded the contract to deliver Bowman, we and our partners in the Ministry of Defence, the armed forces and British industry have changed the face of battlefield communications,” said Dr. Sandy Wilson, president and managing director of General Dynamics UK. “We have created a community of military communications excellence in the UK, including the thousands of valuable jobs that go along with that capability, and delivered one of the best military tactical communications capabilities in the world.”

10 years of Bowman

In the ten years since the Bowman contract was awarded to General Dynamics UK (GDUK) and its partners have radically changed the face of military tactical communications. The capability delivered by GDUK provides a secure digital voice and data communication system for the UK armed forces, based on Internet protocol and including a land-based command and control system. The Bowman solution was introduced, and continues, to provide the infrastructure to support all Battlespace digitisation applications over the next 20 years.

One year after receiving the Bowman contract, the contract was extended to include a further requirement, to deliver the ComBAT Information and Platform BISA (CIP) programme.

In 2005 the first Bowman capability was delivered on time to the serving Army in Iraq which according to the Army at the time “delivers a direct, positive effect on communications.” This system, BCIP4F, was rolled out to the rest of the British Armed Forces. To date, 15,000 British Army vehicle platforms have been converted to Bowman.
 
Four years after the initial roll out of BCIP4F, General Dynamics UK was awarded the contract for BCIP5.4 & Long Term Support Service in 2009. With this further requirement General Dynamics UK successfully delivered a thorough technology refresh fully integrated with a support programme. BCIP 5.4 was rolled out to the British Forces in theatre from the beginning of 2011 and delivers a system that is simpler for troops to use thanks to a new version of ComBAT, provides enhanced battle planning thanks to new communications information planning (CI) tools, a more stable and robust tactical internet, improved situational awareness, and is lighter for the troops to carry. Most recently General Dynamics UK was awarded the BCIP Sustainment Programme to provide ongoing support and a pathway for the British Forces to update the capability to BCIP 5.5 by 2013.
 
 
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