The French Directorate General of Armaments (DGA), representing the three nations, signed the contract with Indra to incorporate the Sensors within the contractual framework of Phase 1. Phase 1A of the Sensor Concept Study will last for one year, a period that could be extended by another six months.
This consortium will work on the design of concepts related to a connected and distributed sensor architecture, the design of the future sensor architecture, and the maturation of associated sensor technologies that will allow the future combat system to overcome the challenges it will encounter from 2040 onwards.
The distributed sensor architecture will leverage the capabilities of the NGWS/FCAS combat cloud to deliver situational awareness and enhanced survivability. The consortium will work alongside the other NGWS/FCAS pillars (combat cloud, next-generation aircraft, remote carriers) to optimize the design and integration of the sensors with the rest of the platform's systems.
The development of the sensor pillar is essential to ensure coherent architectures that are perfectly integrated with the next-generation fighter (NGF), unmanned systems or remote operators (RCs), and the combat cloud. The superiority of the NGWS/FCAS will depend largely on the ability of its sensor network to collect more and better information than the adversary.
