MEADS International showed off the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) battle management tactical operations center.

MEADS, the advanced air and missile defense system under development by Germany, Italy and the United States, includes a lightweight launcher, 360-degree fire control and surveillance radars, and plug-and-fight battle management command and control abilities not found in current systems.

The MEADS interceptor is the Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT] PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE), which increases the engagement envelope and defended area over the currently fielded PAC-3 Missile.

Battle management decisions are made in the TOC shelter, which is key to coupling both engagement operations (EO) and force operations (FO) with intra-and inter-system interoperability networks.

The German, Italian, U.S, and NATO command and control functionality is packaged in a single-shelter configuration carried on three separate national prime movers, based on national operational preferences.

Each TOC version is capable of nation-specific air transport. There are three workstations in the shelter configuration. However, for normal EO and FO operations, only two operators are required.

All equipment within the TOC shelter is ruggedized commercial-off-the-shelf/military-off-the-shelf. The self-contained shelter equipment meets all of the operational, environmental, personal protection and transportability requirements of the International Technical Requirements Document that governs MEADS.

Because the MEADS battle management, command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (BMC4I) capability uses an open systems architecture that supports netted- distributed operations, there is no specific allocation of sensors or launchers to a particular TOC.

All assignments are made during defense planning optimization and adjusted on a real-time basis as the mission and situation warrant.

The broadband plug-and-fight communication network and common air and missile defense (AMD) standard interface enables the netted-distributed MEADS BMC4I to support multiple air defense systems, in addition to MEADS.

The MEADS program is on schedule and remains on track to complete preliminary design review requirements in October.

MEADS is a mobile air and missile defense system designed to replace Patriot systems in the United States and Germany and Nike Hercules systems in Italy.

In May 2005, MEADS International signed a definitized contract valued at $2 billion plus Euro1.4 billion for MEADS design and development.

A multinational joint venture headquartered in Orlando, Fla., MI’s participating companies are MBDA Italia, Lenkflugkorpersysteme (LFK) in Germany and Lockheed Martin in the United States.

Together, these companies have focused an international engineering team in Orlando to develop systems and technologies for the MEADS program, which is closely watched as a model for collaborative transatlantic development. The United States funds 58 percent of the MEADS program, and European partners Germany and Italy provide 25 percent and 17 percent respectively.