Army awards contract for Terrestrial Layer System-BCT Manpack system

The Army has awarded Mastodon Design LLC a contract worth nearly $100 million for the procurement, training and fielding of the Terrestrial Layer System-Brigade Combat Team Manpack system, the service announced today.

The TLS-BCT Manpack system is a “tailorable, modular, terrestrial capability” that gives brigade combat team commanders an electronic warfare capability for multidomain operations. The system is capable of radio frequency surveying, signals collection, “direction-finding operations,” and electromagnetic attack and force protection, among other attributes.

The TLS-BCT can integrate “signals intelligence and electromagnetic warfare collection, processing, exploitation, reporting and effects capabilities,” according to the Army.

The Army received approval to transition the TLS-BCT Manpack program into a Middle Tier of Acquisition rapid fielding effort following successful prototyping and operational demonstration during soldier touchpoints, the service stated in a press release Monday. The first unit is expected to be issued sometime this year.

Ken Strayer, the Army’s project manager for Electronic Warfare and Cyber, said in a statement that testing and rapidly procuring a commercial off-the-shelf product “significantly accelerated the procurement timeline and will result in early capability to the field starting this year.”

The contract has an estimated completion date of June 27, 2029 according to a June 28 Pentagon notice.