As part of ABMS, Air Force awards Booz Allen, L3Harris $315M for next phase of TOC-L prototype 

WASHINGTON — The Air Force awarded defense tech companies Booz Allen Hamilton and L3Harris a $315 million contract for the second prototype phase of the service’s battle management kit known as the Tactical Operations Center-Light (TOC-L). 

The TOC-L is a portable command and control kit combining different hardware and software components that integrate data from multiple sources to create a synchronized air picture designed to improve the speed and accuracy of communications. The kit contributes to the Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) initiative, which is part of the DAF Battle Network — the service’s addition to the Pentagon-wide all-sensing, all-connected Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) program. 

“As a private-sector leader building advanced technology, we engineered a TOC-L prototype that offers warfighters enhanced situational awareness so they can make better decisions faster,” Khalid Syed, a senior vice president in Booz Allen’s Defense Technology Group, said in a company statement today. “We are excited to partner with L3Harris to deliver technology that advances warfighting missions, works across systems, and enables the Department of Defense’s CJADC2 vision.”

The award, which is set to have a maximum performance period of up to five years, will deliver the TOC-L phase II prototypes to the Air Force’s Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications, and Battle Management (PEO C3BM). The TOC-L prototypes, both from phase I and in phase II, are based around Booz Allen’s Modular Detachment Kit — the company’s capability that fuses sensor and datalink information to create a holistic tactical command and control picture, according to the company’s statement.

L3Harris’s role in the program will consist of supporting the sustainment and modernization of the kit, the statement said.

“L3Harris is well-positioned to help Booz Allen rapidly operationalize TOC-L, providing a critical C2 capability that enables decision makers to sense, assess, and act,” Jason Lambert, president of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance at L3Harris said in the statement. “This team is committed to accelerating the deployment of mission-ready technology to meet the evolving battle management needs of the Air Force and the nation’s warfighters.”

Booze Allen and L3Harris initially joined forces to create the TOC-L prototype in its first phase in January of 2023, and by October of that year, the first prototype was delivered, Stephen Ciulla, ABMS TOC-L program manager, told Breaking Defense in a statement today. As Breaking Defense previously reported, the Air Force successfully deployed 16 TOC-L kits around the world as of last year and plans to deploy hundreds eventually. 

“We made great strides in delivering decision advantage in all the exercises and experiments the TOC-L participated in, and it’s now a key capability for the DAF BATTLE NETWORK. We hope to build upon all the warfighter feedback from the 16 initial prototypes with the next-generation system,” Lt. Col. Micah Graber, ABMS Deployable Systems Branch materiel leader at PEO C3BM, told Breaking Defense in a statement.

He added that the second phase prototype “aims to enhance portability, survivability, mobility, and ease of use through reduced size, weight, power, while featuring improved usability and maintainability to reduce training time and improve operational readiness.”