Industry Recon

QinetiQ North America will supply the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) with its Talon Generation IV robot under a $56.4 million contract, company officials said.

The company will provide the NSWC’s Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technical Division with robots, repair and spare kits, and other related equipment and services through the indefinite-delivery, indefinite quantity contract, the officials said.

The Talon Gen IV is a lightweight vehicle that can perform a number of missions, such as mine detection and clearing, vehicle inspections and route surveillance.

The 125-lb. Talon Gen IV comes with a ruggedized operator control unit that offers joystick operation and quad screen for simultaneous camera views. The Gen IV travels at a speed of 5.2 miles per hour, can reach objects five feet away and has a maximum lift strength of 20 lbs. The Gen IV is capable of holding four color cameras to deliver night vision, thermal, and zoom capabilities.

The company also has developed the Talon IV Engineer model that features a heavy-duty arm with an in-line gripper that can reach objects seven feet away and has a maximum strength of 65 lbs.

Radio software

ITT will provide software support to the military’s Joint Tactical Radio System program under a contract with a potential value of $62 million over five years, company officials said in July.

Specifically, ITT and its partner Thales will furnish software in-service support for the Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio Systems managed by the JTRS Joint Program Executive Office, the officials said. The goal of the JTRS program is to develop interoperable, system-defined radios to serve as a cornerstone of battlefield communications.

ITT has performed extensive work on the program under previous and existing contracts. Through the new contract, the ITT-led contracting team will deliver additional functionality and upgrades to the Sincgars waveform, the officials said.

Counterfire radar

Lockheed Martin has delivered the first target acquisition EQ-36 radar system to the Army following live-fire testing, company officials said.

The EQ-36 was delivered to the Army in July following live-fire performance testing at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., against indirect fire from mortars, artillery and rockets from a simulated enemy, the officials said. The equipment went through an array of engineering, contractor and government acceptance tests.

The delivery was made through an initial $120 million design and development contract that requires Lockheed Martin to deliver five systems. The Army subsequently exercised contract options for 12 additional systems. Both orders are in production, and the company will deliver the remaining systems by fall 2010. The EQ-36 will replace two types of older medium-range radars in the Army’s inventory.

The contract was awarded by the Army’s Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors.

Vehicle intercoms

Northrop Grumman Cobham Intercoms will supply the Army with an enhanced vehicular intercom system designed to take advantage of next-generation digital communications technology under a contract potentially worth $2.4 billion over 10 years.

Under the indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, the company will provide the Army’s Communications and Electronics Command with the expanded version of the VIS-X Vehicular Intercommunication System, company officials said.

VIS-X will give soldiers in vehicles improved speech intelligibility and hearing protection, and the system will provide them with better command and control of on board and external communications equipment, the officials said. By using VIS-X, crews will be able to take advantage of future IP-based digital communications networks, voice-over-IP services and new interfaces offered by next-generation IP radios. VIS-X can be built into new and older vehicles, the officials said.

The agreement stipulates that the contractor must deliver as many as 500 VIS-X systems each month during the first year following the so-called first article testing and as many as 2,000 systems each month in subsequent years.