U.S.M.C. Gives Support Contract To Force Protection

March 12, 2010 by Matthew Potter · Comment
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Contract Awards, Department of Defense, Events, Force Protection, Services, U.S. Marine Corps, logistics, production program

Force Protection had a heyday a few years ago as a manufacturer of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles. In 2005 – 2007 the U.S. military could not buy the vehicles fast enough as Congress showered them with money for them. The IED and mine threat at that time was consistently inflicting the most casualties on the U.S. and its allies. It still remains a potent threat in Afghanistan but not as much in Iraq as the U.S. slowly pulls its troops out.

Force Protection was unable to keep its sales up as more companies entered the market. There have been some recent sales to overseas customers but the main U.S. defense buys have dried up. The company was able to announce today that it had signed a contract with the U.S.M.C. for field service support to its existing vehicles. This contract is worth over $26 million.

An OEM often has the ability to sell maintenance, support and modification services to the military once production of an article is completed. Eventually the defense department may turn to other providers so that market too ends. It behooves a company to keep improving their products or make new ones that attract the market.

Tags: allies, casualties, heyday, IED, maintenance support, mine resistant ambush, mine resistant ambush protected mrap vehicles, oem, overseas customers, potent threat

BAE Continues To Build Armor Kits For Military Vehicles

November 20, 2009 by Matthew Potter · Comment
Filed under: BAE Systems, Business Line, Companies, Contract Awards, Events, Services, U.S. Army, logistics, production program

Yesterday it was announced that BAE Systems won two different contracts to build armor kits for U.S. military vehicles. Due to the IED and mine threat in Iraq and Afghanistan the Army and Marines primarily have been developing extra armor and weapons for their different vehicles to maximize crew protection. BAE’s two contracts support the HIMARS mobile artillery as well as one for MRAP vehicles.

BAE Systems through its acquisition of Armor Holdings a few years ago made it well placed to get into this market. If the U.S. does begin winding down its operations in Iraq and Afghanistan though there will be little demand for further armor kits of these types and that market might dry up.

Tags: acquisition, afghanistan, armor, armor holdings, bae systems, Contract Awards, Contract Awards, IED, military vehicles, mobile artillery, mrap vehicles, u s marine corps, U.S. Marine Corps, weapons

ASD Reports Latest On The Counter-IED Systems Market

September 8, 2009 by Matthew Potter · Comment
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Events, IT, Industry Analysis, Promotions, S&T, development program, logistics

Our premier sponsor, ASD Reports, is offering a new one on the The Counter-IED Systems Market 2009-2019. You can find it here. This report discusses how this sector will expand through urgent needs to counter improvised explosive devices. The report “examines this sector comprehensively, providing a review of current programmes and products with an emphasis on revenues.”

Tags: afghanistan, ASD Reports, explosive devices, IED, Iraq, market

MRAP-ATV Contract Continues On Track

June 26, 2009 by Matthew Potter · Comment
Filed under: BAE Systems, Business Line, Companies, Congress, Contract Awards, Department of Defense, Events, Federal Budget Process, Force Protection, Oshkosh Truck Corp, Proposal, Services, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, logistics, production program

The MRAP-ATV is a program to develop a lighter, more maneuverable Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle for use in Afghanistan. The Army has been working on awarding a production contract by the end of this quarter. Reports indicated that that will happen and one or more companies who are participating in the current testing will receive an order.

The Army and other Services have invested a great deal of money in the last five years into these systems to counter the IED and mine threat in Iraq and Afghanistan. The vehicles due to their size and weight primarily are road bound and provide point-to-point transport. The rougher terrain in Afghanistan and lack of roads has led to the MRAP-ATV requirement. The program has moved fast as basically all of the vehicles proposed are existing systems.

The winner(s) will see a great deal of work quickly as the military hopes to ramp up production and quantities very quickly. The use of MRAP and their force mix are all undergoing study as the U.S. tries to fit them into its regular tactical organizations and doctrine.

Tags: afghanistan, atv, existing systems, IED, Iraq, mine resistant ambush, mine resistant ambush protected vehicle, money, MRAP, production contract, quantities, U.S. Army

DoD Buys Counter IED Training from Allen-Vanguard

December 6, 2008 by Matthew Potter · Comment
Filed under: Allen Vanguard, Canada, Companies, Contract Awards, Countries, Department of Defense, Events, IT, logistics, production program

The Canadian company, Allen Vanguard, was awarded a contract for counter IED jamming equipment training according to the Canadian Press. The US DoD gave the firm a $7.5 million U.S. and three year contract for this support. U.S casualties in Iraq over the last few years were primarily from IED and the U.S military invested in a variety of counter measures. These included MRAP vehicles, jammers and more basic defenses like using UAV to identify and attack crews planting them. If the current situation in Iraq continues there will most likely be a winding down of such efforts.

Tags: 5 million, casualties in iraq, counter measures, current situation in iraq, dod, IED, mrap vehicles, situation in iraq, u s casualties in iraq, UAV, vanguard

UK Buys More MRAP Vehicles

November 20, 2008 by Matthew Potter · Comment
Filed under: Contract Awards, England, Navistar, logistics, production program

Navistar was awarded a contract by the Ministry of Defence to build MRAP vehicles. See the Chicago Tribune for the report. Like the US military the UK has put increasing amounts of funding into their MRAP fleet. The major threat in Iraq and Afghanistan remains IED and mines and the MRAP is designed to minimize the damage from these attacks. Even though Iraq may be winding down there is still a requirement for vehicles to support operations in Afghanistan.

Tags: afghanistan, chicago tribune, fleet, IED, Iraq, ministry of defence, mrap vehicles, Navistar, us military

Marines buy MRAPs

June 20, 2008 by Matthew Potter · Comment
Filed under: Contract Awards, U.S. Navy, production program

According to this article the US Navy awarded five separate contracts to Navistar International. These contracts will be used to buy MRAP vehicles for the USMC. The MRAP market has increased dramatically in the last three years with BAE, Navistar and Force Protection being the main suppliers. The US military invested heavily in these vehicles to defeat the threat from IED in Iraq which had become the prime threat to their troops. Unfortunately the future combat forces of the Army and USMC will rely on other vehicles, perhaps the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) or the humble HUMVEE which will leave the US with a large inventory of MRAP vehicles not suited to other tactical missions.

Tags: BAE, combat forces, Contract Awards, humvee, IED, Iraq, JLTV, mrap vehicles, navistar international, other vehicles, prime threat, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, us military, usmc

National Defense Magazine reports USMC souring on the MRAP

January 2, 2008 by Matthew Potter · Comment
Filed under: U.S. Marine Corps, production program

The MRAP, as previously discussed, was a knee-jerk reaction by Congress to the IED threat. Now the Marines are realizing that they really have no use for the out sized tactical vehicle in their normal operations. See this note here about how it is not meeting the needs of the USMC and the Army.

Tags: IED, MRAP

SPSA LLC wins USMC contract for EOD kits

January 2, 2008 by Matthew Potter · Comment
Filed under: SPSA, U.S. Marine Corps, logistics, production program

SPSA LLC of Harrisonburg, PA won a contract from the USMC to build Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) kits. These will primarily be used to destroy Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) and left over ordnance in Iraq and Afghanistan. The IED remains the primary threat to US and Coalition troops in Iraq, so EOD is a major part of the mission. More details may be found here.

Tags: EOD, IED

IDGA’s 3rd Counter IED Summit Aims to “Defeat the Device”

March 19, 2010 by Business Wire Defense: Contracts News · Comment
Filed under: Syndicated Industry News

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On October 15, 2009, newly trained Counter-IED teams were deployed in Afghanistan for a yearlong mission: gather information from IED event sites and pass it along for further analysis. The information gathered by these teams will help identify the people making these devices and the location they are being made in. The threat of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) has become increasingly prevalent as our troops shift in military strategy. IEDs are homemade and usually