Marines award MRAP contract

Force Protection was awarded a contract by the USMC to support MRAP vehicles. See the press release here. The contract is worth over $40 M and will last over a year. Force Protection had recently had some issues winning MRAP contracts, and this win will be welcome. For more see this and this.

The State.com wrote similar article on Force Protection

May 4, 2008 by Dagpotter · Comment
Filed under: Force Protection, production program 

The State.com, the website for the South Carolina State newspaper, published here a similar article to the one I wrote on Seekingalpha.com here. I guess it shows that some things appeal to a variety of people.

Another post on Seekingalpha.com

An article I wrote about Force Protection was posted on SeekingAlpha.com here. It has received a good response, although most people don’t agree with what I wrote. The main point was that due to the cyclic nature of the DoD budget some companies are caught with a hot product that is procured in large amounts for a few years and then ends. It is not the fault of the company or DoD it is just how the budget works.

Force Protection sued by share holders

In an action related to previous posts, here and here, it seems that some of the Force Protection shareholders are suing the company and management. The press release is here. Congress has recently made it harder to win these kind of lawsuits as it was felt they had been abused in the past. The crux of the matter is that executives were misleading about the company’s future, and points to DoD reports that contracts to Force Protection had not been awarded properly. This will take some time to work out in the courts. Force Protection has recently struggled to win contracts.

Struggling Force Protection wins UK contract

Force Protection announced that they had been awarded a contract to deliver 157 MRAP to the UK armed forces. See the press release here. Force Protection had been struggling as they won very little of the last US contract for MRAP vehicles. This contract will certainly tide them over for several months as it is worth an estimated $125 M. See a post here on Force Protection’s situation.

Marines order MRAPs from BAE

The USMC awarded BAE a contract worth $715 M to build two versions of MRAPs for the Corps. See the press release here. BAE is moving to seize a large part of the MRAP business from the various US services. For the struggles of Force Protection lately see this past post. The BAE contract includes money for developmental upgrades and for Contractor Logistics Support (CLS).

DoD buys bulk of MRAPs from other sources then Force Protection

Force Protection won just 1 percent of a contract for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles awarded on Friday. This is a big blow to the company, and they state they have enough current orders to keep going for 8 months. See Bloomberg.com here. This means that Force Protection, which basically arose out of the whole MRAP concept, must seek non-DoD customers to keep going. The MRAP had been used by South African forces for years in Rhodesia and other areas where mines were the biggest threat. Now that Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) are it really in Iraq the US Army and Marines have been buying them like crazy at Congress’s urging.

Force Protection wins foreign orders

Force Protection won two contracts worth about $120 M to build vehicles for Britain and Italy. See an article here about this. Force Protection had been struggling a little lately due to some US cancellations or contracts going to other companies, but these contracts should help.

Congressional micromanageing of the Defense Budget screws up Force Protection

This article in The Charleston Post-Gazette discusses how Force Protection Inc. went through a boom period, and now seems to be heading towards a downturn. This is all due to Congress suddenly deciding that the Army and Marines need more MRAPs. Read more

Bad reporting leads to bad news on the MRAP

January 25, 2008 by Dagpotter · Comment
Filed under: Force Protection, Iraq, U.S. Army, production program 

This story, along with many others over the last week, has pretty much been proven wrong. It seems the Pentagon wants to continue it though. See the work at Badgers Forward for more information. I guess it all depends on your definition of what a MRAP is. Also, the poor soldier may have died due to the roll over, not the explosion as he was in the turret at the time. The rest of the crew were unhurt.

Force Protection stock takes hit with smaller than expected MRAP order

December 29, 2007 by Dagpotter · Comment
Filed under: Force Protection 

This article from Schaeffer’s Investment Research discusses how Force Protection corporation’s stock took a hit as they received a smaller than expected order from DoD for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles. DoD awarded three companies orders for a total of 3,126. Force Protection received the smallest part of that order. On 19 December the stock fell over $4.00. Yesterday it closed at $4.81, well below its 52 week high of $31.16. See the original article here. Stock information is at CNN Money.

More information on Force Protection is here. If things continue the way they have in Iraq orders for MRAP vehicles will continue to decline. They had been a knee jerk reaction by Congress anyway, and demonstrated clearly how not to procure things.