DRS Technologies,
PARSIPPANY, N.J.: DRS Technologies, Inc. announced today that it received a $26.4 million contract, including options, from BAE Systems, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of BAE Systems Plc, to manufacture Digital Vehicle Distribution Boxes (DVDB) and Driver's Switch and Indicator Panels (DSIP) for U.S. Army M3A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle Systems. The DVDB and DSIP are critical items for the vehicle's Chassis Modernization Embedded Diagnostic (CMED) systems.
The work for this contract will be performed by the company's DRS Test & Energy Management unit in Huntsville, Alabama. DRS is scheduled to immediately start installing the boxes and panels on the Bradley vehicles at BAE Systems' production facility in York, Pennsylvania with completion expected by September 2008.
The CMED system is a digital diagnostic system that detects, reports, and communicates critical component-level information of any faults on a vehicle's electronics system, and provides a video distribution and display capability to the Bradley vehicle's crew.
“By delivering real-time diagnostic results the CMED helps increase a Bradley vehicle's reliability, thus lowering the operational and maintenance costs during its lifecycle,” said Michael J. Sheehan, president of DRS' Tactical Systems Strategic Business Unit. “This award to support one of the Army's most important land vehicles continues to position DRS Test & Energy Management as a premier provider of embedded diagnostics systems.”
In addition to the distribution boxes and indicator panels for the CMED, DRS produces a variety of testing and monitoring equipment designed for reporting the condition of electronic components installed on Army M1A1, M1A2 and M1A2 SEP Abrams Main Battle Tanks, Bradley M2A2 and M3A3 Fighting Vehicle Systems and on U.S. Marine Corps Abrams tanks and Light Armored Vehicles.
