The United States has placed urgent orders for more units of a high-technology device that has proved effective in countering radio-controlled improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan and Iraq.
RCIEDs are a major problem for U.S. and allied forces in both conflict zones but are increasingly a weapon of choice for various armed and clandestine groups fighting for supremacy in the battlefield.
The ITT Corp. said it received orders from the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command to produce an additional 425 Band C systems and their related spares and equipment for $16.7 million.
The device is already in the U.S. military inventory and the award brings the total number of Band C systems on contract to 1,121 for a total contract value of $39 million, said a news release from the ITT Corp., a high-technology engineering and manufacturing company. The initial contract was awarded last April.
Band C is an upgrade for the U.S. military's installed base of vehicle-mounted systems that prevent the detonation of the radio-controlled IEDs.
The Band C system will work with the Counter-RCIED Electronic Warfare Vehicle Receiver Jammers, which are already deployed, to address a broader frequency range of the evolving spectrum of electronic warfare threats.
The upgrade will provide greater capabilities while the longer term development of the next generation of counter-IED systems matures, said the company.
"As threats evolve, our technologies must keep pace," said Chris Bernhardt, president of ITT's electronic systems business.
He called the Band C systems a "critical" technology upgrade that was designed to respond to more threats and give U.S. forces enhanced capabilities to perform their missions more safely.
The CVRJ and Band C programs now in place follow an urgent Department of Defense requirement for increased production of the units to prevent the detonation of radio-controlled IEDs in the battle zones, posing grave threats to the military personnel on duty.
The counter-IED devices are being used by soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines on various armored vehicles and other military transport equipment.
Unspecified numbers are deployed to counter emerging threats during the ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
ITT is a leading supplier of information and electronic warfare technologies, systems and services. It already supplies integrated electronic warfare systems for a variety of aircraft, reconnaissance and surveillance systems for air and sea-based applications, force protection and counter-IED systems, precision landing and air traffic systems for military applications.
Undersea systems encompassing mine defense, naval command and sonar systems, and acoustic sensors have also seen ITT products in place to deal with threats.
ITT has its global headquarters in White Plains, N.Y., and earned $10.9 billion worldwide in 2009.
The company says it has business on all seven continents in three vital markets — water and fluids management, global defense and security and motion and flow control.
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