Military wins for Smiths

military unit has been awarded a contract to build Chemical Biological Protective Shelters, Model 3 (CBPS-M3) for the US Department of Defense.

CBPS-M3 is a highly mobile, self contained collective protection system that provides a contamination free, environmentally controlled working area for medical, combat services, and combat service support personnel to work freely without continuously wearing chemical-biological protective clothing.

An initial contract has been received from US Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command Rock Island, valued at more than $10 million, that includes delivery of 21 systems, along with an initial test program.

Over the five-year contract period, the program has a contract ceiling of $333 million.

Separately, SMITHS Aerospace has been selected by Raytheon to provide more than 400 North Finding Modules for the US Marine Corp (USMC) Light Armoured Vehicle (LAV-25). The contract is valued at $9 million.

The North Finding Modules (NFM) are being supplied as part of Raytheon’s Improved Thermal Sighting System (ITSS) on the USMC LAV-25 life extension and for its related M1A1 Firepower Enhancement Program (FEP).

An additional 160 North Finding Modules have been added, with another 50 - 60 NFMs forecasted to be ordered by the summer of 2006 for the balance of the M1A1 Firepower Enhancement Program. The combined ITSS/FEP North Finding Module program is valued at $20 million.

Raytheon’s ITSS includes a second generation thermal infrared sensor, north finding module, laser rangefinder and computerised fire control system.

ITSS provides the USMC with extended far target location and improved target identification capability. Smiths’ North Finding Module (NFM) consists of an Inertial Reference Unit (IRU) that measures the earth’s turn-rate to determine precisely a True North direction. This pointing is then applied to achieve the ITSS Far Target Location (FTL) function.