HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Nov. 19, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- A team consisting of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) and Miltec Corporation has received a contract for the advanced technology development phase of the U.S. Army's Compact Kinetic Energy Missile (CKEM) program.
CKEM is the Army's next-generation hypervelocity missile intended for deployment from lightweight, highly mobile manned and unmanned ground vehicles. It will be smaller, lighter, and faster than the current-generation kinetic energy missile but capable of overwhelming lethality against advanced armor, complex bunkers, and other highly hardened targets. A kinetic energy weapon carries no explosive warhead, defeating its target solely through the force of impact.
Awarded by the Army's Aviation and Missiles Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., the contract is potentially worth $71.2 million if all options are exercised. Work will be performed in Huntsville and is expected to be complete by September 2006. The team is competing against one other contractor for an eventual system development and demonstration award.
"This win enables Northrop Grumman and Miltec to combine their domain expertise to develop an outstanding capability for future Army forces: a lightweight, multimission, hypervelocity system that will prove highly lethal against armor, bunkers and fortified emplacements," said Dr. William H. Forster, vice president, Northrop Grumman Land Combat Systems.
Ivy Pinion, president of Miltec Missiles and Space Co., added, "Our approach to this program has allowed us to provide superior technology advancement by leveraging the niche capability of a small business with the depth, breadth and facilities of a major defense contractor."
Under an existing pre-advanced technology development program, the Miltec/Northrop Grumman team will conduct a flight test in December 2003 to demonstrate hypervelocity flight of the five-foot-long, 100-pound missile with all subsystems functional.
Miltec Corporation is a veteran-owned, Huntsville-based small business with offices in Arlington, Va., and Anchorage, Alaska, as well as a wholly owned subsidiary, Miltec Research and Technology Company, located in Oxford, Miss. Miltec was founded in April 1997 with the strategic mission of conducting missile and aerospace system design, development, integration, and test. The company proactively leverages the knowledge base, capabilities, talent, and technologies of this focused market into NASA and commercial ventures.
Land Combat Systems is a unit of Northrop Grumman's Baltimore-based Electronic Systems sector, a world leader in the design, development, and manufacture of defense and commercial electronic systems, including airborne radars, navigation systems, electronic countermeasures, precision weapons, airspace management systems, communication systems, space systems, marine systems, oceanic and naval systems, government systems, and logistics services.
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