The U.S. Army has awarded to Orolia subsidiary McMurdo a $ 33,986,800 contract to manufacture Personnel Recovery Devices (PRD) for warfighters. The contract is for indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, with an estimated completion date of March 6, 2022.
The PRD is a dual-mode, MIL-SPEC locator beacon that will be integrated into the Army’s Personnel Recovery Support System (PRSS). It will be capable of transmitting both open and secure signals to alert and notify that a soldier has become isolated, missing, detained or captured.
The positioning device will optimize a successful rescue operation for soldiers in a distress situation through secure enhanced capabilities. It has been designed to meet military standards and specifications, and has improved accuracy, decreased size, weight and power (SWaP) requirements.
“We are extremely proud and honored to have been selected by the US Army as the provider of this critical positioning device for the safety of U.S. warfighters,” said Jean-Yves Courtois, CEO of Orolia. “Easy to incorporate into Personnel Recovery operations, the PRD is based on Orolia’s new rugged and small PNT platform dedicated to dismounted soldier Assured PNT applications.”
“This award, which follows the 2016 contract from the U.S. Coast Guard to produce 16,000 FastFind 220 personal locator beacons, is a testimony to Orolia’s world leadership in Resilient Positioning, Navigation and Timing,” he said.
The Personnel Recovery Support System Personnel Recovery Device contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, on behalf of the Army Air Warrior Product Management Office at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.