FAIRFAX, Va., April 5, 2011 — Argon ST, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company, and teammate Atair Aerospace, Inc (Atair) announced today that they have received a $45,000,000 not-to-exceed ceiling firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the procurement, testing, delivery, training, and logistical support of the Joint Precision Air Drop System Ultra Light Weight (JPADS-ULW) from the Marine Corps System Command located in Quantico, VA. The procurement is for the acquisition of a JPADS-ULW, an aircraft deployed steerable canopy system that is capable of delivering cargo loads of 250 pounds to 699 pounds rigged weight, safely and effectively from 24,500 feet mean sea level through hardware, software altitude control, glide management of system descent and landing. The Onyx UL is designed to help resupply small units spread across the battlefield. As the prime contractor, Argon ST will provide program management, contracts, logistics services, and manufacturing support from its offices in Smithfield, Pa. Atair will be responsible for engineering, design, and training.
"Argon ST and Atair are excited for the opportunity to support the Marine Corps and are committed to ensuring the latest technologies and overall capabilities through our JPADS-ULW system." said Keith Harmon, director of operations support for Argon ST.
"The Onyx UL is a highly accurate, durable and reusable system that can also be used for delivering disaster relief and medical supply payloads anywhere in the world when the need exists," said Rick Zaccari, chief operating officer of Atair. "Under the Marines' precision airdrop program, the Onyx UL will enable military planners to accurately position mission-critical supplies to small units of in-need warfighters spread across undeveloped and unconventional theaters of operation."
Atair is headquartered in New York City's historic Brooklyn Navy Yard. Atair's inventive products and technologies include the Onyx Ultra Light (Onyx UL) and Onyx Micro Light (Onyx ML) precision airdrop systems, the Long Endurance Autonomous Powered Parachute (LEAPP) UAS, the Circinus GPS-Integrated Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), and the Heli-Chute. For more information on Atair, visit www.atair.com.
Argon ST, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company, designs, develops, and produces systems and sensors for the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Combat Systems, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) markets including Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), Electronic Support Measures (ESM), Electronic Warfare (EW), Information Operations (IO), imaging, and acoustic systems serving domestic and international markets.
Media Contact:
Becky Yeamans
703-828-2250