$600+ Million Over Five Years
Leonardo DRS has received an initial award from General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) for 28 mission equipment packages (MEP) for the US Army Initial Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense (IM-SHORAD) programme. This is the first award against a five-year contract with an estimated value of over $600 million (€496 million).
The centerpiece of the MEP is Moog‘s Reconfigurable Integrated-weapons Platform (RIwP) turret with multiple kinetic effectors, including the XM914 30mm cannon and M240 7.62mm machinegun, along with STINGER and LONGBOW HELLFIRE missiles. The MEP also includes an on-board Multi-Mission Hemispheric Radar (MHR) to provide persistent 360° aerial surveillance, identification friend or foe and other mission-essential technologies.
The production contract award marks successful completion of an aggressive prototype programme that delivered nine prototypes and completed government testing in just two years. The company will begin delivering the MEPs to GDLS for final integration onto purpose-built STRYKERs next year.