General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) in Sterling Heights, MI received a $19 million modification to a firm-fixed-price contract to make the M93 Fox Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Reconnaissance Systems deployed to Iraq more survivable. The Fox is in service in the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps. It detects chemical contamination in its immediate environment through point detection and at a distance of up to three miles with a stand-off detector.
GDLS’ corporate release notes that the improvement package includes slat armor, armor protection against land mines, accommodations for the CROWS remotely operated machine gun, and heavy-duty axles for 17 Fox vehicles and four spares deployed in theater. The vehicles’ swim capability will be deactivated to accommodate these improvements. Work on this contract will be performed in Anniston, AL (90%), and Camp Anaconda, Iraq (10%), and is expected to be complete by Sept. 29, 2006 under contract DAAM01-96-C-0028. This was a sole source contract initiated on Aug. 31, 1995 by the Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD.