$9.5M to ARA for Humanitarian De-Mining Research
(click to view full)
According to the Landmine Monitor Report, landmines and “explosive remnants of war” contaminate as many as 200,000 square kilometers of land in more than 90 countries around the world. Allied forces deal with that reality every day in Afghanistan, where Soviet-era relics create their own threat, but this is a problem in many other countries, and the civilian technologies used to address the problem have now fallen behind current military practice.
The Pentagon’s Humanitarian De-Mining program is not new, and is pursuing a number of new technologies based on a combination of US military and civilian systems. Applied Research Associates, Inc., Albuquerque, NM recently received a $9.5 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to “develop and test cost effective intelligent systems that will address present and future humanitarian demining (HO) mine and unexploded ordinance (UXO) clearance needs.”
The systems they develop are intended to support mission planning, detection and clearance of landmines and UXO, and will be executed in 6 primary areas: landmine detection, UXO detection, intelligence systems, minefield management, humanitarian demining special initiatives, and system integration and logistics. Work is to be performed in Albuquerque, NM (89%); Long Beach, MI (4%); Durham, NC (3%); Etna, NH (2%); Gainesville, FL (2%); and Torrensville, South Australia (1%), with an estimated completion date of Oct 28/13. One bid was solicited with one bid received by the CECOM Contracting Center Washington in Fort Belvoir, VA (W909MY-11-C-0002).
