Matthew Nelson
Leonardo DRS secured an initial award under a five-year contract valued at more than $600 million from General Dynamics' land systems business to manufacture 28 mission equipment packages for an air defense system being developed by the latter for the U.S. Army.
The MEPs for the military's Initial Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense platforms will feature multi-mission hemispheric radars to help warfighters perform 360-degree aerial surveillance and threat identification activities, Leonardo DRS said Thursday.
The technology will also house a Reconfigurable Integrated-weapons Platform turret built by Moog along with an M240 7.62mm machine gun, an XM914 30mm cannon and Hellfire and Stinger missiles.
The delivery of Leonardo DRS MEPs to General Dynamics Land Systems will start in 2022 in preparation for their integration into Stryker vehicles.
GDLS received a potential $1.22 billion Army contract in 2020 to build and test IM-SHORAD systems. The service branch tapped the company as the platform integrator for the project.
IM-SHORAD systems are intended to destroy, neutralize or deter low-altitude aerial targets.
