Jamie Bennet
Three companies were awarded contracts by the Defense Innovation Unit for a prototyping project focused on devices that can track the real-time location of military aerospace ground equipment.
Initial contracts were granted to Australian firm LX Group, Swiss company Kudelski, and Florida-based VOS Systems, DIU announced Friday.
AGE assets are currently tracked through a paper-based, manual process 12 to 15 times a day. DIU, in partnership with the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, aims to modernize the procedure by prototyping a system with a graphical and user-friendly interface that can display and update real-time AGE locations. The agency prefers using Bluetooth, radio frequency identification, GPS, 5G networks or similar technologies.
LX Group will provide software, electronics and mechanical engineering services, while Kudelski will utilize its encryption and other cybersecurity capabilities. VOS Systems will be responsible for device engineering, manufacturing and management.
The three awardees were chosen out of 38 solicitation responses.
