ATCO, U.S. air force extend deal
$340-million pact oversees Alaska Radar System
ATCO Structures and Logistics and a joint venture partner will continue to be responsible for the operations and maintenance of the Alaska Radar System, thanks to a new 10-year, $340 million US contract from the U.S. air force.
ATCO and ASRC Federal Primus have worked together for 19 years providing operations and maintenance services to the 15 strategic radar sites that make up the system. Accessible only by air or sea barge, the remote sites make up the U.S. portion of the North Warning System — a chain of unmanned radar stations providing aerospace surveillance to detect potential threats entering North American air space.
ATCO also used to hold the operations and maintenance contract for the 47 radar stations making up the Canadian portion of the North Warning System. Earlier this year, the company and joint venture partner Pan Arctic Inuit Logis- tics Corporation lost that contract. The federal government awarded it to Ottawa-based Raytheon Canada instead — saying that company had the lowest bid and provided the best economic opportunities for Inuit.
ATCO declined to say how much the Canadian contract was worth. But in a release, the company expressed enthusiasm about again winning the U.S. contract.
“We are delighted to continue working with the U.S. Department of the Air Force and to retain the responsibility for the operation and maintenance of these critical defence assets,” said George Lidgett, President, ATCO Structures & Lo- gistics.
“We are committed to supporting the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the United States Northern Command mission for air sovereignty within Alaska.”
The contract will see ARCTEC Alaska (the name of the joint-venture partnership between ATCO and ASRC Federal Primus) look after the radar sites and everything that goes with them — including seven gravel airstrips, gravel access roads, utilities, water systems, power generation, environmental management, snow removal, transportation, weather observation and other logistics support.
ATCO is no stranger to this type of work. The company provides similar maintenance services to the Department of National Defence in Eastern Canada, as well as airfield services to the NATO Flying Training Centre near Moose Jaw, Sask.
In Canada’s High Arctic, ATCO maintains assets in the community of Resolute Bay and at the Eureka research base in Nunavut. Through its joint-venture company, Nasittuq, it provides site services to the Canadian Forces Station Alert, the most northerly inhabited settlement in the world.