NIITEK GETS US ARMY CONTRACT FOR HUSKY MOUNTED DETECTION SYSTEM

NIITEK has been awarded a contract for supply of Husky mounted detection system (HMDS) ground penetrating radar (GPR) test units to the US Army. Under the terms of the $10.6 m firm-fixed-price contract, the company will supply six HMDS GPR units to the army for advanced testing in preparation of a long-term HMDS procurement. The contract also covers a test support package comprising spare parts, technical data, interface control documents, logistics data and related test support services. Army officials would reportedly use the system to help establish a baseline and configuration control for the HMDS and its GPR technology, as the HMDS programme is scheduled to become an army programme of record (PoR).

Under development since 2006, the HMDS helps in the detection of surfacelaid and buried explosive threats, including improvised explosive devices with pressure-activated trigger mechanisms, unexploded ordnance (UXO), landmines and weapons caches. The system features four large VISOR 2500 ground-penetrating radar, computer and monitoring system panels, as well as a GPS to provide the operator with 2D and 3D views of objects buried under the ground. HMDS is claimed to have successfully detected pressure-plate IEDs prior to their detonation in a wide range of road surfaces and soil conditions, since its deployment to Afghanistan in early 2008. The NIITEK GPR is currently in use with the US, Canadian, Australian and Spanish militaries.