BARRETT WINS CONTRACT TO SUPPLY HF AND VHF SYSTEMS TO NEPALESE ARMY

NVIS Communications LLC, the Barrett Communications North American system integrator, won a $1.4-million contract FRP, the US Army Corps to provide 120 radio systems of various configurations to the Nepalese Army. This contract was to be for both high frequency (HF) and very high frequency (VHF) equipment that would be utilised by the Nepal Army in disaster response and recovery and was a gift from the US State Department to the Country of Nepal. The contract award included Barrett PRC-2090 HF Tactical Manpacks, PRC2091 HF Mobile Vehicle systems, PRC-2081 VHF Tactical Manpacks and PRC-2082 VHF Tactical Mobile Vehicle systems, including accessories and a 10-day comprehensive training programme. The delivery schedule was planned for the end of April 2015, with training to be conducted with the Nepalese Army in late summer 2015. On the day this order was due to be shipped from Barrett Communications factory in Perth, Australia, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Nepal causing significant widespread damage. On hearing of the earthquake, John Rosica, President of NVIS Communications LLC, contacted the US Army Corps to expedite the delivery into Nepal and to make arrangements to travel to Nepal to provide the 10-day training programme so the equipment could be utilised straight away. The 10-day training programme began on May 18, with the theory part of the training, and when the shipment arrived, two days later, they were able to complete the comprehensive ‘hands-on’ training, including field instruction.