DRS wins US Navy contracts

DRS Technologies, Inc, , headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, was awarded several new contracts with a combined value of approximately $43 million to design and produce power conversion, distribution and control equipment for next-generation and existing classes of U.S. Navy combatant surface ships and submarines.

The contracts were awarded to DRS by various U.S. Navy shipyards and prime defense contractors. For these orders, DRS will design, manufacture and test advanced instrumentation and control equipment, power distribution components and power conversion equipment for low- and medium-voltage shipboard conventional and nuclear-powered electric plants supporting U.S. Navy combatant submarines and surface ships. Work for these contracts will be performed by the company’s DRS Power & Control Technologies unit in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Danbury, Connecticut. Work for these contracts has commenced and will continue through March 2007.

Vital to supporting shipboard propulsion, machinery, power control and low- and medium-voltage distribution systems for current and future classes of Naval ships and submarines, the company’s equipment is integral to shipboard electrical distribution and integrates advanced monitoring and control of main propulsion, ship auxiliaries and other equipment across the electric plant.

DRS’s equipment will facilitate realization of the U.S. Navy’s vision of an electric warship utilizing a common ship power system architecture that can transfer electric power from propulsion and ship service systems to advanced electric weapons, sensors and countermeasures. The company’s integrated power systems equipment will provide increased efficiency, reliability and commonality of an electric ship architecture, which will lead to new stealthier hull forms, reduced logistics reliability, enhanced plug-and-play maintainability, larger payload capacity and reduced crew sizes. Development of the electric warship will provide an affordable leap-ahead capability, allowing U.S. Navy forces to maintain technical superiority in the 21st century.