Army to get rugged computers from DRS

DRS Technologies Inc. received a $21.3 million order to provide rugged computer systems for the Army's Force XXI Battle Command, Brigade and Below program, officials from the Parsippany, N.J., company said.

The computers will support units in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. Installed on M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tanks and M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, the systems will support Blue Force Tracking requirements, which include beyond line-of-sight reporting and tracking.

The Army's Communications-Electronics Command in Fort Monmouth, N.J., made the award, company officials said.

DRS will provide rugged computer hard drives, displays, keyboards and processors with one gigabyte of Dynamic Random Access Memory.

DRS' Tactical Systems unit in Palm Bay, Fla. will perform the work on the award. Deliveries of the computer systems are expected to being immediately and will be completed by February 2006, company officials said.