United Industrial to supply Army with video terminals

United Industrial Corp. has won a contract from the Army to provide terminals that enable soldiers to simultaneously receive live video and position data on hand-held video terminals.

The One System remote video terminals provide a video "footprint" and icons that identify aggressor units, vehicles, facilities and natural landscape features that are overlaid on a geo-location map, enabling swift target identification, decision-making and response. Extended-range antennas allow the systems to have a range of up to 80 kilometers.

United Industrial subsidiary AAI Corp. received the order for production of 266 additional One System remote video terminals. The parent company is based in Hunt Valley, Md.

In addition to calling for an added number of units this year, the $14.1 million contract provides the balance of funds for an initial 51 units ordered in 2006. Deliveries have begun and will continue through October 2007. As part of this order, AAI will provide 147 extended-range mobile directional antenna systems, spares, training and contractor logistics support.

The contract has options for an additional 779 units and 199 mobile directional antenna systems with a total potential contract value of more than $60 million.

The small, mobile, intelligence-gathering systems are capable of directly receiving and integrating live video and telemetry data from an array of manned and unmanned aircraft systems.

"Through OSRVT, we've graduated unmanned aircraft systems from a role as observers to an advanced stage where their intelligence-gathering and delivery capabilities have a direct role in the fight ? a weapon system component directly in the hands of soldiers," said Steven Reid, vice president of AAI's unmanned aircraft systems division.

AAI's Shadow system is an Army tactical unmanned aircraft system and is deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom and elsewhere.