General Dynamics, Sierra Nevada take seats on $774M Army key load contract

General Dynamics and Sierra Nevada have won positions on a potential 10-year, $774.2 million contract with the Army to provide cryptographic key load devices for securing network systems used by joint forces.

The Army received five bids for the Next Generation Load Device-Medium contract that has an initial three-year base period, the Pentagon said in its Tuesday awards digest.

Key loaders are modules used to put cryptographic keys into electronic encryption machines.

Sierra Nevada will continue its incumbency from a predecessor contract first awarded in 2012 and extended last year so the Army could take time on a new award, according to Deltek data.

Solicitation documents indicate the Army is seeking replace its simple key loaders and other legacy fill devices with a National Security Agency Type 1-certified handheld technology that can safeguard classified networks at strategic, enterprise and tactical levels against cyber and electronic warfare threats.

The NGLDM program’s second goal is to help military network managers reconfigure tools used for cryptology, managing the keying process and downloading software through remote methods.

NGLDM production is slated to start in the government's fiscal year 2024 with the goal of building up to 265,000 units. The Army envisions all command echelons across the services, other government agencies and international allies as also being able to use the contract for replacing their key loaders.