ATK Awarded $2 Million Contract to Demonstrate Tactical Barrier System To Replace Mixed Mine Systems
Contract Positions ATK at the Forefront of Next-Generation Barrier System Development
Oct 3, 2000
ATK (Alliant Techsystems) (NYSE: ATK), said it has been awarded a contract valued at $2 million from the U.S. Army Armament, Research, Development, and Engineering Center (ARDEC), Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., to develop a prototype tactical barrier system concept that could eventually replace current systems that contain a mix of anti-personnel mines and anti-tank mines.
The eight-month contract is for the third of three concurrent tracks that comprise a U.S. Department of Defense program called Anti-Personnel Landmine Alternatives (APL-A), which is aimed at developing and fielding next-generation tactical barrier systems to replace anti-personnel landmines. The APL-A program is in response to a directive issued by President Clinton in September 1997 calling for an end to the use of anti-personnel landmines outside of Korea by 2003 and in Korea by 2006.
Larry Paryz, director, barrier systems and demolitions, ATK Integrated Defense Company, Hopkins, Minn., said the most recent contract award puts ATK on all three tracks of the APL-A program, positioning the company at the forefront in the development of next-generation barrier systems that will replace anti-personnel landmines.
In June 2000, ATK and Textron Systems announced an agreement to jointly develop and produce an alternative munition system under the first track of the APL-A program, which will replace hand-emplaced non-self-destruct or "dumb" mines. In April 2000, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded ATK a three-year contract valued at $5.5 million for track two of the APL-A program, which involves the development of a "self-healing minefield" consisting of a network of mobile anti-tank mines that can re-deploy when a barrier is breached, eliminating the need for anti-personnel landmines to repel breaching attempts.
ATK is a $1.1 billion aerospace and defense company with leading market positions in munitions, smart weapons and precision capabilities, propulsion, and composite structures. The company, which is headquartered in Hopkins, Minn., employs approximately 6,400 people and has three business segments: Conventional Munitions, Aerospace, and Defense Systems. ATK news and information can be found on the Internet at http://www.atk.com/
SOURCE: ATK
Contact: Rod Bitz, Media, 612-931-5413, rod_bitz@atk.com, or Mark Mele,
Investors, 612-931-6367, mark_mele@atk.com, both for ATK
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