27 Aug 03. DRS Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: DRS – News) has received new orders to produce a range of rugged computers, workstations, flat panel displays and servers for a variety of U.S. Army and Marine Corps ground force digital battlefield applications.

The contracts, valued at approximately $8.2m, were awarded to DRS by General Dynamics (NYSE: GD – News) C4 Systems in Taunton, Massachusetts. Work for these awards will be accomplished by the company’s DRS Electronic Systems unit in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and DRS Tactical Systems unit in Palm Bay, Florida. For these awards, DRS will provide a range of rugged computer products, including the Explorer MP(TM) Rugged, Portable, Multi-Platform Workstations, 18-inch flat panel displays, high-capacity servers and other workstations for digital battlefield applications. To date, DRS has received orders to produce over 2,200 Explorer MP(TM) workstations, including these latest awards, accounting for more than $107 million in bookings over the last seven years.

“We are pleased to continue our support of advanced computer technology programs necessary to meet the needs of the military’s ground force modernization and transformational initiatives,” said Steven T. Schorer, president of DRS’s Electronic Systems Group. “As a leader in high-performance, rugged computers for a variety of C4I applications, our portable, battle-ready and reliable COTS systems are proven to operate under extremely harsh military and environmental conditions. With an unparalleled level of performance, functionality and ruggedization, these systems directly support the goals of our armed forces for complete digitization of the battlefield.”

The company recently announced that it will provide tactical and various other rugged computer systems to General Dynamics C4 Systems for the U.S. Army’s Common Hardware/Software III (CHS-3) program, which has the potential to generate $200m for DRS over the life of the program.

DRS’s Explorer MP(TM) Rugged Portable Multi-Platform Workstations are full-function, integrated, portable UltraSPARC(TM) IIi computers with a range of applications supporting the digital battlefield. The computers provide users with the capability to run Combat Information Systems (CIS), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), fire control and digital mapping applications, as well as other highly sophisticated programs. DRS’s Explorer MP(TM) workstations support the latest Sun SPARC(TM) and Intel Pentium(r) processors, together with a range of advanced multimedia and graphics systems. The Explorer MP(TM) systems also are designed to support new versions of the ATX form factor processors, as they become available.