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NEW YORK, N.Y., July 13, 2004. EDO Corporation has been awarded a subcontract from L-3 Communications Systems to provide the Radio Frequency Distribution System (RFDS) for the early phases of the U.S. Coast Guard's Integrated Deepwater System. The initial contract is valued at $3.6 million, with a potential value of approximately $70 million over the 20-year life of the project.
EDO will equip up to 90 Coast Guard vessels with an RFDS which will enable interference-free transmission among the various communications systems aboard each ship. Key enabling technology for the RFDS is EDO's Cosite Interference Mitigation Subsystem (CIMS). CIMS primarily involves canceling interference from other radio signals in adjacent channels.
"Providing the complete RF distribution system is a major step forward for EDO," said James M. Smith, EDO's chief executive officer. "We have been a leader in interference-mitigation technology for decades. This contract represents our first major opportunity to engineer and supply the fully integrated system, rather than only the CIMS subsystem. In addition, CIMS is an enabling technology on the Coast Guard's related Rescue 21 program, as well as other Homeland Security systems."
The Coast Guard classifies the regions in which it operates into three areas: inland, coastal and deepwater, each requiring ships and aircraft with different capabilities. The deepwater ships and aircraft are called upon to perform a wide range of demanding missions in the most severe environments, from Artic to tropical climates.
The Integrated Deepwater System is a multi-year project to modernize the aging ships, aircraft, command and control, and logistics systems. The L-3 Communications Systems - East division has been selected as a major communication-system subcontractor for the Deepwater project supporting Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS), a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. In June 2002, the U. S. Coast Guard awarded the Deepwater contract to ICGS.
Deepwater is the largest and most innovative acquisition program in the Coast Guard's history. More than just new ships and aircraft, it is an integrated, performance-based approach to upgrading existing assets while transitioning to newer, more capable platforms, with improved systems for C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications and Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance).
EDO's RFDS will facilitate the transition to such C4ISR architectures and provide full interoperability with the U.S. Navy, other military services, NATO allies, and federal, state, and local agencies. This will significantly improve the ability to detect, identify and respond appropriately to all activities in the maritime arena, as well as to intercept and engage those activities that pose a direct challenge to the U.S.
L-3 Communications and EDO are pursuing additional applications of interference-mitigation technology for Homeland Defense, maritime and aircraft projects.
EDO Corporation provides military and commercial products and professional services, with core competencies in a wide range of critical defense areas, including: aircraft armament, defense electronics, undersea warfare, C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence), and integrated composite structures.
For more information, see www.edocorp.com.
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