VMETRO to supply ALMDS with chassis

HOUSTON, May 30 (UPI) -- Northrop Grumman Corp. has contracted Texas-based VMETRO to support the Airborne Laser Mine Detection System program with its Central Electronics Chassis.

The Northrop Grumman order, valued at $900,000, is for VMETRO to supply the ALMDS program with its CEC liquid-cooled air transportable rack technology. VMETRO will also supply its CSW1 6U VXS switch cards and VPF1 quad processor payload cards that provide process image sensor data.

Officials say the ALMDS is deployed on U.S. Navy helicopters to scan large aquatic surface areas like oceans for explosive mines.

"The ALMDS CEC developed by VMETRO, with its combination of FPGA (field programmable gate array) and PowerPC processing capabilities, is one of the enablers for Northrop Grumman to provide this critical mine detection capability to our customer," Deon Harkey, Northrop Grumman ALMDS program manager, said in a statement.

"ALMDS protects the fleet while taking the sailor out of the minefield."