Mettle Ops, a Sterling Heights-based design, development, manufacturing, and research firm, today announced its first major contract with the Department of Defense Ordnance Technology Consortium (DOTC) that totals $9.1 million.
Under the contract, Mettle Ops and the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) in Warren will focus on survivability efforts to provide soldiers with equipment to better protect them in wartime environments.
“Increased survivability for soldiers means more soldiers come home with less long-term health problems,” says Katie Bigelow, president of Mettle Ops. “Our chief goal is to serve the warfighter. Survivability effort deals like this provide soldiers with equipment that protects them better in wartime environments.”
Mettle Ops will be responsible for the program management, design, modeling, simulations, analysis, and documentation aspect of the process for the agreement. Some of TARDEC’s contributions to the deal will include:
- Identification and evaluation of passive, reactive, active, and blast mitigation material solutions in a lab environment for use on Department of Defense ground platforms and high value assets.
- Employment of high fidelity finite element analysis tools to derive novel target material solution candidates in composite, integral, or appliqué orientations.
- Development of test articles applicable to ground platform applications and high value assets.
- Testing of various actual/surrogate weapon systems against developed material solutions.The deal will also provide both virtual and physical prototypes for tracked and wheeled ground vehicles, specifically the Abrams Main Battle Tank, Bradley Fighting Vehicle, Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle, Combat Vehicle Prototype, and Next Generation Combat Vehicle.
TARDEC is also continuously seeking new technologies to affordably and effectively enhance vehicle and crew survivability for existing and future ground vehicle systems.
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